MYSURU: Pandit Rajeev Taranath, the renowned sarod maestro, passed away due to age-related illness at the age of 92 here on Tuesday.
Taranath, a luminary in the realm of Hindustani classical music, breathed his last at a private hospital where he had been receiving treatment for the past several days.
Born on October 17, 1932, Rajeev Taranath's contributions to music are celebrated globally. A prodigious talent, he gave his first public singing performance at the age of nine and sang for Akashvani Radio before he turned twenty. He later taught English literature at Aden University in the 1980s and served as the head of the Indian music program at the California Institute of the Arts from 1995 to 2005.
A distinguished disciple of the great sarod maestro Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Taranath also received guidance from Pandit Ravi Shankar and Srimati Annapurna Devi. His mastery of the sarod, combined with his imaginative power and emotional intensity, earned him numerous accolades, including the Padma Shri in 2019 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 2000.
Taranath's contributions were not limited to performances. He was recognized for his pioneering influence in South India and honored with the Chowdiah Memorial Award (1998), the Sangeet Vidhwan Award (2018), and the Nadoja Award (2019) in Karnataka.
His body will be kept for public viewing at his residence near Gnanaganga School in Kuvempunagar from 9:30 am to 11 am on June 12.
The funeral will be held in Mysuru, with the cremation taking place at the foothills of Chamundi later in the afternoon. District in-charge Minister Dr H C Mahadevappa and others had visited him in the hospital, and the government had announced assistance to meet his hospital expenses.