Saraswathi Veena receives Sangeet Natak Academy Award

“I believe this award will help the whole of India see the divine instrument as the nation’s pride…”

The Hindu,

November 2019

“Spellbinding, cutting edge Indian Music with Jayanthi Kumaresh at Roulette..”

New York Music Daily,

April 2019

“With her robust pull and perfect fingering, the gamaka-oriented phrases flowed with brilliant precision…”

The Hindu,

September 2016

“Jayanthi’s masterly playing makes one feel that she can stretch the frontiers of veena-playing to suit every musical need…Her mesmerising glides, the timing and purity of her notes and gamakas, the meends and the gayaki anga that crowns her manodharma , all constitute the sound and space of her soulful playing.”

The Hindu,

August 2016

The concert was opened by a major star of Carnatic music: Jayanthi Kumaresh, a virtuoso on the veena, a plucked-string instrument with a much rounder sound than a sitar or sarod, closer to a guitar’s timbre. She achieved her most magical effects when sliding between notes without plucking, the volume very slowly decreasing until she was playing with the merest phantoms of notes.

The Sydney Morning Herald,

August 2015

“Jayanthi Kumaresh is one of the most gifted veena artistes of today, innovating tradition with a musical vision…”

The Hindu,

February 2009

“Now in her prime, Jayanthi Kumaresh is indisputably the most highly prized veena player in India…The tremendous variety of Jayanthi’s style gives intense life to this domestic instrument…Thanks to her restrained intensity, she guides the audience towards the delights of dreams. Thanks to her incredible mastery, she brings to a climax the excitement of swinging Carnatic rhythms.”

Theatre De La Ville,

November 2009

Mysterious Duality

“The sound of the veena is by far one of the most grand and majestic of all Indian instruments, and one that is often associated with temple ritual and ancient scriptures…I found it decidedly intriguing to hear the veena playing what sounded close to a bass line on one of the tracks, doing a pizzicato-like plucking on another, and at times, playing the same melodic lines in different octaves.”

Live Mint & The WSJ,

December 2010

“..during Tuesday night’s stunning opening set by Jayanthi Kumaresh. In Jayanthi’s hands, her instrument became almost infinitely malleable, as her fingers plucked, pressed or slid across the strings with mesmerising dexterity. At times, the notes quivered with the delicacy of a spider balancing on its web; at other times, their resonant twang almost sounded like an electric guitar.”

The Sydney Morning Herald,

August 2015

“A concert with character, exquisitely refined, undeviatingly traditional and of unflagging interest and pleasure.”

The Statesman

Mysterious Duality

“In Mysterious Duality: Just Me, Dr. Kumaresh produces a varied and more pronounced sound on the four compositions by overlaying Veena recordings. Carnatic music with a modern twist…this is an example of quality winning over quantity.”

Verge Magazine

Indian National Orchestra

Jayanthi Kumaresh undertook an adventurous excursion with her 15-member Indian National Orchestra into a new territory. There was drama, uninhibited improvisation and impassioned dialogue, but at the heart of each composition was well-mounted raga-tala interplay.

The Hindu,

November 2014

“Jayanthi Kumaresh’s melody-filled concert maintained the standards of classicism… The ragam-tanam-pallavi in Bahudari was the perfect exemplar of technique, aesthetics and emotion.”

The Hindu,

June 2015

“Jayanthi’s music is remarkable for her nuanced expression of the microtones and quarter tones, characteristic of Carnatic music which transform into distinct characters in her recitals.”

Pune Mirror,

September 2012

“Jayanthi’s kalyani lent distinction to the Carnatic gamaka school of Veena display and thereby invited rapt attention from the listeners. It was heritage music in as much as she helped the listeners get in touch with the sensitive sentiments of nada emanating from her Veena”

The Hindu,

January 1995