Ken Zuckerman

Ken Zuckerman - Bio Ken Zuckerman, internationally acclaimed as one of the finest sarod virtuosos performing today, has also been called “…one of the world’s most eclectic masters of improvisation.” He completed thirty-seven years of training under the rigorous discipline of India’s legendary sarod master Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, up to the maestro’s passing in June 2009. He also performed with Maestro Khan in numerous concerts in Europe, India, and the United States. In addition to performing classical Indian music with some of India’s finest tabla virtuosos (Swapan Chaudhuri, Zakir Hussain and Anindo Chatterjee), Ken has been at the vanguard of numerous cultural “crossover” projects. These include the Grammy nominated CD “Diaspora Sefardi” (Hesperion XXI), “India Meets Persia”, with Tar virtuoso Hossein Alizadeh, Modal Tapestry I & II”, (Zuckerman’s compositions for an ensemble of 14 musicians from diverse traditions), and “Meeting Two Worlds of Modal Music” with the medieval singer, Dominique Vellard. As a lutenist Ken Zuckerman was a student of Thomas Binkley, Eugen M. Dombois, Paul O’Dette, and Hopkinson Smith. He is known especially as an expert in the field of improvisation in medieval music and since 1980 he has taught this subject at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. He has made numerous recordings on both the lute and sarod (www.kenzuckerman.com). In addition to his extensive performance schedule, Ken Zuckerman has directed the Ali Akbar College of Music in Switzerland for 24 years and is also a professor at the Music Conservatory of Basel where he conducts courses in both North Indian classical music and the music of the Middle Ages. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.