is the founder of the Turtle Island Quartet.

After graduating from UCLA in 1976 with a B.A. in music composition and violin, he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he quickly established his reputation as a talented young improvising violinist, appearing on many recordings and making guest appearances with the David Grisman Quartet and jazz violin legend Stephane Grappelli. In 1981 he undertook a master's degree program in music composition at Antioch University West, where his groundbreaking work integrating stylistic elements of jazz, European classical, American folk and Indian classical music led to the creation of the Turtle Island Quartet in the fall of 1985.

His tenure with TIQ has included several recordings on labels such as Windham Hill, Chandos, Koch and Telarc, which released their most recent CD, 2008 Grammy winning “A Love Supreme: The Legacy Of John Coltrane.” Their previous Telarc release, “4+Four,” in collaboration with the Ying Quartet, also won a Grammy in the same category, Classical Crossover, in 2006. Balakrishnan has also himself received two GRAMMY nominations in the category of best instrumental arrangement, the first for his arrangement of Dizzy Gillespie's "A Night In Tunisia" from TIQ's first recording, and the second for his arrangement of “You’ve Changed,” from their 2002 release Danzón, featuring clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera. Other TIQ credits include soundtracks for major motion pictures, TV and radio credits such as the Today Show and All Things Considered, feature articles in People and Newsweek magazines, and collaborations with famed artists such as The Manhattan Transfer, pianists Billy Taylor and Kenny Barron, the Ying Quartet and the Parsons Dance Company.

Balakrishnan has been awarded numerous composing grants, both from private sources such as conductor Marin Alsop, who commissioned his piece for violin and orchestra, “Little Mouse Jumps,” as well as national service organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts and Meet The Composer foundations. In 2005 he received a MTC/ASOL “Music Alive” three year extended residency with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra, for which he is composing six orchestral works. The NCO also commissioned Balakrishnan's composition “Darkness Dreaming,” which premiered in April 2004 with guitarists Sharon Isbin and John Jorgenson. His piece, “Spider Dreams” (1992), has been widely performed and recorded throughout the world by a diverse array of musical organizations, including a live recording by Turtle Island with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra conducted by Neeme Järvi on Chandos Records. A 2002 commission awarded by a consortium of presenters headed by the Lied Center of Kansas City resulted in a string octet entitled “Mara’s Garden Of False Delights,” which is featured on Turtle Island Quartet’s Grammy winning Telarc release, “4 plus Four.” His most recent commission is again from the Lied Center, who received a Creative Campus grant from the Duke foundation, for which Balakrishnan is composing a full-length work involving theatre, dance, video, and Turtle Island with the KU wind ensemble that is an artistic response to the social issues concerning the various theories of evolution, both scientific and cultural, entitled “The Tree Of Life.”