Roopa Mahadevan is a leading Indian classical and crossover vocalist known for her powerful, emotive voice and distinctive re-imagination of the classical Carnatic art form. Seeking to celebrate yet push the boundaries of the Indian classical idiom, Mahadevan creates unique works with vocalists and dancers from the classical, jazz, world music, and R&B/soul genres. Her “hurricane wail and command of infinite minutiae” has charmed diverse audiences from Chennai’s prestigious Music Academy, to Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to the dive bars and cultural centers of American suburbia. As a trailblazer in the South Asian diasporic arts community, she also brings critical cultural commentary, humor, and searing authenticity into her work, often using dance and theater.

Mahadevan infuses her collaborative style with visionary leadership as the director of crossover ensemble, Roopa in Flux, and the groundbreaking Carnatic choir Navatman Music Collective. Mahadevan received her formative training under Asha Ramesh in the Bay Area and was granted the Fulbright scholarship for further study in India under Suguna Varadachari. She is a regular performer at the iconic December festival and has received the award Kala Ratna from the well-established Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana. Mahadevan is a featured voice with projects like Brooklyn Raga Massive and IndianRaga, and is a soloist on several albums, including Christopher Tin’s Grammy Award-winning Calling All Dawns and the Facebook Sound Collection. Mahadevan also cultivated her compositional repertoire through premiere residencies at Hedgebrook and the Banff Center for Arts and Creativity. This fall, Mahadevan released her debut Carnatic album, Roopa in Six Yards, recognized for being “as spontaneous and joyful as the singer herself.”