| Profile of
T. M. Krishna
 T.M.Krishna is one of the leading artistes in the field of Carnatic Music (Indian classical music-south Indian style) today. He has been performing from the age of 12. Today he is the youngest singer to occupy the top slot in almost every major music festival. T.M.Krishna belongs to a family of music connoisseurs. From a very early age he was exposed to the classical arts, especially Carnatic classical music. His first concert was at the Spirit of
Youth series organised by the Music Academy, Chennai (India). Since then there has been no looking back. He has travelled widely in India and abroad and won applause from connoisseurs and critics. He has been on tours to South Africa, North America, South East Asia, Australia and the Middle East numerous times. He has received numerous awards and titles from many leading
organisations. He has released many music albums from leading audio companies like Magnasound, H.M.V., Inreco, Amudham (U.S.A.) and Charsur.
MUSICAL EDUCATION
From a very young age, he showed immense talent in the art of classical vocal music. He used to pick up all the songs that his mother learnt during her music classes. Taking notice of this talent, his mother put him under the tutelage of Vidwan Sri Seetharama Sharma at the tender age of 6. He has been learning from him. He has also undergone special Ragam Thalam Pallavi (a special component in a Carnatic music concert) training under Sri Chengalpet Ranganthan. Now he is continuing to learn from Vidwan Sri Seetharama Sharma and Dr Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer.
| SOME OF HIS AWARDS |
- Spirit of Youth award-Music Academy-1988
- Best main performer- Youth Association for Classical Music- 1989
- Best junior vocalist –Krishna Gana Sabha-1995
- Musician of the year – Narada Gana Sabha-1995
- Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar award - Music Academy- 1996
- Title ‘Yuva Kala Bharathi’- Bharath Kalachar – 1997
- K.V.Mahadevan award for excellence- 1997
- Srirangam Gopalrathnam award – Music Academy – 1998
- G.Ramakrishna Iyer award - Music Academy – 1999
- Title ‘Sangeetha Kala Bharathi’ – 2000
- Best senior performing artist – Music Academy - 2001
- Youth Award for Excellence – Maharajapuram Vishvanatha Iyer Trust
- Kalki Krishnamurthy Award – 2001
- Title 'Isai Peroli' – Karthik Fine Arts –2002
- Title 'Nada Bhushnam' – Shanmukhananda Sangeetha Sabha - 2003
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HIS MUSIC
 His resonant and mellifluous voice and strict adherence to classicism have enriched his art. His music is marked with a very high level of aesthetics in conception and execution. He is known for his tremendous Manodharma (Imagination) and Sampradaya (Traditional) Sangeetha (music). His complete involvement and his ability to unfold ragas with ease have left many a listener lost in his music. His renditions of vilamba kalam (slow tempo) compositions are soaked with bhakthi (devotion) and bhava (emotion) are a treat to every listener.
WORK IN THE FIELD OF MUSIC EDUCATION AND AWARENESS
T.M.Krishna was the president of the Youth Association for Classical Music (YACM) for 4 years. As its president he pioneered many innovative and far-reaching projects to take Carnatic music to the youth.
WORKSHOPS
 Between the years 1996 and 1999 he
organised many lecture demonstrations in around 100 schools (100,000 children) in Chennai City (India). These were workshops for school children between the ages of 12 and 17. The objectives of these workshops were to increase the interest and awareness of Classical Carnatic music. These lecture demonstrations used many innovative and made classical music as much fun for the young as any other modern form of music.
In the year 2000 he along with musician Bombay
Jayshree and N.Vijay Siva organised a day-long Carnatic music workshop for company executives, CEOs, CFOs and engineers using multi-media presentations. The target of this workshop was to make them aware of the great tradition of Carnatic music.
MUSIC CARNIVALS
He has also organised music carnivals for children where they are given an opportunity to interpret Carnatic music in various different forms like dramas,
puppet shows, dance performances, quizzes and various different games. The objective of such an event is making children and the visitors think beyond the confines of the classical system and let them interpret the classical form in as different ways as possible. This has helped
the younger generation in understanding and appreciating the classical system of Carnatic music much more.
TEACHER
As a teacher of music he has students from various parts of the world learning from him. He has students from Europe, North America,
South East Asia and India learning from him. He is a teacher known for his very strict adherence to traditional values of the musical system.
AUTHOR
 In December 1998, along with musicians Vijay Siva and Dr Sunder, he authored the first ever Carnatic music appreciation album titled
'Learning to appreciate Carnatic music’. This album till date is one of its
kind and has achieved record sales. This album was released by H.M.V
In the year 2001 along with musicians Bombay Jayashree and Sanjay Subrahmanyan authored a book on Prof. Sambamoorthy an Indian musicologist of great international repute to commemorate his birth centenary. This is a publication of the Music Academy (a premiere institution in the field of Indian music) Chennai.
He has contributed many articles to many Carnatic music journals and magazines and classical music websites.
COMPOSER
 T.M.Krishna has had the opportunity to assist his teacher Sri Seetharama Sharma in many of his composing projects, which included musical operas like The Ramayana presented in Reunion
Islands in 1993, orchestra presentations and choir singing presentations. This led to him becoming a composer in his own right and has set to music to a number of lyrics and songs for other artistes and dancers.
Krishna toured Singapore in 2001 to compose and conduct an orchestra of the Singapore fine arts society under the grant of the national arts council of Singapore. This programme was titled
'On a Classical Trail'.
AN ORGANISER
In December 1999 to celebrate the new millennium he, as the president of YACM
(Youth Association for Classical Music) organised the biggest musical extravaganza that Carnatic music has ever seen featuring musicians of seven generations (over 100 musicians) and 600 children. It included live performances and audiovisual presentations. It was hailed as an event unparalleled by one and all.
KRISHNA SPEAKS
I was born on 22nd January 1976. I come from a business family. My father was a businessman in the automobile industry. My mother has been running a music school Kalapeetam for the past 17 years in Madras. I have two brothers. My oldest brother Rishikesh lives in Chicago, U.S.A. My immediate brother is Srikanth and he works in The New Indian Express.
My interest in music was from a very young age. My mother used to learn from my guru Shri B.Seetharama Sharma when I was just around 4 years old. Noticing that I had an interest in music my guru stared teaching me from when I was around six years old. For many generations my family has been involved in the music field. They have been rasikas and patrons of music. My paternal grand mother was very interested in music and was a regular at almost all concerts. She was a fan of Shri Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar. My maternal grand mother learnt to play the veena and was the one instrumental in getting my mother to sing. My mother is a graduate in music from the Queen Mary’s college. I think my dad was one of the earliest fans of Mandolin Srinivas. He was such a fan that he even gate crashed into a kalyanam to listen to him.
I did my schooling in ‘The School’ K.F.I. This is an institution managed by the J.Krishnamurthy Trust. My education and grooming in this school has influenced my perceptions and outlook towards life. The school was different in terms of the atmosphere and method of education to all other schools. I was very interested in Economics from my school days. This made me pursue a graduation course in Economics. I did my B.A. Economics in Vivekananda College. I guess if I had not taken to music I would have followed up my graduation with something like management.
As most of you may be aware I am married to Sangeetha (Sivakumar) a musician. We got married on the 9th of November 1997. We have a daughter Arya. She was born on April 11th 2000.
 Other than music I am a cricket and tennis fanatic to say the least. I have hardly missed watching a single cricket match live in Chennai. Cricket is definitely one of the biggest passions in my life. My all time cricket hero will always remain Sunil Gavasker. I have collected in my school days possible all the major write-ups on him. Tennis is a game I used to play till very recently (I hope to renew that again). I was a great admirer of Boris Becker.
Both Sangeetha and I love to go out a lot. We watch a lot of movies and eat out very frequently. We try out every new eatery in Chennai. I love all kinds of food, Chinese, tandoori, Middle Eastern, continental, and Thai. I watch a lot of English movies and Tamil movies featuring Kamal Hassan. Julia Roberts is definitely one of my
favorite actresses.
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