Lalanath de Silva is a Sri Lankan-American composer and
conductor Hailing from a musical family. His compositions
have been performed by orchestras and musicians around the world,
from Sri Lanka and India to the USA, UK, Netherlands, Switzerland,
Korea, Vietnam, and Brazil. His compositions range from
Symphonies and Oratorios to a Requiem, Concertos for Sitar and
Cello, Overtures, and chamber music. He is also a conductor
and a mentor to younger composers, especially from South Asia.
Lalanath joined the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka as a
Flautist in 1974. He was appointed as its Deputy Conductor in
1991 and shared concerts with the late Dr. Earle de Fonseka.
He was appointed the Orchestra’s Conductor in 2000, a position he
held till he went overseas in 2002. He is the Orchestra’s
most performed Sri Lankan composer.
Encouraged by his
father, also a musician, his compositional talents became evident
when he was 12 years old. He studied composition and flute
with
Sharmini Arulanandam (nee Rasaratnam). The Colombo
Sinfonietta conducted by Sarath Fernando performed his Overture
based on Sri Lankan folk tunes when he was 15 years old. He
was appointed as the Conductor of the Colombo Youth Orchestra at
the age of 19. He was largely responsible for helping to
re-structure the governance of the
Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka in 1991, bringing in a Board of
Governors and Trustees.
He was the Founder Conductor of the
National Youth Orchestra established by the Ministry of
Education in Sri Lanka (1992-1996). He has guest conducted
the Bombay Chamber Orchestra,
the former Amsterdam Chamber Orchestra and the
Long Island Youth Orchestra.
Most recently he conducted the
Sun Symphony Orchestra in Vietnam. His conducting career
has emphasized the performance of new, experimental and innovative
Sri Lankan music. In this mode he has championed the works of
numerous Sri Lankan composers from
Harsha
Makalanda, Sarath Fernando, Vasanatha Fernando, and
Anil
Mihiripenna, to
Devar Surya Sena.
As a composer, de Silva has strived
to bring together elements of western and oriental music.
Among his works, many of which have been premiered and performed by
different orchestras, are two Symphonies, a
Christmas Oratorio, a Tone Poem (choir and orchestra) lamenting
the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, a
Requiem Mass
for the Earth (mixing nature sounds with choir and orchestra),
a Concerto
for Sitar and Orchestra (performed in India and Sri Lanka), a
Jubilee Overture (written for the 25th anniversary of the
Orchestra), an
Overture – the Dancers,
Tablesque
for Strings and several chamber music works. His latest
compositions include a Cello Concerto and a setting of the
Beatitudes for choir and chamber group. A full list of his
compositions with available links to recordings are
here.
Lalanath’s
Facebook page and
YouTube channel
regularly feature his works and the works of other composers.
De Silva is also a lawyer, specializing in environmental law and
currently serves as the Managing Director of
Transparentem.
He was the first
Head of
the Independent Redress Mechanism of the Green Climate Fund
(Korea), established by the UNFCCC. Earlier, he served as a
Legal Officer in the UN Compensation
Commission in Geneva and as the Director of Environmental
Democracy at the World Resources
Institute in Washington DC.