Tallapaka Annamacharya , also popularly known as Annamayya, was a legendary musician, composer and a Hindu saint. He is one of the greatest musicians and song writers. He is the earliest known Indian musician to compose songs called sankirtanas. His devotional sankirtanas were in the praise of Venkateswara, a form of Lord Vishnu. The musical form of the keertana songs that he composed, which are still popular among Carnatic music concert artists, have strongly influenced the structure of Carnatic music compositions. His compositions are classified as Adhyaatma(spiritual)and Sringaara(romantic). Annamacharya is remembered for his saintly life,as one the greatest musicians and is honoured as a great devotee of Shree Vishnu by devotees and saintly singers.He was one of the first few who opposed the social stigma towards the untouchable castes in his era.
Adyar K. Lakshman was a noted Indian Bharatnatyam dancer, choreographer and guru.
Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu was one of the most important carnatic music violinists of the 20th century. Naidu was partially blind. He received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in Fine Arts in 1953. Government of India conferred on him the Padma Shri Award in 1957. Several members of his family are also notable Carnatic violinists.
Garimella Balakrishna Prasad is an Indian classical devotional singer, composer, Sangeet Natak Akademi for year 2020, T.T.D Asthana Vidwaan and Ahobhilamatam Asthana Vidwaan. He served Tirumala Tirupati Devastanam's Annamacharya Project as Special Grade Vocal Artiste from 1978 to 2006.
Smitha Madhav is a Carnatic Classical Singer and Bharatanatyam Dancer. Carnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of India and one of the two main classifications of Indian Classical Music.
Dr Nirmala Visweswara Rao is a classical dancer in kuchipudi and Bharathanatyam
Nataraja Ramakrishna was an Indian dance guru. He was the chairman of Andhra Pradesh Sangeeta Nataka Academy. He was also a scholar and musicologist who promoted classical dance in Andhra Pradesh and worldwide.
K. Uma Rama Rao was an Indian Kuchipudi dancer, choreographer, research scholar, author and dance teacher. She was also the Founder & Director of Lasya Priya Dance Academy, established in 1985 in Hyderabad, India.
Balantrapu Rajanikanta Rao was an Indian writer, composer and poet in the Telugu language. He was the son of Balantrapu Venkatarao, one of modern Telugu poet-duo "Kavi Rajahamsa" Venkata Parvateswara Kavulu. He won several national and state level awards for his work. He died in April 2018 at the age of 98.
Rallapalli Ananta Krishna Sharma was a noted composer of Carnatic music, singer, Telugu litterateur, teacher and Sanskrit scholar. He was responsible for discovering, cataloguing and putting to music many forgotten compositions of Annamacharya. These compositions composed hundreds of years ago came back to life thanks to Sharma's efforts and successive singers like S. P. Balasubramanyam and M. S. Subbalakshmi would sing many of them, hence popularising them. Sharma authored prose works like Vemana, Natakopanyasamulu,Ganakale,Sahitya Mattu Jeevana Kale and Saraswatalokamu. Rallapalli Ananta Krishna Sharma translated 395 Gathas from original Prakrit into Telugu language titled Shalivahana Gatha Sapta Saramu in 1931. Sharma is the recipient of Central Sangeet & Natak Academy Fellowship (1973), Gana Kala Sindhu (1961), Gana Kala Prapoorna (1969), Sangeeta Kala Ratna (1974) and Sangeeta Sahitya Asthan Vidwan honours with a Honorary Doctorate from TTD University, Andhra Pradesh.
The Hyderabad Brothers, D. Raghavachari and D. Seshachari, are a Carnatic music singing duo. Hyderabad Brothers are one among the most popular duo vocalists in Indian Classical Carnatic music. They are popularly known as Hyderabad brothers because of their long association with the city.
Parthasarathy Nemani, popularly known as Parthu, is an Indian Telugu playback singer in Tollywood with rich classical music background. Parthu has rendered more than 100 film songs and sung more than 2000 private songs in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and Kannada. Parthu is one of the very few Telugu playback singers who has performed internationally.
Vidushi Sumitra Guha is an Indian classical vocalist, known for her expertise in the Carnatic and Hindustani schools of classical music. The Government of India honored her in 2010, with the fourth highest civilian award of Padma Shri.
Yella Venkateswara Rao is an Indian classical musician and percussionist, considered by many as one of the leading exponents of Mridangam, an ancient Indian percussion instrument. He has performed as an accompanist to such renowned musicians as M. S. Subbulakshmi, Ravi Shankar, Chembai, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, M. Balamuralikrishna, L. Subramaniam, K. J. Yesudas, Amjad Ali Khan, Hariprasad Chaurasia and Bhimsen Joshi. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2008, for his contributions to music.
Ananda Shankar Jayant is an Indian classical dancer, choreographer, scholar and bureaucrat, known for her proficiency in the classical dance forms of Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi. She is the first woman officer in the Indian Railway Traffic Service on South Central Railway and her 2009 TED talk is ranked among the top twelve Incredible TED talks on cancer. She is a recipient of Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, Kalaimamani Award of the Government of Tamil Nadu and Kala Ratna Award of the Government of Andhra Pradesh. The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2007, for her contributions to arts.
Gopika Poornima is an Indian singer who mostly sings for Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada language films. She became popular with the singing competition Padutha Theeyaga. Her husband Mallikarjun is also a singer and composer in Telugu Film Industry.
Gaddam Padmaja Reddy is an Indian Kuchipudi exponent and music teacher. She performs ballets on mythological themes and contemporary social issues. She choreographed Kakatiyam, a Kuchipudi visual dance form. She was conferred with Kala Ratna in 2006, India's highest art award–Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2015 and Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award, in the field of art for 2022.
Komaravolu Sivaprasad is a whistling musician in the Carnatic tradition. He is the first professional whistling artist in Indian classical music. He was awarded the title Kala Ratna by the Government of Andhra Pradesh in 2016.
