Internationally renowned musicians, Menaka De Fonseka Sahabandu and Soundarie David will present an evening of classical music on Friday, November 21 at 7 pm at the Alliance Francaise Auditorium.

Menaka, a Fellow of the Trinity College, London and a Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music in both piano and singing, has been a frequent soloist with the Symphony Orchestra since her debut in 1989 playing Saint Saens' 2nd Piano Concerto in G minor. She has also been soloist with the Orchestra in Handel's "Messiah”, Saint Saens' "Christmas Oratorio", Marriage of Figaro, Don Pasquale, Die Fledermaus and works by Deva Surya Sena to name but a few. More recently she has been involved in fusion music for sitar and voice. This year she was invited by the Neemrana Foundation to perform the role of Frasquita in the opera Carmen in New Delhi. Menaka also plays the violin with the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka.

Menaka	Soundarie

She has been a winner of the Sawasangeetha scholarship for western music presented by the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute and the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation in 1987/88. In recognition of her contribution to western music in Sri Lanka she was a recipient of the Award of Excellence in Music presented by the SMRC Women's Association in 2002.

Soundarie David began her musical career at the age of four where she trained locally under the guidance of the late Ms. Mary Billimoria, and later with Ms. Ramya De Livera Perera.

Having completed high school, she was selected to enter the Colombo Law Faculty, and simultaneously was awarded a place to pursue a musical career at the prestigious Royal College of Music in London. She chose to pursue her music first and studied under Patricia Carroll and John Blakely at the Royal College of Music, where she played an active role both as performer and accompanist participating in the prestigious Piano Platform series.

She has worked with many vocal coaches, such as Margaret Cable, Neil Jenkins, and Neil Mackay. As a soloist, Soundarie has performed both locally and internationally specializing more on the romantic repertoire.