Shubhendra and Saskia Rao Foundation
The Shubhendra and Saskia Rao Foundation · est. 2014

Music is every child’s birthright

The Foundation is the giving heart of this family — bringing music to children who would otherwise never encounter it, keeping India’s living traditions on stage, and opening the door for anyone who wants to help.

Why We Exist

Our Vision

To make music the birthright of every child.

Our Mission

To empower and uplift children and communities through music — revolutionising music education in schools, bringing India’s musical heritage within every child’s reach, and creating a new profession for young musicians, especially young women, as certified music educators.

“Our emotions, our intellect and our body all connect through music. When we learn music from a young age, we develop into stronger and more sensitive human beings.”

— Shubhendra & Saskia Rao

Outreach & CSR

Where the music reaches furthest

From the lanes of Nizamuddin Basti to Tata Steel’s communities in Jharkhand, the Foundation teaches Indian classical music to underprivileged, differently-abled, and seriously ill children — with trained teachers, a real curriculum, and documented, measurable impact.

For CSR partners, this is music education as serious social investment. The Foundation holds 80G and 12A registration (tax-deductible in India), with annual reports available on request.

The work spans outreach music classes, teacher training, children’s concerts, our Baithak series, the Sitar Ramarao Utsav, international collaborations with embassies, and a growing family of volunteers and interns.

The numbers open doors with our partners; what we measure in children is confidence, belonging, and joy — what music awakens in each of them. And in our Music for Children, by Children concerts, children from the bastis and children from partner schools perform on one stage, as equals.

Children of the outreach programme
The children of the Foundation
Nizamuddin Basti programme
Nizamuddin Basti · Hope Project
100K+
children — each one a story
Tata Steel Foundation programme
Tata Steel Foundation · Jharkhand
A child absorbed in music
A young artiste
2014
giving music, every year since
Bal Bhavan programme
Bal Bhavan, New Delhi
Music with seriously ill children
Cancer Society of Delhi
Teacher training for outreach
Training outreach teachers
1
child at a time
“For Nizamuddin’s young voices, ragas are the great leveller.”— Times of India
Partner With Us — CSR Enquiries Download the CSR Brochure
The Living Room That Reached the World

Unlock the Music

When the pandemic silenced India’s stages, this family opened their own home. Unlock the Music — an e-baithak concert series from their living room — gave the country’s greatest musicians a stage when there was none, each performing to an intimate audience and a camera, with a Q&A where the world could ask the legends anything.

90+
countries reached, every concert

Every concert remains free to watch, forever. Watch the full series on our YouTube channel →

As featured on Lok Sabha TV
Among the artists who graced the living room…
Dr. Sonal Mansingh Ustad Wasifuddin Dagar Pt. Debashish Bhattacharya Pt. Madhup Mudgal Vidushi Aruna Sairam Pt. Praveen Godkhindi Pt. Tejendra Majumdar Vidushi Kalapini Komkali Pt. Tarun Bhattacharya Pt. Shounak Abhisheki Vidushi Saskia Rao-de Haas Pt. Shubhendra Rao & Vidushi Saskia Rao-de Haas
A Son’s Tribute

Sitar Ramarao Utsav

“Ram bhakt Hanuman, Ravi bhakt Rao”

Pandit N. R. Rama Rao (1927–2004) — Shubhendra’s father — was the legendary musician who popularised Hindustani classical music and the sitar in Karnataka. In 1951, with his mother’s blessings, he left home for Delhi and surrendered himself to learning at the feet of Pandit Ravi Shankar, becoming one of his earliest and closest disciples — a Guru-shishya bond so devoted that music circles still speak of it in the words above.

The Sitar Ramarao Utsav is this family’s deeply personal tribute — organised through the Foundation by his son, his family, and his disciples from across the globe, celebrating in Bengaluru the life of a man who gave everything to his instrument, his Guru, and the cultural life of Karnataka.

sitarramaraoutsav.org →  ·  @sitar_rama_rao_utsav

Sitar Ramarao Utsav
The Utsav in Bengaluru
Utsav performance
On stage at Chowdiah Memorial Hall
Sitar Rama Rao Utsav 2
A tribute, shared
Click to see more
First Edition · 2024

The Utsav begins

Pt. Shubhendra Rao with Pt. Bickram Ghosh — followed by the living legend Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia with Pt. Ravindra Yavagal.

Second Edition · 2025

The family widens

The Sitar Ramarao Ensemble — students of the late Pt. Rama Rao. Vidushi Saskia Rao with Ishaan Ghosh, and Vidushi Shubha Mudgal with Pt. Aneesh Pradhan.

Third Edition · 2026

Tickets now open

The tribute continues in Bengaluru.

Book on BookMyShow
The Baithak Lives On

Reviving musical celebrations

The intimate baithak — music shared at close quarters, the way it has always been — lives on in the Foundation’s seasonal celebrations, where the calendar’s most auspicious days are honoured the oldest way: with music.

Holi Baithak

The festival of colours celebrated in song — with Vidushi Sunanda Sharma and Rajasthani folk artists filling the baithak with the music of spring.

Artists with Padma Vibhushan Dr Sonal Mansingh
Smt Sunanda Sharma performing with Rajasthani artists listening

Saraswati Puja

On the goddess of music’s own day, musicians of every age and every level come to offer their music — from first-year students to masters, all equal before Saraswati.

Saraswati Puja baithak
Musicians offering music
In Collaboration with Embassies

The world comes to our classrooms

International artists perform in our partner schools, in collaboration with embassies and individual artists — collaborators generous enough to share their art and their culture directly with students. For the children, the world arrives at their own school assembly.

East West Orchestra at Suncity School
Embassy of Israel

East West Orchestra at Suncity School

An orchestra bridging traditions, performing for the students of Suncity.

Peruvian musicians and dancers at The Infinity School with   H.E.Javier Manuel Paulinich Velarde, ambassador of Peru
Embassy of Peru

Peruvian musicians & dancers at The Infinity School

The music and dance of the Andes, alive in a Delhi-NCR school hall.

Rami Gabriel oud performance
Manav Rachna International School

Rami Gabriel, Lebanese-American oud player

The ancient voice of the oud, performed for the students of Manav Rachna International School.

Join the Family

We always need volunteers & interns

Not someday — now. The Foundation runs on people who give a few hours and get back something no salary offers: children discovering music because of you. Whatever you can offer, there is a place for you here.

Teach music — musicians and music lovers who can give regular hours to our outreach classes in Delhi. We train you in the Sangeet4All way.

Help organise — hands and minds for events and festivals, including the Sitar Ramarao Utsav in Bengaluru: production, coordination, hospitality, everything a festival needs.

Lend your skills — photography, design, writing, translation, fundraising: every craft has a use in this household.

Every volunteer is recognised with a certificate — and remembered as part of the family.

Volunteers teaching
Volunteers in the makeshift classroom
Volunteer conducting  orchestra
Proud of his students

Volunteer with us

With Gratitude

The Foundation is supported by

We are immensely grateful for the overwhelming support we have received from organisations, CSR programmes, government bodies, and many individuals. Your support makes the difference — join the movement.

Ministry of Culture, Government of India
Sangeet Natak Akademi
Tata Steel Foundation
Supporter
Supporter
Supporter
Endorsements

The world’s educators, on this work

“In studying El Sistema as it has grown around the world, I have come to recognize programs with significant potential to grow and make a dramatic change in the lives of children in need, their families and communities. I see the early hallmarks of such potential in the work of the Rao Foundation. To have artists of such high excellence leading the program, who also have superb instincts and ethics as educators, is a promising combination. I urge your active support.”

— Eric Booth · one of the world’s leading authorities in arts education · Juilliard, Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center Institute · February 2015

Read the full letter →

“The Foundation is offering fresh ways to learn and understand music. I offer my admiration and fullest support in their endeavour.”

— Padma Vibhushan Dr. Sonal Mansingh

“Finding artists like yourselves who have the artistic quality and the ability to communicate with both students and adults in such a clear and interesting way is such a gift.”

— The Kennedy Center, Washington D.C.
Support the Foundation

Give a child music

Every contribution — as an individual, a family, or a CSR partner — goes directly into classrooms, instruments, teachers, and stages for children who would otherwise never have them. It was never about the numbers; it is about what the music awakens in each child. All donations are eligible for 80G tax benefits, and our annual reports are available on request.

Make a Donation Enquiry
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