Sikkil Gurucharan is visiting UC Davis on a Fulbright Scholarship, teaching special classes in the departments of Religious Studies and Music. Gurucharan is a carnatic vocalist who has become one of the most respected and well-known artists of this tradition since his first performance in 1994. Furthermore, he is known for fusing this with other styles and non-traditional instruments. For example, Gurucharan collaborates often with pianist Anil Srinivasan. The two have presented many concerts together, centered around the free-flowing classical South Indian voice, and recorded an album in 2007 titled Maayaa—The Colour of Rain.

Gurucharan received the Tchaikovsky Award for the Best Young Musician of the Year (2006), the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar Award, and the CMANA MLV Award for Best Young Musician and Best Concert of the Season (2008). His most recent recording is Mamava Pattabirama (2013), which features compositions by Muthuswami Diksthar. Gurucharan’s mother is a flautist that teaches at the music college in Chennai, and his grandmothers are the famous Sikkil Sisters.