Violin prodigy from Bengaluru set to study neuroscience

Anusha Madapura is preparing to do a bachelor’s, with music and neuroscience as her majors, at an American university

Anusha Madapura, the young violinist from Bengaluru, is winning acclaim as a prodigious talent.

She recently performed a chaconne by Italian composer and violinist Tomaso Antonio Vitali, and is set to perform with the South Asian Symphony Orchestra this weekend in Chennai.

The 18-year-old has been playing the violin since she was four. Her mother Gayathri Tirthapura is the founder and director of an NGO in the city and her father Subramanya Madapura, is a software engineer .

“From what my parents tell me, I have always been inclined towards music. At the age of three, I started learning the piano, but later, I got so engrossed in the violin that I didn’t want to explore other instruments,” she tells Metrolife.

She finds the instrument soothing and challenging at the same time. “It is one of the most difficult instruments to play. While I learn all technical aspects, it is challenging to make a composition my own. Often, when you’re learning a composition, you tend to copy the original artiste but it is important to make the music your own,” she says.

She enjoys playing concertos, and American violinist Hilary Hahn is among her favourites. “She has always been my idol and I recently went to meet her at a music festival in the US,” she says.

Anusha has been a part of the orchestra at Bangalore School of Music since she was nine.

“I also like to play chamber music. I like sitting with a group, curating a performance and figuring out where I fit in,” she says.

Anusha is all set to go to the University of Southern California to get a bachelor’s degree. “Music is what I would like to pursue professionally. I have two majors. My primary major is music and violin performance. My second is neuroscience,” she says.

As a musician, she says, it is important to connect with the audience.

“You can’t just go out there and perform a complicated piece of music. You need to simplify it just enough for the audience to connect with and have an enjoyable experience,” she elaborates.