Pillai returns with ‘regular partners’ to spread music
A permanent duo: Ashan Pillai (left) and Juan Carlos Conelles
Ashan Pillai is a globally acclaimed violist. And Colombo highly esteems this Sri Lankan-born British musician. He will perform at the Lionel Wendt on August 2 with Juan Carlos Conelles (piano) and Joana Thome (mezzo soprano) to raise funds for The Sunshine Charity. The concert will also mark an important milestone in the relationship between Pillai’s musical career and Colombo’s audience for classical music: the 20th anniversary of the violist’s first performance in this city.
“I love playing in Sri Lanka, seeing family and helping a good cause,” Pillai says.
The Sri Lankan-born British violist last performed in Sri Lanka five years ago as a soloist with the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka and The Commonwealth Resounds at the Commonwealth Festival Orchestra Concert in November 2013.
“This time it is special because I’m playing with my regular partners,” he says, “and the programme is especially attractive.”
Pillai met pianist Juan Carlos Conelles and his wife, mezzo soprano Joana Thome, at a festival in Malaga, Spain, in 2009. The violist and pianist started performing together and have been “a permanent duo” since then, with multiple recording collaborations.
“There is a special chemistry between us,” Pillai says, “and I am very happy to find, after many collaborations with pianists, my very own chamber partner.”
Pillai was keen that Conelles and his wife have an opportunity to experience Sri Lanka and get to know its beauty.
There were no “limits” on selection of music for the 2nd of August, Pillai points out, adding that the pieces, including Bach, Brahms and Glinka have been selected based purely on audience appreciation. “It was an obvious choice to programme the gorgeous Brahms songs with Joana,” he says.
The programme also includes an 18th century work by Spanish composer Felipe de los Rios written in the Royal Palace, Madrid. This is one of eleven sonatas which Pillai has rediscovered, edited and recorded with Conelles.
“In theory, it should be a very listening-friendly concert,” he guarantees.
In the last 20 years Pillai has contributed not a little to the development of Western Classical music in Sri Lanka through performances, helping bring international artists to the country, and through numerous workshops and educational programmes for young people.
Born in Sri Lanka in 1969 and educated at Merchant Taylor’s School in England, Pillai studied music at the Royal Academy of Music, London and graduated with first class honours in viola performance. He then continued his studies at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Julliard School in New York and the Banff Center for the Arts, Canada. He has won numerous international competitions and played at prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall and Weill Hall early on in his career.
In February 1998 the English Chamber Orchestra travelled to Colombo to perform for Prince Charles as part of the grand 50th anniversary celebration of Sri Lanka’s independence. Pillai had been assistant principal viola since 1994. Twenty years ago, in February, Pillai gave his first performance in Colombo: Vivaldi’s Viola Concerto in D. The twenty-nine-year-old, in a “stylish red jacket” gave “an entrancing virtuoso performance,” wrote Hussain Saibo for The Sunday Times on February 15, 1998.
After the first taste of what he could contribute to Sri Lanka’s music sphere, January 1999, just under a year later, Pillai was back in Sri Lanka. This time he not only performed in Colombo, but also conducted workshops in Kandy and Colombo with pianist Rohan De Silva.
It took three years for another appearance to take place. In the interim, Pillai was appointed Principal Viola with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and Professor of viola in the Conservatoire Superior in Barcelona.
In 2002, Pillai returned to Colombo with Rohan de Silva and a focus on sharing their common gift of music. The duo brought with them Indian-born violinist Jagdish Mistry and Spanish cellist Damian Martinez for two nights of Mozart, Brahms, Britten and other classical composers at the Lionel Wendt. The proceeds from the concerts facilitated a Music Development project geared towards introducing children between the ages of 7 and 12 to an international music environment. The four musicians conducted workshops, in the first phase, in Kurunegala, Kandy, Panadura and Colombo, in partnership with the British Council and the Western Music Department of the Ministry of Education.
In 2005 Pillai was invited to join the Zukerman Chamber Players, following which he was recorded prolifically as a soloist and as a chamber musician.
It was August 2009 when the violist next performed in Colombo, this time with Eshantha Peiris. The event was the first of two shows titled “Intimate Conversations for Viola and Piano”. The programme featured works by Bach, Schubert, Schumann, Telemann and Weber. The second set was performed by the duo in September 2011, and included works for piano and viola by Beethoven and Vivaldi among others.
The 2009 concert with Peiris was also the first time that Pillai played in aid of The Sunshine Charity.
“Unfortunately, that concert did not raise funds, and I was determined to return and have another try,” Pillai explains. This is why he reached out to the Trust’s Sharadha de Saram earlier this year about another fundraiser.
The Sunshine Charity functions on an ethic that goes beyond money-based philanthropy into an extension of the concept of “shramadana”. Donations come in the form of money, time and energy and the roles of benefactor and beneficiary are interchangeable.
“I would like to go personally and see Sunshine’s work and meet the people, maybe even play for them,” Pillai says, true to the spirit of the cause he performs for.
Ashan Pillai (viola) will perform in aid of The Sunshine Charity, with Juan Carlos (piano) and Joana Thome (mezzo soprano) at the Lionel Wendt Theatre on August 2 at 7.30pm. Tickets are now available at the Lionel Wendt box office.