Dr. Suvarnalata Rao

Dr. Suvarnalata Rao is a senior musician and musicologist working in the field of computational musicology. Having trained as a sitar player in the Hindustani tradition, she obtained Ph. D. in music for her work in the area of psychoacoustics of music. Her other research interest is in the field of organology, for which she received the Homi Bhabha Council fellowship.

As Head – Programming (Indian Music), she programmes, curates and presents annually over 100 innovative events and festivals, representative of everything from classical to contemporary music, at the NCPA as well as venues outside Mumbai.

A recipient of several national and international Fellowships, she has been a visiting Faculty at various educational institutions across the world.

Her publications include numerous research papers and books including her dissertation, Acoustical Perspective on Raga-Rasa Theory and Raga Guide, an audio-literary production by the Nimbus Records, U. K.

Besides being an editor/co-editor of a number of music related monographs and journals, she has been responsible for developing NCPA’s unique website titled Music in Motion (www.autrimncpa.wordpress.com) which allows to hear and “see” music at the same time.

Since 2011, she is a board member of Music Council for Asia Oceania (MCAO), under the International Music Council (IMC). Recently she was honoured with Dr. Ashok Ranade Memorial Award for contribution to research in the field of Indian Music.