Dinuk Wijeratne, Music Director

 

Praised by the CBC as an artist “internationally respected for his virtuosity and sensitivity as a musician”, Sri Lankan-born Dinuk Wijeratne divides his time between conducting, composing, and piano performance. He is thrilled to return for his fifth season as Music Director of the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra. 

Highlights of Dinuk's current season include his artist residency with the St. Cecelia Concert Series; appearances at the Prismatic Festival; and several new works for orchestra, piano, film, electronics, and dance ensemble (Scotia Festival 2011). Dinuk made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2004 as a conductor, composer and pianist, performing with Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble. A second Carnegie appearance followed in 2009, alongside tabla legend Zakir Hussain. Dinuk has also appeared at the Kennedy Center (Washington DC), Opera Bastille (Paris), Lincoln Center (New York), Sri Lanka, across the Middle East, and recently debuted at the Berlin Philharmonie in a collaborative recital of entirely original works with acclaimed clarinetist Kinan Azmeh, with whom Dinuk has released his first album entitled 'Complex Stories, Simple Sounds'.  

Dinuk grew up in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, before taking up composition studies at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), Manchester, UK. In 2001, he was invited by composer John Corigliano to join his studio at New York's Juilliard School. Dinuk was also composition fellow at the 2002 Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, and was appointed Artist-in-Residence by the Performing Arts Foundation at International House for the 2003/4 season. Conducting studies followed at New York's Mannes College of Music. A firm believer in the universality of music, Dinuk founded the cutting-edge NYC-based multimedia group NEOLEXICA in 2003, a quartet which synesthetically combined live illustration with a uniquely multinational blend of acoustic & electronic music. Dinuk has composed specially for almost all of the artists and ensembles with whom he has performed; to name a few: David Jalbert, Kinan Azmeh, Tim Garland, John Dankworth, Nikki Iles, Julian Argüelles, Victor Mendoza, Ed Thigpen, Pandit Ramesh Misra, Adrian Spillett, Kevork Mourad, Mayookh Bhaumik, Christina Courtin, MIR, the Apollo Saxophone Quartet, 4-Mality Percussion Quartet, the NY Kathak Ensemble, the New Juilliard Ensemble, Onelight Theatre, the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra, and Symphony Nova Scotia.

Dinuk lectures at Dalhousie University and the Nova Scotia Community College. He has conducted the National Arts Centre Orchestra and appeared numerous times with Symphony Nova Scotia during his 3-year appointment as Conductor-in-Residence. The Canada Council for the Arts awarded Dinuk the 2008 Jean-Marie Beaudet award for orchestral conducting. His electronic scores for Onelight Theatre recently secured him a double Merritt Award nomination. He is also the recipient of Juilliard and Mannes scholarships; two Countess of Munster composition grants; the Sema Jazz Improvisation Prize; the Soroptimist International Award for Composer-Conductors; and the Sir John Manduell Prize - the RNCM's highest student honor. His music and collaborative work embrace the great diversity of his international background and influences.

© Copyright 2010 Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra

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