A regular session musician of legendary AR Rahman, Harris Jayaraj and GV Prakash, B Vijayagopal gave his first flute recital at the age of six.Vijayagopal gave his first flute recital at the age of six.
A rising star in the Carnatic music scene, Vijay is one of the few artists who straddles the world of classical and film music.
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Accompanied by Trivandrum Sampath on violin, R Sankaranarayanan on the mridangam and Trichy Krishna on the ghatam, Vijay will charm an evening of carnatic music, performing compositions written and popularised by legendary flautist N Ramani. Together, these musicians will present at the Kalaa Utsavam 2017 on November 17.
An A-grade artiste of All India Radio, Chennai and an impaneled artist on the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), Vijayagopal is a doctor, a post-graduate university topper and a gold medalist in the field of orthodontics from SRM University (ranked among top ten Indian dental colleges).
Award-winning Vijayagopal started learning the flute at the tender age of four after displaying prodigious talent in music by being able to sing ragas in any given scale and swaraprastharas in various talas for any composition he heard.
Having begun his initial training in vocal music, Vijayagopal remains true to the Vijayagopal remains true to the gayaki style of Carnatic music and brings about an authentic vocalised style of flute playing. An accomplished singer, he seamlessly blends the intricacies of both vocal and instrumental patterns in flute playing.
His special finger and transposition techniques allow him to explore a range above and below the two and a half octaves a normal flute permits.
His talent was propitiously nurtured by his family deeply steeped in music. His early tutelage started at home from his aunt Smt GK Rajeshwari, a presidential award-winning vocalist, and grandfather Sri GV Krishnamoorthy.
He was at first trained in the flute by Smt TR Navaneetham for seven years. He later continued learning from Sri TS Sankaran and thereafter from Sri KV Ramanujam. It was his great fortune that he came under the guidance of Padma Vibushan Sri Umayalpuram Sivaraman in 2002 and has been blessed with the opportunity of being accompanied by the legend in over fifty concerts.
Awards:
- Best Flautist – Mylapore fine arts – Awarded by Sangeetha Kalanidhi Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer – 1998
- Flute Mali award from Sri Ragam Fine Arts – 2002
- Mali award from Sri Krishna Gana Sabha for the best artiste in the December season – 2004
- Asthana vidwan of Kanchi Sankara Mutt – 2009
- Youth Award for Excellence – Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer Trust – 2010
Notable Concerts:
- National Programme broadcast from the Thirivaiyaru Thyagaraja Utsavam-2014
- Akashvani Sangeeth Sammelan- 2012, Bangalore
- Cleveland music festival
- Swara and Dakshinayan festivals by Banyan Tree Organisation
- Kalasangam, Mumbai
- ICCR Chennai and Bangalore centres
- Sur Banaras – Sangeet Natak Akademi, 2016
