Sangita Santosham is an established performing artist based out of Chennai, India. She is a versatile and multilingual vocalist credited with singing a wide range of genres right from western classical music, contemporary jazz to Tamil hits. She is one of the very few artists from India formally trained in musical theatre as well.

Biography

Sangita hails from a family of renowned medical specialists. She was born in Palayamkottai, Tirunelveli, to Julia Santosham and Dr. Ravi Santosham, and currently resides in Chennai. She is the granddaughter of Dr.

Mathuram Santosham Mathuram Santosham is an Indian American physician who is Professor and Chair at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Santosham is best known for his work on oral rehydration therapy and childhood vaccines, with a focus on support ...

, former Member of Parliament and founder of the Santoshapuram Tuberculosis Sanatorium and also the Lung Clinic, which is currently run as the Santosham Chest Hospital by her father and uncles Dr. Rajan Santosham and Dr. Roy Santosham. Sangita has also trained in the areas of psychology and the behavioural sciences.

Musical background

Sangita's family has deeply rooted musical inclinations, the most notable members being her late grandfather who was the second Indian president of the prestigious (MMA) and her father Dr. Ravi Santosham who has been serving as its president since 1990 and is also a member of the famous GATT Quintet and the Male Voice Ensemble. Sangita trained with Neecia Majolly, in musical theatre, western classical singing and music theory and was awarded the Majolly Rolling Trophy in 2009 for the best singer in Music Theatre. She also spent a year training in western classical singing at the

Wanda L. Bass School of Music The Wanda L Bass School of Music is a College at Oklahoma City University. It offers several degrees including; a BM, MM, and a BA in several areas of Music. The Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University is an All-Steinway School, the natio ...

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

. She is an Associate of the London College of Music

London College of Music London College of Music (LCM) is a music school in London, England. It is one of eight separate schools that make up the University of West London. History LCM was founded in 1887 and existed as an independent music conservatoire based at Gr ...

Performance

Sangita is noted for her versatility, ease in handling the different musical genres and commanding stage presence. Her live rendition of

Sweeney Todd Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as the villain of the penny dreadful serial ''The String of Pearls'' (1846–47). The original tale became a feature of 19th-century melodrama and London urban legend, legend. A barber fr ...

's "Worst Pies in London", and

Georges Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', whi ...

's " Habanera", as part of the MMA's "Over The Rainbow", is Sangita at her entertaining best. She has been a part of the

Madras Musical Association Madras Musical Association was founded in 1893 in St Andrew's Church by European residents in Madras and an Italian Signor Aloysio was its first chair and the Governor of Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. ...

choir since the age of 15.His eye is on the sparrow – YouTube
/ref>Sunset Serenade by Madras Musical Association at Sir Mutha Venkata Subba Rao Concert hall in Lady Andal School , ilaaka.com
/ref>
/ref> She has given several solo performances at events staged by the MMA both in India and other countries.Part of that world.wmv – YouTube
/ref>The Hindu : Life & Style / Metroplus : Nostalgic notes
/ref>
/ref> In 2009, she performed at the Vatican and the Pantheon in Rome, Italy as part of the International Church Music Festival. She has sung under world famous conductors such as

Sir David Willcocks Sir David Valentine Willcocks, (30 December 1919 – 17 September 2015) was a British choral conductor, organist, composer and music administrator. He was particularly well known for his association with the Choir of King's College, Cambrid ...

and Paul Leddignton Wright. In 2000, while still in school, she performed at the Sydney Torch Relay ceremony as part of the Sydney Olympics under Dr. Ronald Smart. She has sung for several international gospel artists on tour, the most renowned being

Ron Kenoly Ron Kenoly (born December 6, 1944) is an American Christian worship leader, singer, and songwriter whose expressed mission is "to create an environment for the manifest presence of God". His musical style is one of jubilant praise and individu ...

Don Moen Donald James Moen (born June 29, 1950) is an American singer, pianist, and songwriter of Christian worship music. Early and personal life Moen grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota where he attended high school in 1968. Moen attended Oral Rob ...

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and

Benny Prasad Benny Prasad (born 6 August 1975) is a gospel musician and instrumental guitarist from India. He designed the Bentar which is the world's first bongo guitar. He also holds the world record for being the fastest man ever to visit all the 245 ...

. Sangita is an active participant in musical theater. She has been invited to perform with various theater groups, and is noted for her outstanding rendition of

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948), is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musicals, ...

's "

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" during Mellow Circle's "Magic of Musicals" show.The Hindu : Life & Style / Metroplus : A medley to remember
/ref> Her 2014 performance in Amrita Frederik and Augstine Paul's adaption of ''

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'', garnered her handsome praise for her "perfect" portrayal of the courageous Eponine. Her laurels include her pitch perfect and "convincing" performance as Sister Mary Robert in theatrical adaptation of

Sister Act ''Sister Act'' is a 1992 American comedy film directed by Emile Ardolino and written by Paul Rudnick (as Joseph Howard). It stars Whoopi Goldberg as a lounge singer forced to join a convent after being placed in a witness protection program. It ...

in 2015. Her theatrical performances include those with well-known directors

Michael Muthu Michael Muthu is an Indian director, writer and actor who has worked on theatre productions and films. He is based in Chennai. Career Michael Muthu started his career in theatre after finishing his schooling, and was a member of the Loyola The ...

, the late Mithran Devanesan, Brian Laul of the Wizard of Oz fame and also choreographer Jeffrey Vardon. Sangita's musical repertoire includes her on-stage performances with other established singers. She has performed alongside popular artists such as

Pop Shalini Shalini Singh, popularly called as Pop Shalini, is a singer from Tamil Nadu, India. Born in 1984, she is a singer, performer, blogger, and also a writer. She released an album 'Shalini' when she was only 13. She has sung over 5000 songs in var ...

in Brian Laul's Wizard of Oz and

Sunitha Sarathy Sunitha Sarathy is an Indian vocalist and performer in both Indian contemporary and Western classical music genres. She is also a gospel singer who performs in various church choirs. After having won the "Virgin Voice Choice" contest – a joi ...

.The Hindu : Metro Plus Chennai / Music : Nostalgic notes
/ref> Her performances include duets with Grammy award winner

Tanvi Shah Tanvi Shah is the first Indian woman to win a Grammy. Tanvi was born on 1 December 1985 in Tamil Nadu, India. She has sung in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu. In addition, she sings in Spanish, Portuguese and other romance languages, as well as Arabic. ...

It dont mean a thing MMA choir – YouTube
/ref> and actress-singer

Andrea Jeremiah Andrea Maria Jeremiah is an Indian actress, playback singer, and a musician, who works predominantly in Tamil language, Tamil and Malayalam language films. She made her acting debut in Tamil language, Tamil film ''Pachaikili Muthucharam'' (2007 ...

. She has performed with

Kalyani Nair Kalyani Nair is a singer from Chennai, India (born in thirupur, Kerala). She is active in the Tamil cinema industry, Kollywood. As a schoolgirl, Kalyani first appeared on Television in an episode of ''Symphony'' on Kairali TV. One of her popular ...

, an accredited singer and composer, and also as part of her band, Harmonize Projekt. Sangita has also worked with other renowned Indian musicians such as Keith Peters,

Dr. L. Subramaniam Lakshminarayana Subramaniam (born 23 July 1947) is an Indian violinist, composer and conductor, trained in the classical Carnatic music tradition and Western classical music. Early years Subramaniam was born in Madras, Madras Presidency, Brit ...

Keba Jeremiah Keba Jeremiah (born 18 October 1986) is an Indian guitarist and music producer. He works on musical soundtracks for Gospel songs, Bollywood, Tollywood (Telugu), Kollywood music industry. Early life Born and brought up in Al Karama, Dubai, Keb ...

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and Edwin Roy. Her recordings and videos have been commented on and retweeted by popular artists

Ehsaan Noorani Ehsaan Noorani is an Indian composer and guitarist. Music career Noorani is the part of the ''Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy'' trio, which consist of Shankar Mahadevan, Loy Mendonsa and himself. He was the guitarist for many music directors before he ...

and

. She performs in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu languages.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santosham, Sangita Indian women jazz singers Singers from Chennai Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Indian musical theatre actresses Women musicians from Tamil Nadu