Sanjeev lives in Mumbai but originally belongs to Dharwad, in Karnataka. His grandfather, Late Chimmalgi Master, was a noted tabla player and an ardent music lover from Dharwad. Surrounded by a music loving family, Sanjeev naturally and enthusiastically took to music at a very young age. While he continued his music training along with his academic and professional interests in the field of computers, he has now chosen to single-mindedly pursue his passion - music.

Sanjeev had his initial training from Pandit Madhav Gudi, one of the senior-most protégés of the Kirana Maestro Pandit Bhimsen Joshi. Later he came under the tutelage of the late Pandit C R Vyas, the eminent maestro, whose vocalism embodied a rare fusion of three outstanding Hindustani vocal traditions – those of Kirana, Gwalior and Agra. Sanjeev has ably imbibed the spirit of eclecticism exemplified by Pandit Vyas. It is his endeavor to find his own expression through music that makes his concerts interesting and presents a style that is his own.

Sanjeev has not kept his musical learning confined to Hindustani Music alone. He is currently learning Carnatic music under great guru Smt T R Balamani and mridangam under Vidwan T S Nandakumar. In addition to performing, he pursues an active teaching schedule passing the rigours and pleasures of Indian classical music to talented aspirants.

AWARDS/SCHOLARSHIPS

Sangeetha Shiromani Award 2005-2006
A prestigious award given by Shanmukhananda Sangeetha Sabha to young musicians who have excelled in their fields and established themselves.

National Scholarship 1995- 1998
A two-year Government of India National Scholarship for Young Achievers in the field of Indian music.
Received a year's extension based on excellent progress.

AIR Music competition 1993
Winner of this All-India youth under-23 competition conducted by All India Radio and as a result became a graded artiste of AIR.

Yuva Sangeet Nritya Mahotsav, Ujjain December 3, 1993
Awarded the second prize in this competition-cum-programme organized by South Central Zone Cultural Centre (SCZCC) - Nagpur, a cultural body of the Government of India.

NOTABLE CLASSICAL SOLO CONCERTS IN INDIA

NOTABLE THEME CONCERTS

Chintamani Chintan - Sahyog Mandir, Thane May 15, 2005
Programme based on compositions of late Pandit C.R.Vyas in morning ragas

Raag-Anuraag - Tejpal Auditorium, Mumbai January 15, 2005
A unique programme of classical compositions and their applications in film music.

CR Vyas Vandana - Nehru Centre, Mumbai January 10, 2005
Programme based on compositions of late Pandit C.R.Vyas the celebrated composer of classical bandishes

Marmabandhatali thev hi - Dinanath Sabhagruha, Vileparle, Mumbai January 13, 2005
This was a programme which aimed at reliving the Maharashtrian tradition of Natyasangeet through performance of padas from different Sangeet Dramas ranging from 1910 to 1980

Raagmala - Gateway of India, Mumbai January 26, 2004
Indian music ensemble for the programme "Celebrating India" on the occasion of India's Republic day with Pandit Satish Vyas (santoor), Rupak Kulkarni (flute), Kala Ramnath (violin), Purbayan Chatterjee (sitar), Bhavani Shankar (pakhawaj), Mukundraj Deo (tabla) and Begum Parween Sultana.

Spandan - Shanmukhananda auditorium, Mumbai November 11, 2002
Fusion music concert creating different moods of the day with Louis Banks (keyboard), Niladri Kumar (sitar), Rupak Kulkarni (flute), Taufiq Qureshi (drums), Vijay Ghate (tabla), Sridhar Parthasarthy (mridangam).

Krishna - Y. B. Chavan auditorium, Mumbai February 14, 2002
Lead singer in this dance ballet depicting various mythological incidents in the life of the Indian god, Krishna.

Bandish - Jodhpur, Programme based on popular compositions in the post independence era February, 2001

Suvarna Rang - Nashik, Programme based on celebrated composers of the post independence era May 25, 1999
This was the concluding programme of Vasant Vyakhyan Mala, one of the biggest cultural festivals of Maharashtra.

TOUR OF U.S.A (July-October 2004)

Indian Classical Music Workshops
Three-day workshop for practicing amateur musicians, Berkeley SF

Five-week workshop at the Millsaps College, Jackson MS

Master classes (Lecture Demonstrations)

Mississippi College (Dept of Music), Jackson MS
Millsaps College (Dept of Music), Jackson MS
St Andrew's Episcopal School, Jackson MS
Power APAC School, Jackson MS

Music of India class, University of California, Berkeley SF
Notable Concerts
St John Presbetarian Church, Berkeley SF

Center for South Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley SF
Basant Bahar Fifth Annual Festival , Milpitas SF

Swanson Amphitheater, Holiday Inn Select, Atlanta GA

Datta Yoga Center Concert, Millsaps College Auditorium, Jackson MS
Southern Cultural Heritage Center, Vicksburg MS
Sri Venkateswara Temple Auditorium, Pittsburgh PA

TOUR OF U.K. (August 13-Septermber 14 2005)
Solo Concert - The Nehru Centre, London August 16, 2005
Solo Concert - The Hindu Temple, Leeds August 26, 2005
3 Solo Concerts - New Castle upon Tyne September 10-11,2005
Solo Concert - Maharashtra Mandal, London September 13, 2005

PLAYS
Ashwa Vishwa - Play in hindi, Prithvi Theatre, Mumbai February 4, 2003
An abstract concept of a male singing voice as a character in the play in the form of different moods of the lead female character in this play written by Makarand Deshpande and directed by Teddy Maurya.

Bilhan - Bal Gandharva auditorium, Pune November 10, 1999
Lead singer for this ballad written by Mangesh Padgaonkar and directed by the legendary P L Deshpande for his 80th birthday celebration "Pulotsav".

Saare Jahan Se Achha - National Sports Complex Grounds, Worli, Mumbai October, 1998
Composed and sang for this mega play by Amir Raza Husain.

FILMS
Not only Mrs. Raut 2003
Sang playback for this Marathi language feature film directed by Gajendra Ahire and music composed by Kaushal Inamdar.

GuruDakshina 2004
Composed and sang the title track for this telefilm by Sarthak Dasgupta for E-TV-marathi.

ALBUMS
Quest - Solo classical vocal album world-release in London, Navras Records 2003

Aroha-the rising stars - Solo classical vocal album released in India, Sony nad & Navras 2004

Sanjeev Chimmalgi (vocal) - Two CDs of live concert recordings recently released in Mumbai, Musician's guild 2004

Kaamana Purti , Sony Music 2002
Three cassette album of spiritual music sung by Sanjeev Chimmalgi and wife, Neha Majmudar Chimmalgi.

Tapasya - Three CD album featuring live concerts of Pt. Jasraj, Pt. C. R. Vyas & Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, Sony nad 2002
Sanjeev's vocal accompaniment to his guru Pandit C. R. Vyas earned him a thunderous applause and appreciation from a 3000 strong audience at the Shanmukhananda auditorium.

Monsoon Magic - Plus music 1997
Album of monsoon melodies created by four accomplished musicians, Rupak Kulkarni (flute), Taufeeq Qureshi
(keyboard/rhythm), Sridhar Parthasarathy (mridangam/kanjira) and Sanjeev Chimmalgi (vocal).

Karadi Tales - Children's audio-story book 1996, 1997
Songs sung by Sanjeev in two of their releases "The monkey king" released by Sky music in 1997 and "The musical donkey" released by Karadi Tales company in 1996.

TEACHING 2000 onwards
In addition to performing, I pursue an active teaching schedule in Navi Mumbai passing the rigours and nuances of Indian classical music to talented aspirants. While moving with the changing times, I have made an effort to keep alive the spirit of the guru-shishya parampara wherein I received my training - there are no formal degrees (performance is the only certificate), and the training given is one-on-one and is performance oriented.