Vijay Koparkar

Vijay Koparkar

Vidyadhar Koparkar (born 1962) is a Hindustani classical singer.

Early life and education

Vijay Koparkar started taking singing lessons at the age of eight. Initially he learned from Madhusudan Patwardhan for eight years, followed by training under renowned artiste of yesteryear, Vasantrao Deshpande for five years and then under Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki for seven years.

He has a Master’s degree in Engineering (Metallurgy) from the College of Engineering, Pune and runs a small-scale manufacturing plant.^[1]

Career

Vijay Koparkar has been trained by gurus belonging to different gharanas (schools of music), and it reflects in his singing. He has received several honors including a scholarship given by Master Sudhir Phadke Through ‘Surashree Pratishthan’ for six years from 1983 to 1990 and the ‘Pandit Ramkrishna Vaze Puraskar’ by Gandharva Mahamandal.

Vijay Koparkar has performed all over the world, including the USA, Canada, the Middle East, Paris and UK.^[2][3][4] He performed twice at the prestigious ‘Sawai Gandharva Music Festival’ held in Pune, India every year.^[5][6]

He is a graded artiste at All India Radio and Indian Television.

Students

Vijay Koparkar has been imparting music lessons for many years. Among his students, Hrishikesh Ranade, Prajakta Ranade^[7] and Yogita Godbole-Pathak have made their marks in the field of popular light music, while Pushkar Lele, Mandar Phatak and Mandar Gadgil are emerging young artists in the field of classical music.

References