(July 4, 2024) Even before his second birthday, Lydian Nadhaswaram could play a perfect 3/4 rhythm on the drums. When he turned eight, he taught himself to play piano. When he was 13 years old, he won CBS’ The World’s Best, which came with a $1 million cash prize. He can play 14 instruments and is the first, and only, student of the maestro Ilaiyaraja. In 2019, soon after he walked away with the World’s Best trophy, it was announced that Lydian would make his debut as a film composer, in the Mohanlal-directed Malayalam fantasy film, Guardian of D’Gama’s Treasure. His Instagram page is filled with celebrity photos, including Ilayaraja, A.R. Rahman, Kamal Haasan, Drew Barrymore and Sivamani. In 2022, Lydian also released his debut jazz album, Chromatic Grammatic.
From xylophone sticks to multiple instruments
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When Lydian Nadhaswaram was two years old, the family was celebrating his sister Amrithavarshini’s birthday. Lydian picked up two xylophone sticks and played a rhythm. His father noticed his talent instantly and the next day, bought him a small Rototoms drum set. He soon began accompanying his father for every orchestra and light music show in town and Lydian would play the drums as he heard others sing, and try his hand at the string instruments and keyboards, too. Even his name holds music. The nadaswaram is a wind instrument and Lydian, a Greek word, is a raga. “In Tamil we have the kalyani raga. My father used to say that Lydian is the kalyani raga.” When he was a baby, his father would play the Tamil song Kaatril varum geethame, written in the Lydian raga and even as a toddler, he would smile when he heard it.
So, when he first suggested playing the piano after watching a young Chinese pianist, his father worried he would spread himself too thin. “I told him you are a drummer and that guy is a pianist, maybe one day you can play with him on the same stage, you can’t just learn the piano.” Lydian, however, was determined. He went to the family’s old Samick upright and sat down to play. “Suddenly one day, he came to the piano and started playing something which is not easy for a beginner to play,” his father recalls. “He used both his hands like a master and I was astounded. From that day onwards, I encouraged him to play the piano as well.” A few months later, although his fingers were presumably too small to cover a full octave, he stunned everyone, including his music director father, Varshan Satish, by playing Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin. When he turned 10 years old, in 2016, Lydian finished his grade 8 piano exam, playing Chopin’s rubato, Petit Chien Valse. One examiner wrote in his report that “this was played with both delicacy and gusto.”
Winning ‘The World’s Best’ and global recognition
After his big break in 2019, the Global Indian‘s reputation grew in leaps and bounds across the world. Photos of Lydian Nadhaswaram, then barely 13, posing with Drew Barrymore, as he won The World’s Best, went viral. Invitations to perform came pouring in, from across India, as well as from the US, Australia and Malaysia. The prodigy, who looked even younger than his thirteen years, went viral for playing two pianos at the same time.
It didn’t stop there. “One day, I was playing the piano along with my sister Amritha Varshini, who is a pianist herself,” Lydian said. “She playfully threw a towel on me, that fell on my head and covered my eyes but still, I managed to play the piece. That was the day my daddy noticed I could play even with my eyes shut. That practice continued whenever I felt like playing blindfolded.” He demonstrated this skill on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
In Miami, writes Vishwas R Gaitonde in The Hindu, during a rehearsal for Simpre Ninos, the NBC television show, Nadhashwaram noticed that a string on the Baldwin grand piano had a metallic sound. None of the studio technicians had picked up on it. Lydian’s observation caused such a stir that the producers provided him with a Yamaha C3 grand, brought straight from the showroom. His performance went so well that he was invited back on Siempre Ninos.
His dream piano is the Steinway grand – no surprises there. After his visit to Miami, Lydian went to New York City, where he visited the Steinway headquarters. In the visitors’ room, he played a Model A. The showroom manager was so impressed, he led Lydian to the Model D concert grand, the company’s top of the line model. He played Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata.
Mastering the craft and future aspirations
Today, a Steinway grand sits proudly in his studio, where a picture of Beethoven hangs on the wall. Only the teddy bear sitting on the piano hints at his age. And Lydian Nadhaswaram’s repertoire has only grown. He plays 14 instruments, including the guitar, the violin and harpejji, a gift from A.R. Rahman. In this studio, he re-created Ilayaraja’s most complex compositions, earning himself the honour of being the maestro’s only student.
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After he graduated from Trinity College, he joined A.R. Rahman’s KM Music Conservatory, to specialise in the Russian style of playing the piano. When he was 10 years old, he was vinted to India’s first ever TED show, hosted by Shah Rukh Khan and curator Juliet Blake. Blake then invited Lydian to play a fusion piece with LA-based violinist Gingger Shankar and Swiss drummer Carlo Ribaux.
Lydian has gone on to win several awards, including the Cicely Goschen Shield, the Rajagopal Menon Prize, the PP John Memorial Prize and the Amy de Rozario Cup.
Follow Lydian Nadhaswaram on Instagram and YouTube.
