The Fusion Sessions: Dinuk Wijeratne

CONCERT INFORMATION

Featuring:
Dinuk Wijeratne, conductor/piano
Suzanne Lemieux, host

Symphony Nova Scotia musicians:
Renaud Lapierre, violin; Mark Lee, Isabelle Fournier, and Émilie Paré, violin; Étienne Chénard and Yvonne DeRoller, viola; Rachel Desoer and Shimon Walt, cello; Max Kasper, bass

On the Program:
Dinuk Wijeratne: Gajaga Vannama: Fantasy Variations on a Traditional Them

Canada’s Dinuk Wijeratne is a wildly inventive, JUNO-winning dynamo, with a long history of creating and performing spectacular music right here in Nova Scotia. His boundary-crossing work has gained him an avid fanbase around the world, along with a reputation as an “exuberantly creative” artist (New York Times) who “reflects a positive vision of our cultural future” (Toronto Star).

Now, Dinuk returns to Halifax to conduct and perform the East Coast premiere of his Gajaga Vannama – a stunning, Sri Lankan-inspired showpiece for piano and strings that honours the majestic dance of the elephant. Its 2019 premiere in Manitoba earned enthusiastic accolades: “It left the impression one had just journeyed into the heart of a strange new world of breathtaking beauty and joyous energy, and it earned a rousing standing ovation by the bewitched crowd” (The Winnipeg Free Press).

Plus, Dinuk sits down with host Suzanne Lemieux to answer your previously submitted questions!


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