To people in Bengaluru and beyond, violinist Ambi Subramaniam is a name all too familiar. Touted as a child prodigy since his first stage performance at the nascent age of six, Ambi has since come a long way, doing his part in establishing Indian music firmly on the world stage. The musician recently performed with his collaborators, vocalist Bindu Subramaniam, his sister, and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Mahesh Raghvan for US Vice President JD Vance, at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence. It was followed by a private and intimate dinner with Modi and the Vance family. “We performed some of our original compositions, along with compositions based on some of JD Vance’s favourite songs, like November Rain by Guns N’ Roses and Merry Go Round by Kacey Musgraves,” Ambi reveals, continuing, “They also wanted us to play some classical music since [Second Lady] Usha ji, I think, learnt Carnatic music as a child.” Being a seasoned musician, Ambi has by now mastered his nerves. “We were more excited than nervous. All of this happened in the last minute; the last few days were spent learning and preparing,” he laughs.
Ambi is on a success streak, having just returned from Russia where he recently won at the BraVo Awards (on April 19), dubbed within the music industry as the ‘Russian Grammy’s’ – as Best Musician from a Partner Country. As Ambi states, “It is the biggest award show in Russia and they focus a lot on classical music. The second part of their awards is them recognising different countries and we all got to perform and collaborate with the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra, which was fantastic.” About the venue itself, which he describes as a ‘time machine’, Ambi cannot stop gushing. “The Bolshoi has been around for more than 200 years and it’s definitely one of the best theatres I have been in. My father [Padma Vibhushan L Subramaniam] has told me about the time he performed at the Bolshoi in the ’80s and how that was an amazing experience for him,” he adds.
The kind of talent Ambi houses is backed by the focus the musician carries; as he states, from the beginning, “I decided that I didn’t want to do many things badly, but one thing well.” This singular focus into violin, however, proliferates into different applications and projects, including two with Bindu: Subramaniam Academy of Performing Arts (SaPa) and the band Subramania. Speaking about their musical equation, Ambi says, “There’s mutual respect and trust. We’re on the same page on a lot of things and if we’re not on the same page, then whoever feels more strongly about it gets to decide what direction we take. That way it’s a lot of fun working with her and we get to chase a lot of different things that interest us.”