Dr Lakshminarayana Subramaniam is a well-known violinist trained in Carnatic as well as western classical music. His career in music started in 1973 and ever since he has amassed over 200 recordings to his credit. He has worked with renowned musicians Yehudi Menuhin, Stéphane Grappelli, Ruggiero Ricci, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Herbie Hancock, George Harrison and others. He composed music for films like Salaam Bombay (1988) and Mississippi Masala (1991)  in addition to being the featured violin soloist in Bernardo Bertolucci’s Little Buddha (1993) and Cotton Mary (1999). He was nominated for the Grammy award for his album Indian Classical Music in 1981. He was awarded Padma Shri in 1988 and Padma Bhushan in 2001.


My favourite composer: (Johann Sebastian) Bach in western music and Muthuswami Dikshitar in Indian classical music

My favourite piece of music: I have quite a few. I especially like Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto

On an idle day I am most likely to: Spend time with my four-year-old granddaughter Mahati

My idea of comfort food: Idli

My most prized possession: My violin collection

My favourite vacation spot: Paris, because of its culture and openness to world music

Had I not been a musician, I most likely would be: I hold an MBBS degree. I probably would have been writing prescriptions

My advice for aspiring musicians: Have a dream and go after it. Work hard to achieve your dream.

My biggest inspiration: My father and guru V Lakshminarayana. His main  contribution was getting global acceptance to Indian violin as a mainstream solo instrument

A moment I cherish: On January 25 this year, my entire family, including my granddaughter Mahati, performed together. I cherish the way she sang with us without a trace of fear.

One thing about India I would like to change: Corruption. Everybody, including me, is directly or indirectly affected by corruption.