Ila Paliwal

Ila Paliwal is a classically trained Indian vocalist, based in New York. She was born in a literary family where music, art and literature were deeply ingrained. Her father Late Dr. Padma Singh Sharma Kamlesh was a nationally renowned poet and Hindi and Gujrati scholar, and her mother, Dr. Sushila Sharma Kamlesh, is an English and Sanskrit scholar.

Ila started her vocal training with Late Pandit Sitaram Vyavhare of Gwalior Gharana at the age of 12. Over the years Ila has had a great fortune to learn from the Indian classical music stalwarts of Jaipur Gharana: Mrs. Padma Talwalkar, Mrs. Arati Ankalikar and Pandit Raghunandan Panshikar. Ila travels to India frequently to further her musical quest with her gurus. She has performed all over the world including India, USA, China, Switzerland and Dubai.

She received her BA in English, Economics, Music and Fine Arts from Dayalbagh University, Agra and was awarded Director’s highest medal. She received MA in Fine Arts from Agra University. She also received her MA (Sangeet Praveen) with distinction in Hindustani classical vocal music from Prayag Sangeet Samiti, Allahabad. She received a BA in Mandarin (Chinese) from Language and Culture Institute, Beijing, China and worked as cross cultural consultant in Beijing China.

In last 25 years, Ila has lived in six countries on four continents and during this time, she has chaired many cultural committees and served on international school boards. Ila supports several philanthropic organizations in the US and India. She works with local organizations to promote Indian classical music in the US and regularly hosts visiting artists.