વિજય કોપરકર

Early life and education
Vijay Koparkar hails from Pune. His father was a renowned Kirtankar. He had a brother who was a successful dermatologist. Koparkar attended the Maharashtra education societies, Perugate Bhave school. Later he obtained a master's degree in Engineering (Metallurgy) from the College of Engineering, Pune and runs a small-scale manufacturing plant.

He started his musical training at the age of eight. His first musical Guru (teacher) for eight years was Madhusudan Patwardhan. This was followed by training under renowned artist of yesteryear, Vasantrao Deshpande for five years and then under Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki for seven years.

Career
Vijay Koparkar has been trained by gurus belonging to different gharanas (schools of music), and it reflects in his singing. He has received several honors including a scholarship given by Master Sudhir Phadke Through ‘Surashree Pratishthan’ for six years from 1983 to 1990 and the ‘Pandit Ramkrishna Vaze Puraskar’ by Gandharva Mahamandal.

Vijay Koparkar has performed all over the world, including the US, Canada, the Middle East, Paris and UK. He performed twice at the prestigious ‘Sawai Gandharva Music Festival’ held in Pune, India every year.

He is a graded artist at All India Radio and Indian Television.[clarification needed]

Students
Vijay Koparkar has been imparting music lessons for many years. Among his students are vocalists, Senior Disciples Saurabh Deshpande, Lalit Deshpande, Ishwar Ghorpade, Mandar Gadgil, Mandar Phatak, Hrishikesh Ranade, Prajakta Ranade,[7] son Tejas and daughter Shruti.