about the course author and tutor

Ludwig Pesch, author of The Oxford Illustrated Companion to South Indian Classical Music (2nd revised edition, 2009), is a pupil of the late Ramachandra Shastry, musical heir to the great traditions of Tyagaraja and Sarabha Sastrigal. A scholar under the Indo-German Cultural Exchange Programme and the German Academic Exchange Service, he completed the Diploma Course (five years) and Post-Diploma courses in Carnatic Music (First Class) at Kalakshetra College of Fine Arts. He is the co-founder of a major music documentation centre and archive in Chennai, Sampradaya.

For his outstanding contribution to Indo-German cultural relations, he received the German Federal President's Cross of the Order of Merit, which corresponds to the Padma Shri award given by the Government of India. He is also a recipient of the Rabindranath Tagore Cultural Award of the Indo-German Society (DIG), which recognizes his contribution to the spread of knowledge about India's spirit and life.

He has been invited by universities, music colleges and Indian music circles across the United States and different parts of Europe. As a guest lecturer, he has worked with professional musicians, students and young children. He has also introduced Carnatic music in the context of special education and rehabilitation projects in Europe.

The course author's writing "has been highly regarded for its accurate scholarship. At the same time he takes pains to write in a style that does not intimidate the lay reader." - S.R. Ramakrishna in The Music Magazine