अभय रुस्तम सोपोरी

Abhay Rustum Sopori (born 7 June 1979) is an Indian santoor player, composer, and conductor from Srinagar, Kashmir. He belongs to a Kashmiri Pandit family with a santoor-playing lineage spanning over nine generations across more than 300 years, representing the Sufiana Gharana of Kashmir. He trained under the traditional Guru-Shishya Parampara, first from his grandfather Pandit Shamboo Nath Sopori and then from his father, the celebrated santoor maestro Pandit Bhajan Sopori.

Since debuting as a classical santoor player in the mid-1990s, Sopori has performed at major festivals across India and abroad, including in the United States, Russia, Germany, France, Japan, and the UAE. He has also composed music for Bollywood, including songs for the 2020 film Shikara, and has worked on documentaries and Kashmiri-language films. Beyond performance, he led the Music Initiative of Abhay Rustum Sopori, working with the Jammu and Kashmir government to introduce formal music education in the region's schools and colleges.

His honors include the Sangeet Natak Akademi's Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar (2006), the Bharat Shiromani Award (2010), Top Grade Artist status from All India Radio (2019), and the Mahatma Gandhi Seva Medal (2020).