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It\u2019s the first time that a sitar player has been named Instrumentalist of the Year at the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards<\/a><\/strong> in the category\u2019s 34-year history \u2013\u00a0and Jasdeep Singh Degun is delighted. And shocked. \u2018It was truly surprising,\u2019 the British player tells me. \u2018It doesn\u2019t happen to Indian Classical musicians, especially someone like little old me from Leeds. I feel like they\u2019re not just spotlighting me but the entire Indian Classical community.\u2019<\/p> Jasdeep Singh Degun might be \u2018very humbled\u2019 by the award, but it\u2019s fair to say he\u2019s had a memorable year. It kicked off in September 2022 (when the RPS judging period opens) with Orpheus<\/em>, produced by Opera North, where he was artist in residence, and South Asian Arts UK. This reimagining of Monteverdi<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Orfeo<\/em> brought together Indian Classical and European Baroque traditions, setting the opera during a multi-cultural wedding in a Leeds back garden. It was, in the words of The Stage<\/em>, an \u2018outstanding cross-cultural success\u2019 \u2013\u00a0and it was also shortlisted for the RPS\u2019s Large-Scale Composition award this year. The rest of the season saw Degun tour his debut album Anomaly<\/em>, release a single from Orpheus<\/em>, be nominated for an Ivor Novello Award and, most importantly, \u2018I got engaged as well!\u2019<\/p> The RPS panel particularly commended Degun for \u2018showing us all the beauty and boundless possibilities of the sitar\u2019. Yet it wasn\u2019t where Degun\u2019s musical life began. In fact, he only took the sitar up at the relatively late age of 15, when he began studying with a \u2018very inspirational\u2019 teacher and mentor, Ustad Dharambir Singh. He\u2019d learned to sing at primary school and that vocal training didn\u2019t go to waste when he fell in love with his new instrument. \u2018I\u2019m a man of melody,\u2019 he says, explaining that he trained in a school of sitar playing that prizes a singing style.<\/p>How Jasdeep Singh Degun came to the sitar<\/h2>