The title is how the New York Times describes Dinuk Wijerantne, JUNO and multi-award-winning composer, conductor, and pianist, about to come to Winnipeg with his exceptional trio.
Dinuk grew up in Dubai before taking up composition studies at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), Manchester, UK. In 2001, he was invited by Oscar-winning composer John Corigliano to join his studio at New York’s Juilliard School. Conducting studies followed at New York’s Mannes College of Music, and doctoral studies under Christos Hatzis at the University of Toronto. Dinuk made his Carnegie Hall debut while still a student in 2004 as a composer, conductor, 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 BoulezSaal (Berlin), Kennedy Center (Washington DC), Opéra Bastille (Paris), Lincoln Center (New York), Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires), Sri Lanka, Japan, and across the Middle East.
Dinuk's music and collaborative work embrace the great diversity of his international background and influences, and his boundary-crossing work sees him equally at home in collaborations with symphony orchestras and string quartets, tabla players and DJs, taking him to international venues as poles apart as the Berlin Philharmonie and the North Sea Jazz Festival. He has composed specially for almost all of the artists and ensembles with whom he has performed; to name a few: Suzie LeBlanc, David Jalbert, James Ehnes, DJ Skratch Bastid, the Gryphon Trio, the Afiara, Danel & Cecilia String Quartets, the Apollo Saxophone Quartet, and the Symphony orchestras of Toronto, Vancouver, the National Arts Centre, Baltimore, San Francisco, Edmonton, and Winnipeg.
A passionate educator, Dinuk is committed to helping emerging and mid-career classical artists navigate the classical music industry in today’s increasingly complex, diverse, and globalized world. As a Creativity Consultant he served private clients as well as students of the Banff Centre (Evolution Classical) and Toronto’s Glenn Gould School. Dinuk also served as Music Director of the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra for thirteen seasons. Among his plethora of awards is the Canada Council Jean-Marie Beaudet award for orchestral conducting.
Dinuk was featured as a main character in ‘What would Beethoven do?’, the 2016 documentary about innovation in classical music featuring Eric Whitacre, Bobby McFerrin and Ben Zander. Forthcoming projects include new works for Grammy-winning baritone Elliot Madore (featuring Dinuk as pianist) and Grammy-nominated mandolinist Avi Avital, and performances with 'A Far Cry' orchestra (Boston) and the London Philharmonic.
Bassists and percussionists will not want to miss the dazzling expertise of Tom Easley and Nick Halley. Click on the links and marvel at their bios.
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