Smt Padmavathi Thyagaraju is an acclaimed Carnatic vocalist and teacher par excellence, and is currently a senior research fellow with the government of India. She has been bestowed with titles such as “Sangeetha Saraswathi” by the Lions club of Mumbai in 2014 and has been felicitated by Chembur Fine Arts as one of the top five teachers of Carnatic music in Mumbai. She has performed at all the leading sabhas of Mumbai, and in various parts of India and abroad. Her early years of training were under the tutelage of Sri M V Ramana Murthy Garu and Sri Pemmaraju Surya Rao Garu. Later, she learnt under Sangeetha Kalanidhi Sri Nedunuri Krishnamurthy Garu, under whose training she mastered the Nedunuri Bani – which is rich with Bhava-laden Alapana and replete with Gamakas.

She has a rich repertoire of compositions in Telugu, Tamil and Marathi, and has also performed jugal bandi concerts with performers of Hindustani classical music. Her sublime renditions, well adorned with Gamakas, authentic delivery of complex raga bhavas and her strict adherence to the Nedunuri Bani leave audiences with memorable experiences. As a teacher, she has been spearheading the cause of Carnatic music with a missionary zeal and has delivered lectures for two consecutive years on the topic “The Importance of Music in schools” to over 60 teachers from Kendriya Vidyalayas all over India.

A true believer in the notion that “there are no bad students only bad teachers,” she has developed musical appreciation and skill in many a student.

Currently, as a senior fellow under the Government of India, she is researching on the compositions of Sahaji Maharaj of the 18th century. She has a few innovative contributions such as organizing and performing 'Prahlada Bhakti Vijayam of Thyagaraja’ as a geya natakam in Mumbai in October 2017. She has contributed to the spread of Carnatic music and is working as the project manager with PLR trust, a non-profit organization, in developing an online database called www.carnaticheritage.in, which has classroom session audio recordings of legendary musicians, including several of her own.

She also has to her credit the act of conducting a Carnatic Music Symphony in 2014, the first such experiment in the history of Carnatic music. She set the tune to many light music songs that were accepted by the All India Radio. She has conducted many workshops on “Teaching of Music” and compositions of Annamacharya, Ramadasu, Narayanateertha tarangams and Thyagaraja, and on improving Manodharma using compositions. She currently lives in Chembur, Mumbai.