Sitar virtuoso Rishab Rikhiram Sharma is set to perform at the closing ceremony of the XXIII Commonwealth Games on August 2, held at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland. Sharma will share the stage with Shankar Mahadevan and his sons, Siddharth and Shivam, headlining India’s 20-minute cultural presentation before the formal flag handover to India as host of the 2030 edition, to be held in Ahmedabad.
“Performing at the Commonwealth games and representing India’s deep musical heritage is an absolute honour,” Sharma said. “I look forward to bringing the spirit and sanctity of classical fusion music to Glasgow.”
The performance comes shortly after Sharma joined the composition team for Nitesh Tiwari’s upcoming film Ramayana, alongside Hans Zimmer and A.R. Rahman. The youngest and last disciple of Pandit Ravi Shankar, Sharma is known for blending traditional sitar with contemporary electronic and ambient sounds. He joins a lineage of Indian musicians who have previously headlined Commonwealth Games ceremonies, including Sonu NIgam, Shubha Mudgal, Kailash Kher, Sukhwinder SIngh, Hariharan, Sunidhi Chauhan, Shreya Ghoshal, and A.R. Rahman.
Sharma comes from India’s historic Rikhi Ram instrument-making dynasty, a lineage tied to some of the country’s most iconic sitars and instruments used by classical musicians for decades. His performance in Glasgow adds another milestone to a year that has already seen him take on the Ramayana composition credit, marking him as one of the more prominent young voices bridging Indian classical music with global collaborations.
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Rishab Rikhiram Sharma
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Shankar Mahadevan
