Manasa Nayana is a front runner among the current generation of classical musicians hailing from Karnataka. Whether it is trying out new lyrical material at concerts or exploring new spaces to perform, Manasa Nayana is always up for a challenge. These have resulted in him trying out exclusive concerts based on the poems of Kannada poets, as well as performing in spaces such as old age homes, high schools, palliative care centres, and even the central jail of Mysore.

Manasa Nayana was trained initially by Vid. S K Vasumathi, one of the pioneers of the Sugama Sangeetha movement. Her innovative training methods enabled Manasa Nayana to graduate very quickly from learning compositions to improvising. Manasa Nayana continued his training with Vid. Vairamangalam Lakshminarayana at Chennai. It was the training with two of the celebrated masters – Padmabhushana Dr. R K Srikantan and Sangeetha Kalanidhi Dr. R Vedavalli, that firmly established Manasa’s outlook in music. Rich repertoire of compositions, adherence to tradition, and clear diction – these are some of the qualities that Manasa Nayana has imbibed from these masters and incorporated into his own art.