Dr. Kanniks Kannikeswaran,   is an award-winning visionary composer, music educator, scholar and thought-leader whose pioneering work in the area of Indian American choral music  has led to the founding of Indian diaspora choirs in over 15 cities in North America and Europe.   His  opening invocation ‘Mahavakya’ was performed by his daughter at the historic reception accorded to the Indian Prime Minister at Madison Square Garden, New York. His recent work with children from the Dharavi area was featured as the finale of INK Talks 2015 in Mumbai, India. His magnum opus ‘Shanti – A Journey of Peace’ a contemporary oratorio for large mixed choruses of more than one hundred singers, western chamber orchestra and an Indian instrumental ensemble recently completed its 12th anniversary with spectacular performances in the Bay Area. Kanniks has collaborated with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, the Cincinnati Pops, the Martin Luther King Chorale, the Dario Fo choir, the Residentie Orkest (Netherlands)  , the National University of Singapore Symphony orchestra,  artists such as Lakshmi Shankar, Mallika Sarabhai, the Gundecha brothers and others. Kanniks was interviewed on NPR in 2014 and was featured on Ohio Think TV in 2013 and 2017  and in TedX in 2015. Kanniks has taught graduate courses on Indian Music at the College Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati as an Adjunct Faculty. He is the recipient of several awards such as the McKnight Fellowship, the Ohio Heritage Fellowship, the Just Community Award , the Humanities Award from the Hindu American Foundation, Thought Leadership Award from Foundations TV and more. His award winning research and his recording of   Indo colonial music of the 1800s is beginning to have an impact on Indian musical pedagogy.