Pandit Samir Chatterjee travels widely across the world in numerous festivals throughout the year performing as a soloist or with other outstanding musicians from both Indian and Western traditions. His compositions are widely acclaimed as well as his writings.
Pandit Chatterjee began his studies early with Pandit Bankim Ghosh, Pandit Balaram Mukherjee, Pandit Rathin Dhar, and Mohammad Salim. His later formation as a musician occurred under the guidance of Pandit Amalesh Chatterjee (since 1966) and Pandit Shyamal Bose (since 1984). All of Pandit Chaterjee's teachers have been from the Farrukhabad Gharana (school) of tabla playing, which he now represents.
All India Radio maintains Pandit Chatterjee as an A-rated artist. He can be heard on numerous recordings as a featured soloist, accompanying many of India's greatest musicians, and in collaboration with Western musicians of outstanding caliber. In concert Pandit Chatterjee has accompanied many of India's greatest musicians including Pt. Ravi Shankar, Ud. Vilayat Khan, Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, Pt. Jasraj, Pt. Nikhil Banerjee, Pt. V.G. Jog, Pt. Shivkumar Sharma, Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, Pt. Brij Bhusan Kabra, M.S. Gopalakrishnan, Ud. Amjad Ali Khan, Ud. Salamat Ali Khan, Ud. Sultan Khan, Ud. Munawar Ali Khan, Smt. Lakshmi Shankar, Smt. Prabha Atre, Pt. Gour Goswami, Pt. Vijay Raghav Rao, Pt. G.S. Sachdev, Pt. Raghunath Seth, Ud. Bahadur Khan, Pt. Shyam Ganguly, Pt. Budhhadev Dasgupta, Pt. Manilal Nag, Ud. Ashis Khan, Shujat Khan, Ajoy Chakraborty, Rashid Khan, Tejendra Narayan Mazumdar, and Debashish Bhattacharya, to name only a few.
Pandit Chatterjee lives in New York, where he has become a catalyst in the fusion of Indian and Western music, performing with Pauline Oliveros, Ravi Coltrane, Dave Douglas, Myra Melford, Steve Gorn, Glen Velez, Boby Sanabria, Ben Verdery, William Parker, Dance Theater of Harlem, Ethos Percussion group, Da Capo Chamber Orchestra, Boston Musica Viva, and other jazz and avant garde musicians. He is a member of several jazz trios: Sync with Ned Rothenberg and Jerome Harris, and Manodharma with Rudresh Mahanthappa and Vijay Iyer. He is the composer and director of Nacho Nacho - Gypsy Storyteller and Chhand-Anand, World percussion Ensemble. He performs with Sanjay Mishra on his CD Blue Incantation, which also features Jerry Garcia as guest artist.
Pandit Chatterjee has been teaching for the last 25 years and many of his students are established performers. He is the Founder-Director of Chhandayan, an organization dedicated to promoting and preserving Indian music and culture by conducting classes and workshops, organizing concerts, maintaining a library, and running a store.
Pandit Chatterjee also has a career as a musicologist and journalist, contributing to many different newspapers and periodicals. He won the gold medal for his proficiency in a musical examination that is equivalent to a Bachelor of Music degree. He has two Masters degrees to his credit, in English and in History.