Uppalapu Srinivas (28 February 1969 – 19 September 2014) was an Indian mandolin player in Carnatic classical music and composer.

[9] Upon realizing the talent of his son, his father, who had studied classical music, bought him a new mandolin,[9] and started teaching him.

[11] When Srinivas gave his first performance it led to him being compared to the world's greatest prodigies: "Some of you have heard or read about exceptionally gifted children, our own Mandolin Srinivas, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Beethoven, Sir Isaac Newton, Picasso, Madam Curie, the list is endless.

[2] He made his debut public Carnatic concert performance in 1978 during the Thyagaraja Aradhana festival at Gudivada in Andhra Pradesh.

Thereafter, at age eleven, in 1981, he gave his first public concert in Chennai at the Indian Fine Arts Society during the December Music Season, and never looked back.

[15] "Collaborating with him (U.Srinivas) was one of the greatest experiences of my life, and I have played with the greatest" He was the first musician to use the electric mandolin in Carnatic music: he modified the electric western instrument, using five single strings instead of the traditional four doubled strings to suit the Carnatic pitch, raga system, and especially gamakas, or nuanced oscillations.

[21] He played at the Olympic Arts Festival, Barcelona in 1992[17] and in 1995 recorded a successful fusion album with Michael Brook.

In 2008, they collaborated again with John Mclaughlin for the album Samjanitha, which also featured Zakir Hussain, Sivamani, and George Brook.

[29] Srinivas has trained almost a hundred students worldwide, many of whom have studied with him and U. Rajesh for as long as ten years.

That instrument was a 'standard' Western mandolin; however, he made modifications to suit his playing style over the course of his musical career.

[5] The couple had a son, Sai Krishna (also known as Naani Krissh, a director who made his directorial debut with Opperah in 2017), and were divorced in 2012.

In 2008, U Srinivas released Samjanitha featuring Debashish Bhattacharya (Lap Steel Guitar), John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain, Sivamani, Vikku Vinaykram, Dominique Piazza Michael Brook, U Rajesh and others.