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“Chakrabarty plays in a calm, melodious style free of drama, and brings out languorous notes on the sarod.” - The Hindu (2018)

“A musician known both for his emotive virtuosity and cerebral approach.” - The Hindu (2016)

Toronto-based musician Arnab Chakrabarty (b.1980) is an outstanding exponent of North Indian classical music and a practitioner on the sarod for thirty years. Easily among the top handful of sarod players in the world today, Arnab's performances are noteworthy for a profound understanding of raga forms, deep erudition of both the sarod tradition and of Hindustani music in general, an exquisite, distinctive sound and technical virtuosity and finesse subordinated to the demands of the music. He plays on sarods of his own design that blend the best aspects of tradition and modernity. Trained by the late Dr. Kalyan Mukherjea (1943-2010), a disciple of Pandit Radhika Mohan Maitra, the legendary custodian of the Shahjahanpur tradition of sarod music, Arnab is described by his teacher as “the best representative today, of the musical values I had inherited from Pandit Maitra”.

In addition to his training under Dr Mukherjea, Arnab has received over 120 traditional sarod compositions from Ustad Irfan Muhammad Khan, of the Lucknow-Shahjahanpur gharana. Arnab received his initial training from maestros Brij Narayan and Pandit Buddhadev Dasgupta (1933-2018), and has supplemented his musical education with vocal training from Pandit Yeshwantbua Joshi (1926-2012), and sitar music from Vinayak Chittar, an inimitable sitar maestro. In the past decade and a half, Arnab has performed across the world to considerable acclaim, and has contributed to several projects, including the Serendipity Arts Festival 2020 (Goa, India) Crossroads Festival 2018 (Mumbai & Chennai), Saptak Festival 2016 (Ahmedabad), Bhilwara Sur Sangam 2016 (Delhi), Masters of Indian Music (Trafó, Budapest 2012), Copenhagen Jazz Festival 2013, Silk Road Festival (Damascus, 2010), and the soundtrack of Born Into Brothels, Calcutta's Red-Light Children (Oscar winner: 2005).