Mysore Venkatesha Doreswamy Iyengar (1920–1997) was a Carnatic musician and one of the greatest exponents of the veena in modern Indian history.

[1][2] Doreswamy Iyengar was born to a Tamil brahmin family in Gaddavalli, a village in Hassan of the erstwhile Kingdom of Mysore (in the present-day Karnataka State of India).

He then passed the examination in advanced theory of Western music conducted by the Trinity College London and at 16, was nominated the court musician of Mysore, the youngest to win the honour.

Iyengar, who was never interested in studies, managed to secure a Bachelor of Arts degree from Maharaja's College, Mysore, with the help of his friend, R. K. Narayan.

He was reluctant to carry on considering the bureaucratic and organisational demands of the post, and that he perform for the AIR at need, alongside auditioning and selecting musicians for the same.

However, he was persuaded to stay by Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, who was a chief producer with the AIR based in Madras (now Chennai), assuring him of flexible hours and fewer burdens of administration.

Iyendar put together Gita Bharati for the AIR, Bangalore, which juxtaposed the compositions of Tyagaraja and Muthuswami Dikshitar with the Bengali songs of Rabindranath Tagore, based on their musical structure.

[citation needed] Iyengar's son Balakrishna recalled that despite his father being "a purist, he listened to western music and Fritz Kreisler was one of his favorites.