Girijashankar Sundaresan

Girijashankar Sundaresan is an Indian Carnatic music vocalist from Chennai. He is a disciple of Chitravina Narasimhan and N. Ravikiran.

Musical career
Girijashankar's first stage performance was in early 2008. He later started performing regularly at The Music Academy  and Mylapore Fine Arts Club (Chennai), Vani Mahal (Chennai) Shanmukhananda Sabha and The Fine Arts Society (Mumbai), Rama Seva Mandali and Kalavanta Festival (Bangalore), Tamil Sangam (New Delhi), Kalasagaram (Hyderabad) and Edappally Sangeetha Sadas and Kalpathy Rathotsavam (Kerala) and Cleveland Tyagaraja Aradhana & Shruti Laya (United States).

Projects and collaborations

 * Marga, a journey was a project that Girijashankar curated for The Ink Link DAM's (Design Art and Music) Annual festival. The concept involved presenting different composers and their works to highlight their respective journeys in Bhakti (Devotion). The ensemble had musicians like Madan Mohan (Violin), Arjun Ganesh (Mrudangam), MT Aditya (Tabla), Preeth and Mani (Tanpuras). The event took place at Dakshinachitra Heritage Museum, Chennai.
 * Concert for Autism, was a special performance for the children with Autism and their parents and caregivers, organized by The Lotus Foundation, Chennai. The concert took place in November 2019 at Spaces, Besant Nagar. Girijashankar has been involved with Lotus Foundation since 2013. Girijashankar presented a show "Concert for Autism" in collaboration with Go Beyond Autism Centre, as an effort to use music as a therapeutic tool.
 * Girijashankar has worked closely with Vyjayanthimala in several projects for over a decade such as 'Sita Vislesha Trayam' and Bhavanbhava. He has also composed music and sung for her dance operas, namely - Nava Vidha Rama Bhakti and Kaisika Puranam.
 * Girijashankar has been part of many recording projects such as Chitravina Ravikiran's Vintage Virutosos' ensemble presentation of Ottukkadu Venkata Kavi Saptaratnas. Under the music direction of Bombay Jayashri, he has also sung for productions such as Meghadootam and Meera, the soul divine.
 * Single titled 'Entahadayya' a 12th-century poem on devotion written by Basava.
 * Single titled, 'Pushpa Ki Abhilasha' (The dream of a flower) written by the celebrated poet Makhanlal Chaturvedi.
 * Single titled, Vande Mataram written by the celebrated poet Subramania Bharati as a tribute to the healthcare workers during the ongoing pandemic.

Teaching
Girijashankar is also a music educator, giving talks and demonstrations on Carnatic music at various venues and festivals such as Learn Quest Academy of Music, Boston. He is currently training students in India and North America.

2019

 * Best Individual Performer, Radel Mid Year Concerts from The Music Academy, Chennai

2017

 * Yuva Kala Bharathi from Bharat Kalachar, Chennai

2015

 * Best Male Vocalist from Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha, Vani Mahal, Chennai

1998

 * Received the Bharatiyar Memorial Prize from the late music legend Smt. M. S. Subbulakshmi at the age of 10.

Personal Life
He has been married to Rajya Rajan since 2016.