Mahesh Kale
Mahesh Kale, based in San Francisco Bay area, is an accomplished vocalist of the new generation in the North Indian Classical style. Honed in the Gurukul system of learning from the legendary Padmashree Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki, he has an illustrious pedigree, and his thrilling performances bear this out.
Mahesh has established his presence firmly, as a popular artist and has performed extensively in India, USA, Europe, UAE, Southeast Asia. Mahesh continues to play the central character in a popular Sangeet Natak (musical), Katyar Kaljat Ghusli, for which, he has been honored with an award by the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Natya Parishad (2010). Mahesh has also performanced at the prestigious Sawai Gandharva Music Festival which received a generous appreciation.
Mahesh maintains an open outlook towards music to reach out to the new generation, while retaining the traditions. He has performed with world percussionists including Trilok Gurtu and Sivamani, and instrumentalists like Pedro Eustache, George Brooks and Frank Martin, in fusion and collaborative works, ably demonstrating his versatility as a composer and singer. In an effort to spread awareness and education about Indian classical music in the western world, Mahesh has given lecturedemonstrations and talks at various academic institutions including Stanford,
Harvard and the Commonwealth Club. He was also profiled as Artist of the Month by Harvard Sangeet in March 2008.
Founder of ICMA Foundation, a nonprofit organization geared towards helping young professional musicians and retired veterans, Mahesh is also a teacher and an inspiration for a motivated student body of over a hundred fifty students in the San Francisco Bay Area.
He also has a Masters degree in Multimedia Engineering from University of California, Santa Barbara and in Engineering Management from Santa Clara University, but has chosen to follow his passion for music full time.