The 2026 Ustad Amir Khan Music Festival is coming up on September 12th at the Historic Hoover Theater in San Jose. Meet the performers below!
Ustad Amir Khan Music Festival
2026
PERFORMERS
MORNING SESSION
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Chinmay's musical journey began at the age of seven under the tutelage of Smt. Sandhya Katti Kher in Mumbai. Over more than fifteen years of dedicated training with her, he earned his Sangeet Visharad in Hindustani Classical Vocal Music. After moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, he continued to deepen his musical practice under the mentorship of Smt. Shubhangi Sakhalkar. An active member and volunteer with the Intonation Foundation, Chinmay remains connected to the Hindustani classical music community. His musical interests are rooted in the rich tradition of khayal gayaki, while he also enjoys exploring the lyrical beauty of bhavgeet and other melodic forms. Alongside his vocal practice, Chinmay developed an interest in the harmonium and enjoys exploring its role in music. He has had the privilege of accompanying students at the Guru Pournima celebrations of both his gurus. Chinmay also enjoys collaborating with fellow musicians on renditions of melodious songs across genres.
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Nidhi has had an interest in classical music since her childhood. At the age of 19, she began her formal training under the renowned artist of Jaipur Gharana Dr. Alka Deo Marulkar ji in the guru shishya parampara in 2010. She has also completed her Ph.D in Music from University of Delhi. Her guru's gayaki is the amalgamation of Jaipur, Kirana and agra gharana, which is the style she tries to follow.
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Prasad Bhandarkar started learning Hindustani music when he was 8 years old. He was initiated into classical music by his mother. Prasad got his initial training on Harmonium and Hindustani vocal music.
During his engineering college years, Prasad wanted to learn a solo performing instrument and happened to attend a concert by the renowned maestro Padma Vibhushan Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia in Gunidaas Sammelan in Mumbai. The simplicity of the Bansuri flute and Hariji's playing style really appealed to him. Soon he started learning Bansuri from Shri Anantrao Patwardhan of Mumbai. In 1988, he was fortunate to become student of Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia. Prasad derives strong influence from Pandit Chaurasia’s emotional and soulful style of playing Bansuri. In recent years, Prasad has been learning music from the noted Sitar player of Maihar Gharana, Pandit Partha Chatterjee who is one of the prominent disciples of the late Pandit Nikhil Banerjee. Partha-da perfectly combines the gayaki (vocal) and and tantrakari (string instrumental) styles in his music and Prasad finds this approach very attractive and replicable in Bansuri.
Musician by passion and engineer by profession with post graduate degree in Management, Prasad is now based in the San Francisco, California where he has been performing both in solo Bansuri classical concerts and in light music concerts as accompanist.
AFTERNOON SESSION
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Ranjita started her Hindustani classical vocal training at the age of 5 from Pt. K.S.Naik in Bangalore. Her Guruji laid a very firm foundation for her advanced training in the later years. In high school, she continued training from Pt. Veerabhadraiah Hiremath of Gadag, based in Mysore. She continued her training in Bangalore after her graduation, from Pt.Indudhar Nirody ji.
After moving to Bay Area, she took music lessons from Smt. Jayanti Sahasrabuddhe ji for a brief period.
Currently, she is training under Smt. Shubhangi Sakhalkar ji who is one of the most sought after teachers and performers in the Bay Area. She feels very blessed and fortunate to be able to receive her constant guidance and direction at each step of my musical journey. She works as a computer engineer for a living.
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The sarod is one of the most nuanced and rarely heard instruments in Indian classical music. In Souryadeep Bhattacharyya’s hands, it becomes deeply personal — music that invites you to slow down, listen, and feel. An empaneled artist of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), an All India Radio graded permanent artist, and an All India Gold Medalist in Instrumental Music, his musical lineage flows through Pt. Alok Lahiri of the Maihar gharana, one of India’s most revered sarod maestros, and Sri Abhisek Lahiri, his Gurudada. This unbroken thread of tradition forms the foundation of his music — deep classical grounding in dialogue with personal, present-moment expression. This balance defines his artistic ethos: rooted tradition, living expression. His performances move between the meditative depth of classical raags, the lyrical warmth of semi-classical and folk forms, and contemporary collaborations that bring new textures into dialogue with tradition. Currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Souryadeep continues to share his music across concert halls and festivals including the Lincoln Center, Chicago Cultural Center, Basant Bahar etc. along with concerts in intimate listening spaces, and cross-cultural settings. Whether presenting a classical raga, folk music projects such as Sarod Diaries, or world music projects his aim remains constant—to use the sarod as a means of connection, offering listeners stillness, joy, and a sense of shared humanity through sound.
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Smt Ashwini Khaparde began her initiation of music at the age of 5 under the guidance of her father, Shri Shashikant Thombre. Subsequently, she learned from the eminent Dr. Usha Paarkhi of the Kirana Gharana. It was under her guidance that she passed Sangeet Alankar. She has continued to learn from Dr. Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande of the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana. Ashwini combines the two gharanas easily and melodiously, bringing out the best of both gharanas.. Ashwini's large repertoire includes Marathi Natyasangeet, Abhanga and other semi classical forms. She has performed in India and the USA at various platforms. For the past 20 years Ashwini has been teaching classical music in the bay area through her organization Swarasadhana. She is very passionate about teaching.
EVENING SESSION
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Ajinkya Ranade is a versatile musician based in Santa Clara, California, and has pursued music for over 13 years. At the age of 6, he began his Tabla journey with Ustad Surinder Mann in Sunnyvale, continuing his learning with Pandit Yogesh Samsi and Shri Yashwant Vaishnav in recent years.
He has performed many times across venues and cities from LA, Texas, Canada, and Philadelphia to New Jersey and Mumbai, amongst many more.
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Srijan Deshpande is a Hindustani classical vocalist, scholar and educator. Trained by his father, Pt. Satyasheel Deshpande, he is known for his thoughtful performances and his expressive writing on Hindustani music. A fellow of the New India Foundation, and a music research affiliate at UC Santa Cruz, Srijan teaches and performs Khayal music regularly in India and the USA.
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Shubhangi Sakhalkar is one of the founders of the Ustad Amir Khan Music Festival.
Shubhangi brings a brilliant pedigree to her music from the early years of tutelage from Mrs. Kunda Vaishampayan, followed by the devoted learning from the renowned artists, Dr. Prabha Atre and her present guru Smt. Padma Talwalkar and years of ardent "riyaaz".
She has performed in several musical circles and events in India and has accompanied her guru in concerts all over the country, including the highly regarded Savai Gandharva music festival.
A gold medallist with an M.A. degree in Hindustani classical music, Shubhangi believes in sharing the knowledge and raising the awareness of Indian Classical music by teaching her students for whom she is an inspiring mentor. She hopes for the Ustad Amir Khan Music Festival to provide opportunities to young artists in North America and to promote Hindustani Classical music appreciation throughout the world.