Kanniks Kannikeswaran, the recipient of the 2011 Ohio Heritage Fellowship in Performing Arts, is an internationally acclaimed musician, recording artist, composer, scholar, choir director, educator, mentor and tireless advocate for the classical music traditions of India for more than 30 years. Born in 1962 in Chennai, India, Kannikeswaran has taught the theory and history of Indian classical music at the College Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati since 1994 and regularly teaches classes and workshops throughout this country and India for both children and adults. He is the founder and director of the American School of Indian Art in Cincinnati. Kannikeswaran began studying music at the age of nine and gave his first public performance at 13. He earned an engineering degree in India and graduate degrees in engineering and business after moving to the U.S. His large-scale theatrical, recording and choral productions include Shanti: A Journey of Peace (which has been staged in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas), Colonial Interlude, Vismaya: An Indo-Celtic Musical Journey and The Silk Road. Kannikeswaran, who lives with his family in Mason, received the Ohio Individual Artists Fellowship in 2002 and has received the Traditional Artists Apprenticeship grant three times from the Ohio Arts Council.