Sangeeta Kaur
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Sangeeta Kaur is a Grammy Award winning Vietnamese American classical/crossover, new age vocalist, composer, performing artist, and producer. In 2022, she received a Grammy Award for ''Best Classical Solo Vocal Album'' for '' Mythologies'', making her the first Vietnamese-American singer to ever receive a Grammy for a vocal performance. She has performed at the
Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...
and Lincoln Center, among others and in 2021 made her debut television performance, ''"Sangeeta Kaur and Friends"'', with
Jon Anderson John Roy Anderson (born 25 October 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the lead singer of the progressive rock band Yes, which he formed in 1968 with bassist Chris Squire. He was a member of the band across thre ...
of
Yes Yes or YES may refer to: * An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no Education * YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US * YES (Your Extraordinary Saturday), a learning program from the Minnesota Institute for Talente ...
and Jake Shimabukuro, among others on PBS's ''Front & Center'' music series."Kaur shot her first TV Special in May 2021 as part of the "Front & Center" music series and is scheduled for the 2021 season, page A14", '' The Democrat Times ,'' December 15, 2021 Kaur performed vocals on Stewart Copeland's and Ricky Kej's 2022 Grammy Award Winning album, ''Divine Tides''. She has won numerous awards including being inducted to the ''Independent Music Hall of Fame'' in 2020. Kaur and her husband, Hai Nguyen, own and run ''Studio Hill'' recording studio in Austin, Texas.


Early life

Kaur was born in Montclair, California (born Loan Xuan Mai) and later adopted her baptism name, Teresa Mai. She was raised in Manhattan Beach, California. ''"When I was 4 years old, I got a hold of a VHS copy of The Sound of Music, and that did it for me,"'' said Kaur. She earned a ''Bachelor of Music'' degree in Opera Performance at
California State University, Long Beach California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...
(
Bob Cole Conservatory of Music The Bob Cole Conservatory of Music is the school of music at California State University, Long Beach. In March 2008, the music department was renamed the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music in honor of an endowment gift of $16.4 million from the estate ...
), and a ''Masters of Music'' in Vocal Performance from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee.


Career

Sangeeta Kaur is a singer, composer, multi-media performing artist, and producer whose genres are classified as classical crossover and new age music. In 2022 Kaur was awarded a Grammy Award for ''Best Classical Solo Vocal Album'' for ''Mythologies''. She has released six studio albums: ''Yoga is Love'' (2012), ''Niguma'' (2016), ''Ascension'', ''Niguma Vol. 2'' (2017), which was also the music for her mantra opera, ''Niguma: The Mantra Project'', which premiered at the ''Broad Stage'' in Santa Monica, CA. Her later releases include ''Mirrors'' (2018) and ''Compassion'' (2019) created with the ''Budapest Studio Orchestra'', the ''Budapest Studio Choir'', & ''Sterling Ensemble''. In 2020, she released ''Illuminance'', produced by Grammy Award-winning composer and pianist Peter Kater and co-produced by Kaur which debuted at # 1 on Amazon's Hot New Releases chart. Kaur was classically trained as an operatic vocalist, who while performing internationally, was introduced to the world of spiritual mantra as well as the practice of Kundalini Yoga. When asked about her new age music career in an interview, ''"It was opera all the way — no Broadway, no contemporary — and if you sang outside of opera, you were bad,"'' said Kaur. ''"But after I went to New York City for auditions, I began to study yoga and spirituality deeply. And this started me to shift my entire perspective as to what my purpose was in life … my calling was to bring joy and healing to everyone through my music"''. Kaur has performed internationally including the
Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...
, the Lincoln Center, Segerstrom Center for the Arts,
SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...
, and the Melbourne Recital Centre. In May 2021, she performed as part of PBS's ''Front & Center'' music series, (''Sangeeta Kaur and Friends''), performing with
Jon Anderson John Roy Anderson (born 25 October 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the lead singer of the progressive rock band Yes, which he formed in 1968 with bassist Chris Squire. He was a member of the band across thre ...
of
Yes Yes or YES may refer to: * An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no Education * YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US * YES (Your Extraordinary Saturday), a learning program from the Minnesota Institute for Talente ...
and Jake Shimabukuro. As the creator and producer of the musical production, ''Niguma, The Mantra Project'', Kaur performed the ancient story based on the 11th century yogini by the name of Lady Niguma, told through songs from her previous two albums, modern classical dance, yoga and visual arts. ''Niguma, The Mantra Project'', premiered at ''The Broad Stage'', in Santa Monica, California on November 5, 2016. In 2022 at the
South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...
music festival, Kaur and her production company, ''Studio Hill Productions'', partnered with ''Wisdome LA'', Los Angeles’ largest immersive art and music dome park, to produce a replica, ''Wisdome 360 Immersive Dome Park'', in downtown Austin, Texas.


Spirituality and Yoga

Kaur began her spiritual journey while living in New York. She met her spiritual teachers who then guided her toward her practice and studies in Tibetan Buddhism,
Kundalini Yoga Kundalini yoga () derives from ''kundalini'', defined in tantra as energy that lies within the body, frequently at the navel or the base of the spine. In normative tantric systems kundalini is considered to be dormant until it is activated (a ...
, Yoga of Lady Niguma and the Yoga of Sound and Mantra. She released her first Mantra album ''Yoga is Love'' in 2012 and collaborated on several other albums with teachers and artists Amanbir Singh and Sajah Singh. She is a featured artist on Ra Ma Record's first compilation album that was released in 2013. Kaur changed her name from Teresa Mai to ''Sangeeta Kaur'', (which means ''Princess of Music and Harmony''), at her yogi's suggestion.


Social contributions

Kaur is the founder of the non-profit organization ''Empower With Art Productions'', which recognizes up-and-coming talent in music, dance, and visual arts. EWAP produces professional level productions for artists to gain experience and showcase their gifts and talents. Kaur is active in the Vietnamese community. In addition to writing and producing her own body of music, she has performed in many Vietnamese productions such as, ''Paris By Night'', by Thuy Nga Productions, and ASIA Productions, the non-profit ''Pearl of the Heart Productions'' which supports Vietnamese International artists and disabled artists. She is also a resident singer for the Vietnamese American Philharmonics non-profit under its director, Khanh Hong Nguyen. Kaur is an international Kundalini Yoga teacher, mantra artist, and in 2016 founded ''Sat Nam Yoga'', a community based yoga studio in ''Little Saigon'' (Westminster, California), for Vietnamese students to attend for donations and at no charge to those who could not afford it. She closed the studio in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


Personal life

Kaur is married to singer and classical guitarist Hai Nguyen. Kaur and Hai now split their time between
Marina Del Rey, California Marina del Rey (Spanish for "Marina of the King") is an unincorporated seaside community in Los Angeles County, California, with an eponymous harbor that is a major boating and water recreation destination of the greater Los Angeles area. The p ...
and Austin, Texas, where they own and run, ''Studio Hill'', recording studio.


Discography

* 2012 - ''Yoga is Love'' * 2016 - ''Niguma'' * 2017 - ''Ascension, Niguma VOL. 2: The Mantra Project'' * 2018 - ''Mirrors'' * 2019 - ''Compassion'' * 2020 - ''Illuminance''


Awards

{, class="wikitable sortable" !Year !Nominated Work !Category !Award !Result , - , 2022 , , ''Mythologies'' , , Classical Solo Vocal Album , , Grammy Award, , , - , 2021 , , ''Worlds Collide'' , , Best Pangea , , InterContinental Music Awards, , , - , 2020 , , ''Illuminance'' , , Best Female Vocalist , , Global Music Awards , , , - , 2020 , , ''Compassion'', , Best New Age Album , , Independent Music Award , , , - , 2020 , , ''Sangeeta Kuar Honored'' , , Inductee Indie Music "Hall of Fame" , , Indie Music Channel , , , - , 2020 , , ''Illuminance'' , , Best Vocal Album , , Zone Music Award , , , - , 2020 , , ''Compassion'' , , Album of the Year , , Zone Music Awards, , , - , 2019 , , ''Compassion'', , Best Classical Artist, , Radio Music Award, , , - , 2019 , , ''Rise Up'' , , Best New Age Song, , Radio Music Award, , , - , 2019 , , ''May the Long Time Sun'' , , Best New Age Artist, , Radio Music Awards , , , - , 2019 , , ''Rise Up'', , Best New Age Song , , Hollywood Media in Music Award , , , - , 2019 , , ''Ardas Bhaee'' , , Outstanding Music Video , , Producers Choice Honors, , , - , 2019 , , ''Compassion'' , , Best Female Classical Artist , , Indie Music Channel, , , - , 2019 , , ''Mirrors'' , , Best New Female Artist of the Year , , Indie Music Channel, , , - , 2019 , , ''Mother Earth'', , Best New Age Song, , Indie Music Channel, , , - , 2019 , , ''I'm Not Gonna Break'' , , Best New Age Video , , Indie Music Channel , , , - , 2017 , , ''Ascension – Niguma Volume 2/The Mantra Project' , , Winner , , Global Peace Song Award , , , - , 2016 , , ''Niguma'', , Grand Prize , , Peace Song Award" , , , - , 2016 , , ''Ardas Bhaee'' , , Best Music Video, , Peace Song Award ", , , - , 2016, , ''Let Me Weep'' , , Best Classical / Opera Song , , Peace Song Award", ,


See also

* Asian Americans in arts and entertainment *
List of Grammy Award winners and nominees by country The following is a list of Grammy Award winners and nominees by country: Argentina * List of Argentine Grammy Award winners and nominees Australia * List of Australian Grammy Award winners Austria *List of Austrian Grammy Award winners and n ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaur, Sangeeta Living people American people of Vietnamese descent 21st-century Vietnamese women singers 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singers Year of birth missing (living people)