Nobel Laureate’s son,daughter-in-law bring music to Mumbai

Nobel laureate V Ramakrishnan will be in Mumbai,supporting son and daughter-in-law at Sangat 2009.

Last week,Venkatraman Ramakrishnan received the 2009 Nobel Prize for Chemistry in Stockholm,along with colleagues Thomas A Steitz and Ada E Yonath. This week,the professor will be in Mumbai,supporting son Raman Ramakrishnan and daughter-in-law Melissa Reardon at Sangat 2009,the chamber music festival organised by the Mehli Mehta Music Foundation. Since the Nobel,this will be the first visit by Ramakrishnan to the country of his birth.

The Ramakrishnans present a wonderful portrait of a family with diverse interests. Venkis wife,Vera Rosenberry,is the author and illustrator of the popular Vera books for children,while her son and daughter-in-law are both professional musicians. Raman,who holds a bachelors degree in Physics from Harvard University,had initially toyed with the idea of a career in science,before turning to music fulltime. I come from a family of scientists,so I did think about it,but eventually,my love for music won out.

Melissa started playing the violin at age three. I heard a cousin playing the violin and I wanted to be like her. She switched to the viola when she was seven and made her debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at 13.

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She currently plays with the Enso String Quartet which has been nominated for a Grammy this year in the Best Chamber Music Performance category. Though she plays down the nomination saying she doesnt expect to win, she is excited about attending the ceremony. The ceremony for the classical music categories is conducted separately,but were also allowed to visit the more popular ceremony that happens later. So Im very excited about attending that party.

Melissa and Raman met at the Marlboro Music Festival in 2001 and six years later,they got married. Although they have played together,they belong to different quartets Melissa plays for the Enso String Quartet and Raman the Daedalus Quartet. But they prefer to keep it this way.

Whenever we get the chance to play together,its fun,but its nice to keep away from each other a little when we go out to work, said Raman. After all,we do keep seeing each other at home.

This is not the first time that either has performed in India; Melissa has performed at two previous Sangat festivals,while Raman,who has also performed at the Sangat earlier,was in New Delhi as a member of cellist Yo-Yo Mas Silk Road Ensemble.

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As the conversation moves to Ramans father,he laughs. Ive been expecting this subject to come up, he said. Its not at all surprising that he won. Hes always been very dedicated to his work. Raman and Melissa had accompanied Ramakrishnan to Stockholm for the Nobel Prize ceremony a proud day for the family.