Sangeeta Kaur | |
---|---|
![]() Kaur in 2020 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Loan Xuan Mai Teresa Mai (baptism name) |
Origin | Montclair, California, U.S. |
Genres | Classical crossover, New age |
Occupation(s) | Vocalist, composer, performing artist, producer |
Instrument(s) | Vocals |
Website | www |
Sangeeta Kaur is a Grammy Award winning Vietnamese American classical/crossover, new age vocalist, composer, performing artist, and producer. In 2022, she received a Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album for Mythologies , making her the first Vietnamese-American singer to ever receive a Grammy for a vocal performance. [1] [2] She has performed at the Sydney Opera House and Lincoln Center, among others [3] and in 2021 made her debut television performance, "Sangeeta Kaur and Friends", with Jon Anderson of Yes and Jake Shimabukuro, among others on PBS's Front & Center music series. [4] [5] Kaur performed vocals on Stewart Copeland's and Ricky Kej's 2022 Grammy Award Winning album, Divine Tides. [6]
She has won numerous awards including being inducted to the Independent Music Hall of Fame in 2020. [7] Kaur and her husband, Hai Nguyen, own and run Studio Hill recording studio in Austin, Texas. [8]
Kaur was born in Montclair, California (born Loan Xuan Mai) and later adopted her baptism name, Teresa Mai. [9] She was raised in Manhattan Beach, California. "When I was 4 years old, I got a hold of a VHS copy of The Sound of Music, and that did it for me," said Kaur. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Opera Performance at California State University, Long Beach (Bob Cole Conservatory of Music), and a Masters of Music in Vocal Performance from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. [7] [9] [10]
Sangeeta Kaur is a singer, composer, multi-media performing artist, and producer whose genres are classified as classical crossover and new age music. In 2022 Kaur was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album for Mythologies. [1] [11]
She has released six studio albums: Yoga is Love (2012), [12] Niguma (2016), Ascension, Niguma Vol. 2 (2017), which was also the music for her mantra opera, Niguma: The Mantra Project, which premiered at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica, CA. Her later releases include Mirrors (2018) and Compassion (2019) created with the Budapest Studio Orchestra, the Budapest Studio Choir, & Sterling Ensemble. [3] In 2020, she released Illuminance, produced by Grammy Award-winning composer and pianist Peter Kater [13] and co-produced by Kaur [14] which debuted at # 1 on Amazon's Hot New Releases chart. [15]
Kaur was classically trained as an operatic vocalist, who while performing internationally, was introduced to the world of spiritual mantra as well as the practice of Kundalini Yoga. When asked about her new age music career in an interview, "It was opera all the way — no Broadway, no contemporary — and if you sang outside of opera, you were bad," said Kaur. "But after I went to New York City for auditions, I began to study yoga and spirituality deeply. And this started me to shift my entire perspective as to what my purpose was in life … my calling was to bring joy and healing to everyone through my music". [10]
Kaur has performed internationally including the Sydney Opera House, the Lincoln Center, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, SXSW, [16] and the Melbourne Recital Centre. [3] In May 2021, she performed as part of PBS's Front & Center music series, (Sangeeta Kaur and Friends), performing with Jon Anderson of Yes and Jake Shimabukuro. [5] [17]
As the creator and producer of the musical production, Niguma, The Mantra Project, Kaur performed the ancient story based on the 11th century yogini by the name of Lady Niguma, told through songs from her previous two albums, modern classical dance, yoga and visual arts. Niguma, The Mantra Project, premiered at The Broad Stage, in Santa Monica, California on November 5, 2016. [11]
In 2022 at the South by Southwest music festival, Kaur and her production company, Studio Hill Productions, partnered with Wisdome LA, Los Angeles’ largest immersive art and music dome park, to produce a replica, Wisdome 360 Immersive Dome Park, in downtown Austin, Texas. [16]
Kaur began her spiritual journey while living in New York. She met her spiritual teachers who then guided her toward her practice and studies in Tibetan Buddhism, Kundalini Yoga, Yoga of Lady Niguma and the Yoga of Sound and Mantra. She released her first Mantra album Yoga is Love in 2012 and collaborated on several other albums with teachers and artists Amanbir Singh and Sajah Singh. She is a featured artist on Ra Ma Record's first compilation album that was released in 2013. Kaur changed her name from Teresa Mai to Sangeeta Kaur, (which means Princess of Music and Harmony), at her yogi's suggestion. [18]
Kaur is the founder of the non-profit organization Empower With Art Productions, which recognizes up-and-coming talent in music, dance, and visual arts. EWAP produces professional level productions for artists to gain experience and showcase their gifts and talents. [11]
Kaur is active in the Vietnamese community. In addition to writing and producing her own body of music, she has performed in many Vietnamese productions such as, Paris By Night, by Thuy Nga Productions, and ASIA Productions, the non-profit Pearl of the Heart Productions which supports Vietnamese International artists and disabled artists. [19] She is also a resident singer for the Vietnamese American Philharmonics non-profit under its director, Khanh Hong Nguyen. [20]
Kaur is an international Kundalini Yoga teacher, mantra artist, and in 2016 founded Sat Nam Yoga, a community based yoga studio in Little Saigon (Westminster, California), for Vietnamese students to attend for donations and at no charge to those who could not afford it. [11] [21] She closed the studio in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [11] [22]
Kaur is married to singer and classical guitarist Hai Nguyen. Kaur and Hai now split their time between Marina Del Rey, California [10] and Austin, Texas, where they own and run, Studio Hill, recording studio. [8] [18]
Year | Nominated Work | Category | Award | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
2022 | Mythologies | Classical Solo Vocal Album | Grammy Award [1] | Won |
2021 | Worlds Collide | Best Pangea | InterContinental Music Awards [24] | Won |
2020 | Illuminance | Best Female Vocalist | Global Music Awards [25] | Won |
2020 | Compassion | Best New Age Album | Independent Music Award [26] | Won |
2020 | Sangeeta Kuar Honored | Inductee Indie Music "Hall of Fame" [7] | Indie Music Channel | Won |
2020 | Illuminance | Best Vocal Album | Zone Music Award [27] | Won |
2020 | Compassion | Album of the Year | Zone Music Awards | Won |
2019 | Compassion | Best Classical Artist | Radio Music Award [28] | Won |
2019 | Rise Up | Best New Age Song | Radio Music Award [28] | Won |
2019 | May the Long Time Sun | Best New Age Artist | Radio Music Awards [28] | Won |
2019 | Rise Up | Best New Age Song | Hollywood Media in Music Award [29] | Nominated |
2019 | Ardas Bhaee | Outstanding Music Video | Producers Choice Honors [30] | Won |
2019 | Compassion | Best Female Classical Artist | Indie Music Channel [31] | Nominated |
2019 | Mirrors | Best New Female Artist of the Year | Indie Music Channel [31] | Won |
2019 | Mother Earth | Best New Age Song | Indie Music Channel [31] | Won |
2019 | I'm Not Gonna Break | Best New Age Video | Indie Music Channel [31] | Won |
2017 | Ascension – Niguma Volume 2/The Mantra Project' | Winner | Global Peace Song Award [32] | Won |
2016 | Niguma | Grand Prize | Peace Song Award [33] | Won |
2016 | Ardas Bhaee | Best Music Video | Peace Song Award [33] " | Won |
2016 | Let Me Weep | Best Classical / Opera Song | Peace Song Award [33] " | Won |
Alicia Augello Cook, known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer and songwriter. A classically trained pianist, Keys started composing songs when she was 12 and was signed at 15 years old by Columbia Records. After disputes with the label, she signed with Arista Records and soon released her debut album, Songs in A Minor with J Records in 2001. The album became a critical and commercial success, selling over 12 million copies worldwide. It contained the Billboard Hot 100 number-one single "Fallin'", and earned Keys an unprecedented five Grammy Awards in 2002. Her second album, The Diary of Alicia Keys (2003), was also a critical and commercial success, selling eight million copies worldwide and spawning the singles "You Don't Know My Name", "If I Ain't Got You", and "Diary". The album garnered her an additional four Grammy Awards.
Kathleen Deanna Battle is an American operatic soprano known for her distinctive vocal range and tone. Born in Portsmouth, Ohio, Battle initially became known for her work within the concert repertoire through performances with major orchestras during the early and mid-1970s. She made her opera debut in 1975. Battle expanded her repertoire into lyric soprano and coloratura soprano roles during the 1980s and early 1990s, until her eventual dismissal from the Metropolitan Opera in 1994. She later has focused on recording and the concert stage. After a 22-year absence from the Met, Battle performed a concert of spirituals at the Metropolitan Opera House in November 2016.
Harbhajan Singh Khalsa, popularly known as Yogi Bhajan, and also Siri Singh Sahib to his followers, was an Indian-born American entrepreneur, yoga guru, and spiritual teacher. He introduced his version of Kundalini Yoga to the United States. He was the spiritual director of the 3HO Foundation, with over 300 centers in 35 countries. He was accused posthumously of sexual abuse by hundreds of his female followers; an investigation called the Olive Branch Report found the allegations most likely true.
Teresa Stratas is an operatic soprano and actress from Canada of Greek descent. She is especially well known for her award-winning recording of Alban Berg's Lulu. She has now formally retired.
Hila Plitmann is an Israeli-American two-time Grammy Award-winning operatic soprano, songwriter, and actress specializing in the performance of new works.
Deva Premal is a singer known for introducing Sanskrit mantras into the mainstream. Her meditative, spiritual music — composed and produced with Prabhu Music — places ancient Tibetan and Sanskrit mantras into contemporary settings. Her album Deva (2018) received a Grammy Award nomination for Best New Age Album for the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards.
Harshdeep Kaur is an Indian playback singer known for her Bollywood Hindi, Punjabi,English and Sufi songs. She is popularly known as "Sufi Ki Sultana" because of her soulful Sufi renditions. After winning titles in two reality shows, Kaur established herself as a lead singer in Bollywood soundtracks. Kaur was sixteen years old when she released her first Bollywood song, "Sajna Mai Haari".
Phan Thị Mỹ Tâm, commonly known as Mỹ Tâm, is a Vietnamese singer and songwriter. She is one of the most successful Vietnamese singers for two decades, the most popular Vietnamese singer on Spotify in 2021. Elle Style Awards 2019 honored singer My Tam in the Super icon category - Super Icon of the Year.
Ledisi Anibade Young, better known simply as Ledisi, is an American R&B and jazz recording artist, songwriter, music producer, author and actress. Her name means "to bring forth" or "to come here" in Yoruba.
Snatam Kaur Khalsa, is an American singer, songwriter and author. Kaur performs new age Indian devotional music, kirtan, and tours the world as a peace activist. The surname "Kaur", meaning "princess", is shared by all female Sikhs.
Joyce DiDonato is an American lyric-coloratura mezzo-soprano. She is notable for her interpretations of operas and concert works in the 19th-century romantic era in addition to works by Handel and Mozart.
Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa is a teacher of Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan and a pioneer in the field of pre-natal yoga. She is the co-founder and director of the Golden Bridge Yoga Center in Los Angeles, the author of two books and three DVDs. She has become a yoga guru for Hollywood film stars.
Satkirin Kaur Khalsa is a Sikh preacher and prolific Sikh Kirtan singer. She hosts a Kundalini Yoga show on the JUS Punjabi television channel.
Du Yun is a Chinese-born American composer, performer, vocalist and performance artist. She won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Music for her opera Angel's Bone, with libretto by Royce Vavrek. She was a 2018 Guggenheim Fellow. Du Yun was named as one of the 38 Great Immigrants by the Carnegie Corporation of New York in 2018, and received a 2019 Grammy nomination in the category of Best Classical Contemporary Composition for her work Air Glow. In its decade review, UK's Classic FM listed Du Yun's winning of the Pulitzer as No. 6 in "10 ways the 2010s changed classical music forever." Rolling Stone Italia named her as one of the women composers who defined the 2010s.
Krishna Kaur Khalsa is an American teacher of Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan. Born Thelma Oliver, she pursued a career in films and theater before in 1970 dedicating herself to empowering others through the practice of yoga.
Ella Mai Howell is a British R&B singer. Her musical career began at London's British and Irish Modern Music Institute in 2014, during which time she auditioned as part of a trio on the 11th season of The X Factor. In 2015, she uploaded a four-track solo EP of originals to SoundCloud titled Troubled, and was discovered on social media by American producer Mustard and signed with his record label, 10 Summers Records.
Wilder Shores is the eighth studio album by vocalist Belinda Carlisle. Unlike her previous releases, which have largely been characterized as pop music, it consists of a series of Sikh chants performed by Carlisle in Gurmukhi. It is her first studio album in ten years, since the release of Voila (2007), a collection of chansons Carlisle performed in French.
Danaë Xanthe Vlasse is a French-American pianist, composer, performing artist, music producer, and music teacher. She won a Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album for Mythologies in 2022. Her song, Penelope, from the album, was featured in 2021 on PBS's Front & Center, performed by Sangeeta Kaur.
Mythologies is the sixth studio album by French-American composer and pianist Danaë Xanthe Vlasse, and won a Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album in 2022 at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards. The album features sopranos Sangeeta Kaur and Hila Plitmann and was released in the US on August 6, 2021 on Cezanne Records.