An “Evening of Piano Music with Deepani” will be held at the auditorium of the British School at 7 p.m. on Friday, August 15 with Canadian pianist Deepani de Alwis in her first recital in Sri Lanka. She will be performing in support of the charity “Educate a Child Trust”.
Baritone Rohan de Lanerolle and Tenor Srimanthaka Senanayake will make appearences as guest artistes.
Deepani was born to Sri Lankan parents in Edmonton, Alberta and accompanied them when they returned to Sri Lanka. She studied at Ladies’ College, Colombo, the Colombo International School, and St. George’s English School in Rome, Italy, where her father, Dr. Kingsley de Alwis, served with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization for many years.
Deepani started her musical studies at the age of four under the tutelage of her mother, Ranjani de Alwis, a piano teacher. She subsequently studied piano under the late Erin Abeysundera while she was in Sri Lanka and the Russian pianist, Leon Harshanin during her stay in Rome.
She entered the University of Glasgow and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD), Scotland, where she obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Musical Studies, specializing in Performance, with piano as her major instrument and voice as her second. She was awarded the prestigious T. G. More Scholarship for postgraduate studies and went on to obtain the Postgraduate Diploma in Pianoforte from the RSAMD the following year. She returned to Rome for a while but went back to Canada and currently lives in Toronto, Canada.
Deepani has also obtained a number of professional qualifications, including: Fellow of the Trinity College of Music (FTCL), London; Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music (LRSM), London; and Licentiate of the Trinity College of Music (LTCL), London.Deepani has had wide experience in performing, as soloist, accompanist and in Chamber groups. She made her professional debut as soloist with the Glasgow Chamber Orchestra, playing Schumann's popular Piano Concerto. Since then she has given numerous public concerts in Rome and other Italian cities.
From here, Deepani goes to London where she gives a solo performance at the Regent Hall in Oxford Street in aid of the charity, “Medical Aid to Sri Lanka”. |
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