About
The True School of Music

Ashu, as he is fondly referred to as, is a multi-instrumentalist performer and producer. With over 15 contemporary music albums in the last two decades to his name, he is a much-in demand composer in the advertising and films circles.

He has composed music for over 4,000 television commercials and soundtrack for over 10 feature films, including critically acclaimed films like the Mahesh Bhatt-directed Tamanna (1997), Kaizad Gustad’s unorthodox Hindi comedy Bombay Boys (1998), the Rahul Bose-starrer White Noise (2004) and acclaimed documentary, Fire in the Blood (2013) which premiered at the celebrated Sundance Film Festival in 2013 where it was nominated for the Grand Jury prize. Hollywood Reporter referred to Ashu’s music for the documentary as “effective and graceful music adding to the power and poignancy of the theme”. The last Bollywood feature film which he composed music for ‘Zubaan’ premiered at the Busan Film Festival in 2015 and was released mid 2016. He recently completed music for ‘Ashram’ a film released in March 2018.

A popular figure on the live music scene in India plus a regular at the festival circuit, Ashu has also performed at the popular and highly respected Mahindra Blues Festival, Sulafest, NH7 festival, Sunburn as well as international festivals such as South by South West (SXSW) to mention a few.

He is also one of the founding partners of BlueFrog, a brand that single-handedly changed the face of the live independent music scene in India with clubs in Pune and Bangalore.Ashu has been at the forefront of the change that has swept across the music landscape in India in the past eight years.

Ashu has been a speaker at two TEDx talks organized in Mumbai, one of which was the TEDx Bandra organised by American School Bombay. Currently he is also a faculty member at True School of Music where he teaches Music in Advertising.

In 2017 Ashu co-founded The Quarter a unique concept consisting of a live music club and an al fresco restaurant nestled in Mumbai’s heritage Royal Opera House. Programming included the best of Jazz, Indie, Folk, World etc and specially curated one of a kind collaborations.

He lives in Mumbai, India along with his dogs Bowie and Prince

After passing out of St. Stephens College in 1998, Nitin tried his hand at his family business for about 3 years, in the city of Coimbatore. When he realised that he wanted to do more with his life, he decided to take the plunge with music & sound which he was passionate about, from when he was a young boy. He did a Diploma in Audio Engineering from the School of Audio Engineering (SAE) and moved to Mumbai in 2002. He was fortunate to be part of Smoke Music Production a Music Production house set up by Ashutosh Phatak and Dhruv Ghanekar. Nitin gained a lot of experience and had the opportunity to work with some of the leading musicians in the music industry, which included the likes of Taufiq Qureshi, Ranjit Barot, Mahalaxmi Iyer, Vishal & Shekar, Sivamani, etc. He also worked on some leading brands like Coca Cola, Pepsi, Vodafone, P&G, Unilever, etc.

In 2007, Nitin was part of the original team that set up the Blue Frog NightClub and the Blue Frog Studios. He soon became the CTO of Blue Frog. All the while still working in the studio, constantly expanding his work portfolio and the people he worked with. Working in Blue Frog created opportunities for Nitin to work with artists like Ilaya Raja, A.R. Rahman, Shankar, Ehsaan & Loy, Richard Bona, etc. He also worked on the releases of at least 4 to 5 music albums, released by the Blue Frog label.

In 2012, Nitin found it to be an opportune time to move on from Blue Frog and set up The True School of Music along with Ashutosh Phatak who he worked with before, at Blue Frog and Smoke Music Productions. As the managing director of the company, Nitin provides support and direction to the team that makes True School run on an everyday basis.

Gianluca Liberatore was born in Palermo, Sicily. The Italian island is the major in the Mediterranean sea and it has always been hosting an astonishing mix of cultures. The search for diversity became for Gianluca an important feature in his musical experience.He started playing the guitar at the age of 12 and the bass guitar at 14. Discovering the music of Bill Evans brought him in contact with jazz music and, consecutively, with double bass playing.Gianluca studied in Italy at the Brass Group and the Open Jazz School of Mimmo Cafiero, attending masterclasses and having lessons with Harvie S, Reuben Rogers, Eric Revis, Eddie Gomez, Clark Cables, Gregory Hutchinson and others.In 2010 he moved to the Netherlands, where he studied at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam under the guide of Frans van der Hoeven. In the four years of Bachelor program he got in touch with a variety of genres and musicians. Results of these years of studies and collaborations are performances in a number of festivals in Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland.Has performed alongside Ronal Douglas, Deborah Carter, Bob Stoloff during the summer jazz workshop at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. In 2013 he released a record with the Australian leader, composer and saxophone player Gemma Farrell.As an educator Gianluca has been teaching bass guitar, double bass, music theory, songwriting, ensembles, and pedagogic subjects.

Nilesh brings nearly two decades of professional experience in higher education from leadership roles he held both in India and abroad. He leads curriculum strategy, learning technology, quality assurance, accreditations, institutional partnerships, and new business opportunities at True School. Nilesh spent 15 years in Malaysia, leading the design, delivery and quality assurance of undergraduate and TVET courses in music, music production, music business and sound engineering in collaboration with leading UK universities and the Berklee College of Music, Boston. He has extensive experience in designing Occupational Standards and Outcome-Based Learning models aligned to the Malaysian Qualifications Framework, the British QAA framework and the National Skills Qualifications Framework of India. Alongside his academic capacity, Nilesh actively maintains his professional profile as a sound engineer through recording and live music productions.

Nilesh is an MESC certified Master Trainer for Sound Engineering, an Apple Distinguished Educator (ADE) recognised for the use of technology in music education, and an Avid Certified Instructor (ACI) for Pro Tools. He serves as the committee member representing South and Southeast Asia in the Popular Music Education Special Interest Group of the International Society of Music Educators (ISME). Nilesh holds a master’s degree with distinction in Music Technology from the University of Newcastle, Australia, and a first-class degree in Electronics from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala.