She began her training in carnatic music at a young age under the tutelage of Smt. Rajalakshmi and then under Smt. Padma Veeraraghavan, a disciple of Palaghat Sri. K. V. Narayanaswamy. She was also trained in various kritis by Smt. Rukmini Ramani, Sri. V. Subramaniam and Smt. Lakshmi Natarajan. Her advanced training was under Acharya Choodamani Late Sri. A. Sundaresan. He was an outstanding musician and a dedicated Guru.
Gayathri is presently under the guidance of Padma Bhushan Sri. P. S. Narayanaswamy. Gayathri Venkataraghavan is an 'A' grade accredited artiste of All India Radio. She won the All India Radio National level competition in 1993. Her regular performances for All India Radio include a prestigious National Broadcast in 2006. She has sung various themes for Archival purposes for All India Radio.
She has performed for Doordarshan national and regional telecasts, and for various other television channels. She has had the honour of anchoring a documentary feature "Engum Nirai Nada Bhrahmam", a tribute to the immortal icon of carnatic music, Bharat Ratna Smt. M. S. Subbulakshmi for Doordarshan and anchoring the Thiruvaiyaru Aradhana for Doordarshan for two years.
The concert prizes that she has won by the Grace of Almighty at the Music Academy conference include:
She has been performing regularly at various centres in India. Her performances abroad include ones at the Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival in 2005, 2008 and 2009 at Ohio State, USA and Toronto in Canada. She also performed at the Singapore Fine Arts Annual Festival at Singapore in February 2007. She has also toured the United States and Canada extensively for a concert tour in September and October 2007.
In 2003, she was awarded the Kalki Krishnamoorthy Award and in the same year she was given the Nada Oli title by Nada Inbam, Chennai. She was awarded the CMANA Award instituted by Carnatic Music Association of North America Inc., New Jersey in USA.
She won the Ramachandran Award by Hamsadwani, Chennai. In 2008, she was awarded the Shanmuka Sangita Shironmani title by Sri Shanmukhananda Fine Arts and Sangeetha Sabha, Mumbai. and Isai Peroli title from Karthik Fine Arts, Chennai. She has also been awarded the Vasantha Sresta and Bharath Ratna M. S. Subhulakshmi Awards in 2009.
She was an office bearer and Treasurer of YACM (Youth Association for Classical Music) a premier youth organization. She is a commerce graduate and a post graduate of Business Economics.
A number of her albums have been released by Charsur Digital Work Station and other companies.