Bringing music to their lives
“Serendip Strings” the brainchild of Australian violinist Ursula Nelius has opened up a new world for children of Galle
“It takes a considerable amount of time to figure out what your child wants to pursue,” says Australian violinist Ursula Nelius. She recalls her childhood where she was shown a world of endless possibilities from the arts to sports but one thing stuck – music. While most of us are on the continuum between the present and future constantly debating what we aspire to become, at the tender age of four, Ursula was gifted the violin and a future.
After her Bachelor of Music at the Sydney Conservatorium and being a principal member of the Sydney and Australian Youth Orchestras, she won a scholarship to pursue her Master of Music at the San Francisco Conservatory. But after two years of performing in San Francisco and eight years in Germany (some of her many travels) Ursula felt something was missing. “I felt like there was something more that I had to do,” she muses. On a whim she decided on a holiday in Sri Lanka in 2014 and describes her first emotion as she landed in the country as “calm”, soon falling in love with our island and its people - marrying a local from Galle and settling down in Sri Lanka in the following years.
Seeing a documentary of British Viola player Rosemary Nalden, who brought music back to the suburbs of Soweto, South Africa almost 30 years earlier, Ursula had her ‘Eureka’ moment. Thus last year, she established her own charitable organisation “Serendip Strings” in Galle. “I came back with that intention in mind –of opening doors for young people,” she says.
Initially starting with around 25 to 40, Serendip Strings now caters to over 100 students and is aimed at “providing a creative outlet for the children in Galle.” Ursula adds that it helps them artistically and academically. The method she teaches them, the Suzuki method pioneered by Japanese violinist Shinichi Suzuki, integrates the parents too. Ursula comments “A parent should become a little bit of a teacher even at home,” as this allows them to also witness the improvements, passion and excitement within their children for music.
‘Serendip Strings’ teaches Classical Western and Eastern music – Ursula herself handling the former and Lasantha Abeygunawardene the latter.
Ursula also believes in