Yella Venkateswara Rao is an Indian classical musician and percussionist, considered by many as one of the leading exponents of Mridangam, an ancient Indian percussion instrument. He has performed as an accompanist to such renowned musicians as M. S. Subbulakshmi, Ravi Shankar, Chembai, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, M. Balamuralikrishna, L. Subramaniam, K. J. Yesudas, Amjad Ali Khan, Hariprasad Chaurasia and Bhimsen Joshi. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2008, for his contributions to music.