Utsav Lal

Utsav Lal

Utsav’s musical creativity draws from his advanced training in western classical and jazz  with Bachelor in Jazz (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) and Masters in Contemporary Improvisation (New England Conservatory of Music) along with the exploration of Indian Classical Music under Ustad F.Wasifuddin Dagar, of the legendary Dhrupad Dagar family. Choosing to perform on an instrument that has traditionally been considered unsuitable for Hindustani Classical Music, Utsav has used his rigorous training in diverse genres of music -Western Classical, Indian Classical, Jazz, Scottish, Irish and Contemporary Improvisation to challenge commonly understood ways of improvisation and develop his own unique voice for the piano.  His music expressed with simplicity, sincerity and depth creates a captivating musical experience and has been described by Novara Jazz festival Director Corrado Beldi as having “illuminating grace”. Acclaimed for his rhythmic intelligence and unfailing clarity of technique, Utsav has been reviewed by Michael Dervan, The Irish Times as, “a fleet fingered performer whose best moments can be both highly evocative and dazzling” and by Terry Blain, music critic as, “in quieter moments, he’s the Phil Coulter of raga (where the piano is not a commonly used instrument), but at other times the sweep and inventiveness of his improvisations recall Keith Jarrett.”

Utsav Lal was featured in the Indian Limca Book of Records (2007) for his musical achievements and awarded Ireland’s Metro Eireann Media & Multicultural Award(MAMA) Award (2008) for championing multiculturalism through music. He was the youngest winner ever in the individual category in the ten years running of the MAMA awards.  Utsav was chosen as the three top Asian music child prodigies to perform at the Asia on The Edge festival (AOTE 2008) in Singapore. His extensive work lays the foundation for a strong legacy that establishes the piano in a new role and he was recognized as a Young Steinway Artist in 2010 by leading piano makers Steinway & Sons.  Utsav Lal received the ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, London) International Scholarship (2010) for undergraduate study at any of UK’s four Royal Schools of Music. Providing full tuition & a £20,000 grant for living expenses, the scholarship is awarded only to chosen four exceptional musicians amongst thousands of worldwide applicants.

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