Tanya excels on pianoforte
Sri Lankan musician enthralls London :
The Program
Bach : -
Prelude and Fugue No. 7 in E flat major, BWV 852
Beethoven : -
Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major, Op. 28 (Pastoral)
Ravel : - Jeux
d’eau
Ekanayaka : -
Adahas: Of Wings of Roots
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Tanya Ilangakkone |
Tanya Ilangakkone-Ekanayaka, one of Sri Lanka’s leading concert
pianists will be giving a solo piano recital at St Martin-in-the-Fields
in London, a premier international classical music venue in the world as
part of its ‘Pianists of the World’ series on July 30. She is the first
Sri Lankan to ever give a solo piano recital at St Martin-in-the-Fields.
Her program includes Bach’s Prelude and Fugue No. 7 in E flat major, BWV
852, Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major, Op. 28 (Pastoral), Jeux
d’eau by Ravel and concludes with the world premier of her own
composition ‘Adahas: of Wings of Roots’.
Founded by Dame Myra Hess, ‘Pianists of the World’ is one of the
longest running recital series of St Martin-in-the-Fields. The series
aims to showcase outstanding pianistic talent from across the globe.
Classical music
The musical history of St Martin-in-the-Fields stret- ches back to
performances by Handel and Mozart through to the founding of the Academy
of St Martin in the Fields by Sir Neville Marriner in the 1950s.
St Martin’s has been regularly hosting some of the great names in
classical music including James Bowman, Sir James Galway, Sir Neville
Marriner, Dame Emma Kirkby, Ton Koopman, Stephen Layton Robert Tear and
Raphael Wallfisch and ensembles including the Amsterdam Baroque
Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Academy of St Martin
in the Fields, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Holst Singers and Vasari
Singers.
Tanya began studying the piano at the age of five, making her first
public recital appearance at the age of twelve and has since performed
widely as soloist and accompanist. In Sri Lanka, she studied the piano
under the tutelage of her mother and later with Bridget Halpe. She is a
Fellow of the Trinity College of London (FTCL), a Licentiate of the
Associated Board of The Royal Schools of Music (LRSM), and the Guildhall
School of Music and Drama (LGSMD), which awarded her the Professional
Performer’s Diploma (PPD) upon graduating with distinction.
Young prodigy
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St Martin-in-the-Fields in London |
At 16, Tanya was the youngest competitor and joint winner of the
Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka’s Concerto Competition (Pianoforte) and
later performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto K.488 with the same orchestra.
Tanya gave her debut solo piano recital in 2002. Her final recital in
Sri Lanka shortly before moving to the UK in 2006 upon being awarded the
University of Edinburgh Principal’s Scholarship for postgraduate studies
in Linguistics was as soloist with the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka
where she performed Schuman’s Piano Concerto in A Minor Op.54.
Tanya is also a university lecturer in Linguistics in the Department
of English at the University of Peradeniya. In 2006 she was awarded the
University of Edinburgh ‘Principal’s Scholarship’ to purse an MSc degree
in Linguistics. She was awarded the degree (with distinction for her
thesis) in 2007 and has since been pursuing a PhD in Linguistics also at
The University of Edinburgh, UK. Her doctoral research is
multidisciplinary combining both Linguistics and Music.
Academic career
In between her doctoral research Tanya engages in part time teaching
for the University of Edinburgh’s departments of Linguistics and Music
and has also performed for the Edinburgh Society of Musicians and at
other venues in the city. Forthcoming recitals include a solo piano
recital organized by the University of Edinburgh at its Reid Concert
Hall later this year. Improvising through integrating tonal with a-tonal
and a-rhythmic styles of music is among Tanya’s strong pianistic
interests. |
