Akshay Anantapadmanabhan is a reputed Mridangam artist known for his sensitivity, tonality and innovative approach of spreading Indian rhythm through the world. A prime disciple of the legendary guru Sri. T.H. Subash Chandran, Akshay has performed with the past and present leading names of Carnatic music: Sri RK Srikantan, Smt. Sudha Raghunathan, Smt. Aruna Sairam, Sri. Unnikrishnan, Sri. TM Krishna and Smt. Ranjani & Smt. Gayatri to name a few. Akshay has also given collaborative performances with Hindustani, Latin jazz, American jazz and rock musicians in unique showcases of South Indian percussion. His latest solo production: ‘Re-imagining Indian Rhythms’ pushes the boundaries of Indian rhythms in an avant-garde approach, brining together the mridangam, kanjira, konnakol and bharathanatyam with digital loopers and visual graphics. Akshay is also a core member of the viral Indian Classical fusion bands ‘The Thayir Sadam Project’ and ‘Carnatic 2.0 Reloaded.’ Akshay has also published several academic papers on the mridangam and Indian rhythms in international music technology journals. He continues to work on research collaborations on generative approaches of Carnatic rhythms with NYU Abu Dhabi. Akshay is the recipient of many awards including the ‘Best Mridangist’ award from the Music Academy Madras, Maharajapuram Youth Excellence Award, C.S. Murugaboopathy award from Krishna Gana Sabha, 2015 North America Young Musician Award and many others. He is also an educator of Carnatic percussion, teaching both classical and multi-genre musicians.