TOP SRI LANKAN PIANIST to perform in Colombo

Internationally acclaimed Sri Lankan pianist Shani Diluka Abeygoonaratne will come alive in Colombo in October.

Alliance Francaise de Colombo has invited Shani Diluka, who lives in France and her husband Eric Couturier, one of the finest players of Cello to perform in Sri Lanka and they will be here in October.

'The date and the venue will be finalised shortly' a spokesperson from Alliance Francaise said.

From Paris to Tokyo or Rome to New Delhi, Shani Diluka has a special and warmly acclaimed place in the musical world.

Born in Monacco, of Sri Lankan origin, Shani accepted unanimously into the Conservatoire National Superior de Musique in Paris and recognised by the great musicians of today such as Leon Fleisher, Murray Perahia, Christoph Eschenbach, Maria Joao Pires and Menahem Pressler.

She was admitted in 2005 to the prestigious International Piano Academy in lake Como presided by Martha Argerich for which only six pianists from around the world are selected each year. Her recording of Mozart by Radio France was selected to represent France and has been broadcast on 150 radios in more than 25 countries including USA and Canada for the Mozart commemoration year.

Shani Diluka will release a Mirare /Harmonia-mundi recording of the Grieg concerto and Lyrical pieces recorded on Grieg's piano in Norway, which will be presented on a world concert tour in 2007 with prestigious orchestras.

Shani's husband Éric-Maria Couturier is a specialist in cello. Born in 1972, Éric-Maria Couturier studied cello and chamber music at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and graduated with the jury's unanimous highest honors.

He has distinguished himself as prizewinner at several international competitions (Rostropovitch, Trapani, Trieste, and Florence) and has been awarded scholarships by the Natexis and Pendleton Foundations. He was a member of the Orchestre de Paris and solo cellist at the Orchestre National de Bordeaux-Aquitaine, before joining the Ensemble intercontemporain in 2002. He shares his quest for new forms of expression with ensembles such as Arcema, Carpediem, and Multilatérale.

Éric-Maria has performed chamber music alongside top names in the field such as Tabea Zimmermann, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Jean-Claude Pennetier, Christian Ivaldi, Gérard Caussé, Régis Pasquier and Jean-Guihen Queyras.

His growth has been profoundly shaped by encounters with Pierre Boulez, Wolfgang Sawallish, Carlo Maria Giulini, György Kurtág, and Peter Eötvös, as well as by delving into works by Iannis Xenakis, Luciano Berio and Franco Donatoni.

His studies of Indian music with Patrick Moutal have stimulated him to probe the relationship between contemporary composition and improvisation.