Shanthi back on stage with SOSL for ‘Romantic Expressions’
The SOSL’s ‘Romantic Expressions’ concert at the Ladies’ College Hall on November 2, features Shanthi Dias as soloist in Mendelssohn’s piano concerto No.1 in G minor.
Shanthi has performed regularly with the SOSL over the years, and this will be her eighth appearance as soloist. She has performed some of the most important works for piano and orchestra with the SOSL, including Beethoven concertos 3 and 5, and concerti by Grieg, Schumann, Chopin and Rachmaninoff— some of the most demanding in the repertory.
A Fellow of the Trinity College of Music London, and Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music London (FTCL, LRSM London), she is grateful to her teacher Sita Hallock for mentoring her in musicianship and values. Shanthi holds a BA (Hons) degree in English with Western Classics. She is a past pupil of Methodist College Colombo, where she also taught for 21 years, including serving 13 years as Principal.
Shanthi also enjoys playing chamber music, and of recent years has been an integral part of ‘Classics for a cause’—a series of chamber music concerts, through which the participating musicians raise funds for building wells in areas of the country where water is a rare commodity. While playing chamber music with Dushy, Tamara and Nilupul, especially for their last concert, Shanthi was attracted afresh to Mendelssohn’s music and decided to perform one of his concertos this time. She admits the work is technically very demanding, but interspersed with some beautiful lyrical passages and an almost ‘piquant’ sense of humour, which she enjoys bringing out.
Mendelssohn’s piano concerto No. 1 is full of Mendelssohn’s verve and joie de vivre--from its fiery, scintillating outer movements to its delicately lyrical slow movement. It truly needs a pianist of Shanthi’s technical skill and musical understanding to do justice to this beautiful work.
“Romantic Expressions” also features Mendelssohn’s “Hebrides” overture—an evocative tone poem inspired by the composer’s trip to the Hebridean isles—and Bizet’s L”Arlesienne suites.
Tickets and box plan are available at the Lionel Wendt Theatre. The concert is sponsored by East India Holdings.