Anirban Karak

Anirban Karak

Anirban Karak grew up in the city of Calcutta, where he studied the violin first with the late Ananta Makhal (1937-2012) at the Oxford Mission, Behala, and subsequently with Abraham Mazumder at the Kolkata Music Academy. He performed at numerous venues both in India and abroad with the Oxford Mission Orchestra and the Kolkata Music Academy Chamber Orchestra. His performances as a soloist have included the Concerto for 2 violins in A minor by Vivaldi, the Gigue from Bach’s second partita in D minor, and Haydn’s violin concerto in G major. Anirban served as the concertmaster of the KMA chamber orchestra during 2012-13, and holds the LRSM, Dip. ABRSM, and ATCL diplomas in violin performance. After completing a BA and MA in economics at Jadavpur University, Anirban studied political economy at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, before embarking on a PhD in history at New York University in Fall 2017. At present, he is undertaking research on eighteenth and early nineteenth century greater Bengal, trying to explore the extent to which vernacular literary forms and new modalities of historical self-consciousness of the time may have been related to the deepening commercialization of the region's economy and society. Anirban has continued to nurture his passion for music, playing regularly with the Baroque Ensemble at Amherst, and subsequently with the NYU Chamber Ensembles. He has decided to put some of his experiences with music into words, hoping to share with an audience what two decades of deep involvement with music has meant (and continues to mean) for him.  After completing a BA and MA in economics at Jadavpur University, Anirban moved to the US for further studies in 2014. He completed another MA in political economy at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, before beginning a PhD in history at New York University in Fall 2017. Anirban is now studying modern South Asian history, and hoping to do research on the women’s suffrage movement of the early twentieth century. He has continued to nurture his passion for music, playing regularly with the Baroque Ensemble at Amherst, where he also performed the Bach double violin concerto in D minor as a second violin soloist in April 2017. He has decided to put some of his experiences with music into words, hoping to share with an audience what two decades of deep involvement with music has meant (and continues to mean) for him.