The Sunday Times Mirror - Proving their prowess

As a year dedicated to children and marking the 250th birth anniversary of the prodigy composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the Institute of Western Music and Speech (IWMS), presented the ‘Young Musician of the Year – 2006’ contest at the Russian Centre, last Saturday (16).

The IWMS – a premier examining body for over 45 years in Sri Lanka conducts various programmes annually to encourage the participation of children and young adults in performance related activities in music and speech. This event, one of their main annual events, received an overwhelming response from potential contestants for the preliminary rounds.

Young pianists, vocalists and violinists (below the age of 21) took to the stage to display their prowess at what they do best! Having been judged under the categories Primary, Junior, Intermediate and Senior, the most coveted award of the night ‘Young Musician of the Year – 2006’ presented to the most outstanding performer at the contest, was won by the talented young violinist Satish Casie Chetty. He also bagged the ‘Best Senior Violinist’ and the ‘Overall Best Violinist Awards,’ at the contest.

A product of S. Thomas’ College (STC) Mount Lavinia, the musical scientist/ doctor-to-be, Satish (17), has quite a number of commitments to juggle in order to strike a balance between them all. So much so that he participated at the All–Island Inter-School Scrabble Tournament, just before the ‘Young Musician of the Year’ contest, which made him run straight from one to another. “I was thrilled to win the ‘Young Musician of the Year’ award, as I didn’t really expect to win. I just did my best and I guess it paid off,” he said modestly.

A first year Bio student and captain of the college Scrabble Club, he's got his hands full just managing schoolwork, tuition classes and tournaments. As if he didn’t already have enough on his plate, Satish also plays squash whenever he finds the time, he said laughing. He’s also a member of the Classical Music Association at STC, which tries to promote classical music among the students, he explained. The association organises singing both school and inter-school music-related competitions and quizzes too, to promote classical music, he added.

Apart from the obvious musicality running in the family, with a great violinist in his grandmother and a very able pianist in his sister (who also accompanies him at concerts and exams), he also related a little tale about how his interest in the violin first began. “It was during this concert we sang at, when we were in the lower school – I remember how some older boys used to accompany us on violin. Having developed a sudden interest in the instrument, I used to just fiddle around with it during practices,” he said reminiscing.

About a year later when he was just ten, he started classes with musical maestro, Ananda Dabare and has never looked back since.

Having been awarded many prizes for his performance at the Royal School of Music Examinations, his prowess in the musical field is quite apparent.

He later joined the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka (SOSL) in 2002 and even led the Orchestra, at their concert in 2005. He has also performed at several public concerts both as a soloist and as part of chamber orchestras, including the Krasna Orchestra and the Camerata Musica. He also participated in the bi-annual Concerto Competition organised by the SOSL in 2004.

He says that it’s imperative that he practices daily as he needs to keep in constant touch or else run the risk of getting rusty, he said smiling. “After studying for a few hours, I simply pick up my violin and play, so I can just take my mind off everything and relax,” he said.

Liking many composers such as Brahms and Tchaikovsky and even some modern classical composers, Satish also enjoys listening to movie soundtracks like that of Star Wars, he said, adding, “some movies have some really good soundtracks.” “I try and keep in touch with the movie scene as far as possible and also enjoy watching certain TV series like Lost and House etc.,” he said.

“I couldn't have done anything though if not for my family, from taking me to practice to supporting me throughout. I can’t forget all the encouragement my grandparents gave me to pursue the violin, as it was actually them that found me a teacher,” he said gratefully.