Shivakumar, whose worship at the shrine of music started when he was six, is a violinist of rare mould. Initiated by his mother in Carnatic vocal music, he also learnt violin under Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar, a master of the Hindustani system.

Later, he was given advanced Carnatic training by his guru Tiruchi Swaminatha Iyer. Such vigorous training has given Shivakumar, mastery over both systems of Indian music.

Winner of many awards, Shivakumar was at one time the staff artiste of Pt. Ravi Shankar's "Kinnara School of Music". In 1976, he won the Sur Mani award and is an A grade artiste of the All India Radio for both Carnatic and Hindustani music.

He has accompanied Dr. Balamurali Krishna to Rome for a recital and also to Kuwait in 1998. Shivakumar has toured several other countries including UK, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, etc.

Besides being a regular performer at AIR, Shivakumar is also a music teacher.