Dr. Tanya Ekanayaka, one of Sri Lanka’s premiere concert pianists, a composer, musicologist and linguist will be giving a solo piano recital at London’s St. Martin-in-the-Fields on 13th November at 1pm. This is the second time she has been invited to perform at this prestigious venue, the first being when she was invited to give a solo recital in 2010 for one of the oldest recital series of St. Martin-in-the-Fields founded by dame Myra Hess, the ‘Pianists of the World’ series. Her programme in 2010 concluded with the world premiere of her composition ‘Adahas: Of Wings Of Roots’ which became the first composition by a Sri Lankan composer to be performed at St. Martin-in-the-Fields.

Dr. Ekanayaka’s programme for her forthcoming recital will include popular works by Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Khachaturian and will conclude with the UK premiere of her own composition ‘Dhaivaya: Alter(ing) Hue’ .
These works formed part of the programme which Dr. Ekanayaka performed at her USA debut solo recital at the ‘John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ in Washington DC earlier this year and where her two compositions ‘Labyrinth: Vannam Lent’ and ‘Dhaivaya: Alter(ing) Hue’ became the first compositions for the piano by a Sri Lankan composer to be performed at the Kennedy Center.

What characterizes Dr. Ekanayaka as a recitalist is her quintessential recital style. Her recitals have increasingly included her own compositions representing a novel form of musical fusion as well as works from the established classical repertoire ranging from baroque to contemporary works. Her compositions within a recital programme tend to self-consciously adapt indigenous and popular Sri Lankan folk melodies which are reinterpreted and integrated within musical frameworks inspired by the western classical works of the same programme. Dr. Ekanayaka regards her compositions as deeply autobiographical ‘moments’ and attributes her compositional style to her multilingual and multicultural backgrounds as well as to being ambidextrous and having partial colour synesthesia.

For further information about the recital please click here

For further information about the artiste please visit – http://www.tanyaekanayaka.com/

St Martin-in-the-Fields: Dr.Tanya Ekanayaka – ‘Adahas-of Wings of Roots’

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyDShGZu7VI