Vinayak is a passionate young musician who finds deep joy in classical music. Over the past several years, he has studied both the recorder and the violin, and more recently has begun composing music in a focused and serious way.
He plays the full family of conventional recorders—Sopranino, Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Bass—and uses advanced instruments such as the Mollenhauer Modern Alto and Modern Soprano. With these, he has significantly extended the upper register beyond standard fingerings. Recently, he added the Helder tenor recorder to his collection, an instrument capable of covering the entire flute range. On the Helder, he has mastered rapid scales up to E7 and feels confident tackling flute repertoire.
He has participated in numerous competitions and festivals, performing primarily on alto and soprano recorders. Notable achievements include winning 1st Prize in the Baroque Woodwinds Section of the American Virtuoso International Music Competition, which led to a performance at Carnegie Hall in September. For that event, he arranged and performed Bach’s Chaconne from the Partita in D minor. Additional awards include 3rd place in the American Talent Competition and 2nd place in the JS Fest International Competition, both with an arrangement of the third movement of the Sibelius Violin Concerto. He is also the only youth member of the Mid Peninsula Recorder Orchestra.
In the fall, he began studying composition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. His work has already received international recognition: he won the Beeffie Award for Best Creative Video at the Beethovinci Online Music Competition, and earned a Gold Award for Best Original Composition at both the Reinecke and Beethovinci competitions, the latter for an original recorder quartet in G minor. He was also a regional finalist in the National Federation of Music Clubs Junior Composer Competition with a string quartet in D minor.
He has composed a wide variety of works, including solo pieces for recorder in A minor and E minor, concertinos for violin in A minor, and two symphonic movements—one for strings in E major, and one for winds in E minor. His compositional voice is inspired by Classical and Romantic composers like Mozart and Mendelssohn, as well as the beauty of nature. More recently, he has begun exploring elements of world music and drawing on his cultural roots for inspiration.
As a violinist, he plays in the California Youth Symphony and served as concertmaster of the Intermezzi Ensemble last year. This orchestral experience has informed and enriched his approach to writing for chamber and symphonic ensembles.