Naresh Sohal

Who is Naresh Sohal?

Naresh Sohal was born in 1939 in Punjab, Northern India. He is the first and one of the few accomplished Indian-born composers of western classical music. He is the first composer in this tradition ever to make settings of texts in Sanskrit, Punjabi and Bengali. He was the first composer ever to be offered an annual bursary by the Arts Council of Great Britain. Sohal is the first Non Resident Indian ever to be awarded a Padma Shri by the Indian Government.

Although Sohal writes in the Western idiom, his extensive range of compositions shows a long-standing and serious commitment to the insights of Hindu philosophy.