She has the medals, the scholarships and a master's degree with university honours. Ask her what music is, though, and she describes a feeling that seems older than she is.
When Savni Parekar Sonar sings, the room goes quiet for her long before it does for the audience. The world drops away, and what is left is a deep calm, a sense of being detached from everything and held by something larger than the moment. She is quick to say she isn't a spiritual person. Then she describes an experience that sounds exactly like one.
She goes further. Savni suspects music has travelled with her through earlier lives, and that she didn't choose it so much as get pulled towards it. It is a striking thing to hear from a vocalist with an honours list most careers would envy, and it explains why none of those honours feel like the point.
A House Where Music Lived
Some children are taught music. Savni grew up inside it. Her mother, Ms. Shivali Ranade, is a musician who has worked in musical plays and won a silver medal at the national level. Her aunt, Mrs. Veena Ranade Parlikar, leads Bhagavad Gita kirtans and bhajans. Her maternal grandfather, the late Mr. Shrikant Ranade, founded the Shri Samarth Sharada Sugam Sangeet Institution, which opened the world of light music to learners, much as Pt. Vishnu Digambar Paluskar's Gandharva Mahavidyalaya did for classical music. Raga, devotion and drama were simply the sounds of home.
Marriage hasn't changed that. Her husband, Raj Sonar, is a flautist, a nephew and disciple of the flute maestro Pt. Vivek Sonar Ji, who is himself a disciple of the "God of flute", Padmavibhushan Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia ji. Her husband's grandfather, the late Shri Ramchandra Sonar Ji, belonged to the Warkari sampradaya and was a disciple of Shri Mamasaheb Dandekar. Music is an inheritance on both sides of her family, and practice, discussion and growth continue under her own roof.
Two musical families could easily hand a young singer a ready-made identity. Savni built her own, through years of disciplined practice, two demanding gurus and a record that speaks for itself.
Two Gurus, One Lifelong Student
She trained under Vidushi Apoorva Tai Gokhale and Vidushi Pallavi Tai Joshi, both granddaughters of the eminent violinist and vocalist, the late Pt. Gajananrao Joshi Ji. In Hindustani classical music, a guru gives far more than technique. There is the patient listening, the daily discipline and the eye for the smallest shades of expression. Savni absorbed all of it and then brought her own dedication and interpretation, which is where a gifted student starts becoming an artist.
A Record That Keeps Climbing
In 2021 she completed Visharad Poorna at Gandharva Mahavidyalaya with first class. Then came SNDT Women's University in Mumbai, where she kept finishing near the very top. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Music in 2024 with a silver medal, placing first in her college and second across the entire university. In 2025 she completed her Master of Arts in Music and won the Gaan Hira Paritoshik, second prize, once again second across the university.
The honours outside the classroom tell the same story:
• DMCC Dadar Matunga Cultural Centre Scholarship (2022–2024) for Indian classical vocal music
• Swaroday Puraskar (2024) from Pt. D. V. Paluskar Smarak Trust, Pune, presented by Vidushi Manjusha Patil
• Yuva Sur Sartaj National-Level Competition (2025), third prize
• CCRT Scholarship, Ministry of Culture (2025–2027), backing her continued training in Indian classical vocal music
Savni files every one of them under milestones, never destinations.
On Stage
The honours sit alongside a performing calendar that is filling up fast. In the past few years she has sung at some of the most respected platforms for classical music in Maharashtra and beyond:
• Raagashree (2026), a concert curated by the Agra gharana maestro Pt. Arun Kashalkar
• 71st concert of Pt. Shankarrao Vairagkar Sangeet Pratishthan, Nashik (2026)
• Studio series by Dedhia Music Foundation, Yuva Sur Sartaj (2025–26)
• UGAM (2025), organised by Pt. Vivek Sonar, her husband's uncle and guru, and Gurukul Pratishthan, where she shared the stage with the flute maestro Pt. Ronu Majumdar
• 30th Sangeet Bhushan, Pt. Ram Marathe Smruti Sangeet Samaroha (2025), organised by Thane Municipal Corporation
• Swaroday Award ceremony, Pune (2024)
• Dadar Matunga Cultural Centre, Mumbai (2023–24)
• Raag Rang, a concert curated by Weekend Euphony, Talegaon, Pune
• 319th monthly concert of Khalwaayan, Ratnagiri, Konkan
She has also stepped into theatre, taking a lead role in the musical play Sangeet Tajmahal, written, conceptualised and composed by Dr. Vidyadhar Oke.
Seven Years in the Teacher's Seat
For seven years she has been teaching Hindustani classical vocal music, and she is firm that this doesn't mean she has finished learning. Walking a student through a difficult passage or untangling the nuances of a raga sharpens her own understanding. The teacher and the student, as she sees it, sit on the same side of the table.
That is the heart of her philosophy. She never wants to arrive at the day she decides she knows enough. She would rather keep practising, teaching and discovering for as long as she lives.
Making Old Music Speak to Young Ears
Savni doesn't think a tradition survives by being left untouched on a shelf. Her challenge is making sure Hindustani classical music stays within reach of younger listeners, who need a way in that connects with their own lives. She sees social media and digital platforms as a way to carry it to people who might never walk into a classical concert. They won't replace the guru's lesson, but they can bring someone to the door.
The goal isn't popularity for its own sake. It is for people to feel the depth, the discipline and the cultural weight of what they are hearing. Learning it also builds patience, concentration and sensitivity, and teaches you to listen, both to the music and to yourself.
Beyond the Stage: The Researcher
Singing is only one way Savni wants to serve the art. She also writes. Her article "From Lineage to Language: How is gayaki defined today?" was published in Sruti, the Chennai-based magazine, and takes up a question every serious vocalist eventually faces. Beyond that, she is drawn to the structure of ragas, the history of the tradition, the way it is taught and how it speaks to modern audiences. Much of this knowledge lives only in the memory of individual teachers and students. Documenting it is, to her, another way of keeping music alive.
No Finish Line
Savni's ambitions reach well past becoming an accomplished vocalist. She wants to keep learning from her gurus and fellow musicians, teach, research and help preserve a tradition for those who come after her. She hopes younger generations will meet classical music as something that shapes character and deepens their sense of culture, and not only as entertainment.
If you have ever wondered whether you could learn Hindustani classical music, her story offers a welcome answer. You don't need a musical family or dreams of the stage. Curiosity and a love of music are enough to begin, and with good guidance and patience the rest follows.
For Savni, there is always another raga to understand, another student to guide and another question to chase. She isn't trying to reach the end of music. She plans to stay on the path.
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