Arjun Verma is a sitarist trained by the legendary Maestro Ali Akbar Khan.
The son of sitarist Roop Verma, who was a disciple of Maestros Ali Akbar Khan and Ravi Shankar, Arjun began learning sitar from his father at age five. As a te
enager, Arjun was fortunate to study directly with Maestro Ali Akbar Khan for eight years, and since the Maestro’s passing, with his son Alam Khan. In 2007, Arjun was awarded a Shenson Fellowship by the San Francisco Foundation to support his continued training at the Ali Akbar College of Music.
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Arjun began performing at the age of seven, and has played concerts in the United States, Europe, and India, including noteworthy performances at the United Nations (Geneva), the Fillmore (San Francisco), Fox Theater (Oakland), Pattee Arena (Monterey), Prague Castle (Prague), and the New School (New York). Arjun has performed with Alam Khan, Swapan Chaudhuri, Bob Weir, Pandit Sharda Sahai, Ustad Shabbir Nisar, Indranil Mallick, Kai Eckhardt, Jack Perla, Fareed Haque, Krishna Das, Maya Kherani, Michael Sumuel, Salar Nader, Nilan Chaudhuri, Anirban Roy Chowdhury, and many others.
In addition to playing Indian Classical Music, Arjun has experimented with using the sitar in other musical genres, such as Western Classical, Celtic, Opera and Jazz. Arjun was the sitar soloist for the world premieres of Jack Perla’s River of Light (2014) and Shalimar the Clown (2016), performed with members of the Houston Symphony and St. Louis Symphony, respectively.
Arjun’s music has received critical acclaim from leading publications, including the New York Times, Sruti Magazine, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and the San Francisco Chronicle.
In addition to performing, Arjun teaches sitar and North Indian Classical Music at the Ali Akbar College of Music, the East-West School of Music, and the California Jazz Conservatory.
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