We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ankur Mukhopadhyay a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ankur, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

One thing I wish I started sooner was exploring different genres of music in terms of performing them. I have been classically trained since I was 5 years old and have only played classical music my entire life.

Ever since I went to college, meeting different people specializing in different genres of music was eye-opening. I was inspired by the amount of creativity found in the jazz and pop department at USC. Ever since then, I made sure to make as many friends in those fields and learn from them, as I try to blend classical, jazz, and pop music together in my own compositions.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Around 4th grade, I knew I wanted to have a career in music. Ever since I started playing the piano at the age of 5, attending concerts, and seeing my favorite bands perform live in front of many people, I’ve always envisioned myself wanting to do that.

When I went to USC, that was when I learned that I needed to branch out and not only stick to classical piano. I decided that it was time to delve deep into music and do something meaningful and collaborative. Thanks to the help of my peers, I started composing and had my first string quartet piece premiered at the Alfred Newman Recital Hall. I also had to opportunity to work on some short films as well.

After I graduate, I hope to keep that same momentum and create wonderful music for people to listen to. I would also love to do collaborative live performances of my work and other classical repertoire.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

Kinda stupid to be honest.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I’m a person who does not like to talk a lot about myself and my plans for the future. I like to keep everything to myself.

Whenever my parents always ask me, “What are you going to do after you graduate?” I just simply say, “I don’t know.” Obviously, they have the right to be furious because of that answer, but the reality is that when I discuss my future plans and how I will approach them, I already know they will say that it is the most unrealistic thing they ever heard. And I fear that other people who are not involved in the creative field will think that.

But the thing is, nothing is realistic at all. If your whole life is involved in a creative field, you should have imaginative goals that are unthinkable to the common people. As long as you have your plan on how to approach it, I think that eventually, something great is going to happen.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ankurpiano.wixsite.com/ankur-mukhopadhyay
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ankurrmm/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ankur-mukhopadhyay-7624601a9/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ankurrmm