Jayaprada Ramamurthy

Dr.Jayaprada Ramamurthy is an Indian flautist from Andhra Pradesh & Telangana. She is known to be the first female flautist from Andhra Pradesh & Telangana, and the first woman and the youngest to receive an "A-TOP-grade" in Carnatic Flute from All India Radio and Doordarshan. She plays both Carnatic and Hindustani styles of music.

She received many awards and honors including the KALARATNA (Hamsa) State Award from Government of Andhra Pradesh, National Fellowship Award, Doctorate from Osmania University, Best Flutist from Madras Music Academy, Acharya Nagarjuna University Award, State Govt. Award Ugadi Puraskaram, Bharati Gaurav Puraskar, Kartik Award of Excellence.

Biography Dr.Jayaprada Ramamurthy was born in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh (now in Telangana) to Prema Ramamurthy a noted Carnatic vocalist and Venkataramana Ramamurthy, a scientist at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai. Her maternal grandfather, Srinivasa Sastri who was Zamindar of Ballari, used to play the flute. Although a musician, her mother Prema was not interested in her daughter pursuing a career in music due to the difficulties she faced in supporting the family after her husband's death.

Jayaprada started playing flute at an early age without any formal training. Although her mother was not interested in pursuing a career in music for her daughter, realizing her interest in the flute, she took her to Chennai for training flute under the guidance of Padma Shri awardee N. Ramani. She can play different types of flute including the western key flute. She is also recognized as the first woman to use the bass (long) flute and the western key flute on the concert stage.

In 2019, Jayaprada was nominated as a member for Sri Venkateswara Bhakti Channel, the official channel of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams. She has traveled to over 20 countries as a solo performing artist for prestigious festivals abroad including ICCR Festivals, Royal Tropical Hall, CGI 80th Year Australia, ICCR Moscow Russia, Cleveland Tyagaraja Festival, Orchard Ridge Theater, VT Blacksburg USA, Australian Institute of Music, ICCR Colombo, UAE, UK, Bengal Festival Dhaka, Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka & others. She is a panel member of CCRT, Prasar Bharati, UCC&BM etc. She is an empaneled artist of Ministry of Culture, India. She has performed for prestigious festivals including Sangeet Natak Akademi, Sangeet Sammelan, Bhimsen Joshi Samaroh, Madras Music Academy, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Kartik Fine Arts, and regularly participates in the Tiruvayaru Tyagaraja Utsavam.

Jayaprada is also promoting Indian classical music and flute through Global Flute Foundation, She has done solo performances in various venues across the country and outside. She has also authored a book titled Basics of Flute Playing.

Jayaprada made her film debut as a flautist in the film Om Namo Venkatesaya directed by Raghavendra Rao.

Awards and honors Dr.Jayaprada has received numerous awards including: KALARATNA (Hamsa) State Award, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh 2026, Acharya Nagarjuna University Award, 2023, Ugadi Puraskaram from Government of Andhra Pradesh in 2012. Kartik Award of Excellence 2019, Madras Music Academy Best Flutist Award 2002 & 2008, Best Performer Indian Fine Arts Society Chennai, Titles including 'Vamshi Vinodini', 'Venugana Praveena', 'Sangita Ratna'. She was conferred the title 'Venugana Gandharvi' at World Buddhist Peace Conference. She was awarded National Fellowship by Ministry of culture, Govt of India, and National Women's award from CM of Delhi 2011.

Jayaprada is also received honors like Asthana Vidushi position from many Hindu religious institutions including the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, the Mysore Datta Peetham, Mysore, Karnataka, the Yadagirigutta Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Devasthanam, Telangana, Srisailam Devasthanam, Srisailam, Andhra Pradesh.