Peace Notes

ABOUT CLASSICAL MOVEMENTS:Moving the Music, Changing the WorldThe premier concert tour company for the world’s greatorchestrasandchoirs, Classical Movements creates meaningful cultural experiences through music in145 countries. An industry leader for over aquarter-century, Classical Movements organizes more than 60 tours every year, producing some 200 concerts every season. Producer of two international choral festivals—Ihlombe!in South Africa andSerenade!in Washington, D.C.—and thePrague Summer Nights: Young Artists Music Festival, in addition, Classical Movements’Eric Daniel Helms New Music Programhas 97 works from Grammy, Oscar and Pulitzer Prize-winning composers. Winner of Americans for the Arts’ BCA10: Best Businesses Partnering with the Arts Award, since its founding in 1992, as a truly global company, Classical Movements remains committed to facilitatingcultural diplomacyacross the world—promoting peace through the medium of music.

Classical Movements

A musical evening with the South Asian Symphony Orchestra Chamber Musicians

The Secret Garden at the Rectory

Secret Garden Concerts at the Rectory

One-Hour concerts in the Heart of Old Town Alexandria, at The Rectory on Princess Street

<h2>Ambassador Nirupama Menon Rao will relate the story of a unique Symphony Orchestra and how she believes it is better to “sweat in peace than bleed in war”.</h2> <h3>Join us for this event celebrating peace. This event is expected to sell out. RSVPing does not guarantee admission.</h3> <h3>Rohan De Silva, piano | Mezraq Ramli, oboe | Dilshad Posnock, flute | Tharanga Goonetilleke, soprano</h3> PROGRAMI. Viraha Nāyikā from Three Nāyikās Anish Raj Pandit (b. 1996)Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben from St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244 Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)Comme autrefois dans la nuit sombre (Leila) from Les pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers) Georges Bizet (1838-1875)Fantaisie for flute and piano, Op. 79 Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)Romance from Suite for flute and piano, Op. 34 Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937)Trio-Sérénade for flute, oboe and piano Anselme Vinée (1847-1921) I. Romance II. IntermezzoThree Concert Pieces Yuya Makita (b. 1993) I. Allegro Moderato II. Moderato III. Allegro A Concert. A Project. A Journey of Peace.

Tharanga Goonetilleke, SopranoSoprano, Tharanga Goonetilleke, has been praised for her performances by the Washington Times as ‘Magical’ and her voice by The New York times as ‘appealingly rich’. Tharanga graduated with her Artist Diploma for Opera Studies as well as her Master of Music degree from the prestigious Juilliard School in Manhattan, NY. She received her Bachelor of Music degree with a minor in Biology from Converse College, SC. She is also an Associate of the Trinity College of Music, London. Tharanga has sung leading Operatic roles under the baton of renowned conductors such as Lorin Maazel, George Manahan, Anne Manson and Gary Wedow. Tharanga is currently an active performer of both contemporary and classical works. One such recent highlight include "Exagoge" by Avner Finberg premiered in 2024 in New York. Tharanga’s performances have taken her all over the world and in 2015 she was named a TED Fellow which has given her a platform to speak of her journey as a trailblazer. While continuing to pursue an Operatic career Tharanga is also currently on the Voice faculty of The Juilliard School, NYC (extension division) and at The Wharton Institute of the performing arts in NJ. In addition, she is a published illustrator and visual artist who advocates for interdisciplinary collaborations of not only the different art forms but of the Arts and the Sciences.

Dilshad Posnock, FluteOriginally from Mumbai, India, flutist Dilshad Posnock has appeared in concerts and festivals across the United States, England, Puerto Rico and India, and has been featured on BBC TV and BBC World Service Radio.
Ms. Posnock's performance experience is wide and varied. She has been featured as a concerto and recital soloist, as well as a chamber musician, collaborating with musicians from the New York Chamber Ensemble, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, as well as her hometown ensemble – the Bombay Chamber Orchestra. She has also participated in such international music festivals as the Brevard Music Center, the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, the Cape May Music Festival, Musica Viva, and was a founding member of the Sangat Music Festival in Mumbai, India.
Ms. Posnock completed her undergraduate studies with Honors at the Royal College of Music, London, and her Master’s Degree at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where she studied with renowned flutist and pedagogue Jeanne Baxtresser, former Principal Flute of the New York Philharmonic. While in Pittsburgh, she performed regularly with ensembles including the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Pittsburgh Ballet, and Pittsburgh Opera, and was Director of the Artist Diploma Program at the Carnegie Mellon School of Music.
Ms. Posnock has a deep passion for teaching. She has served as Artist Lecturer in Flute at CMU, is currently Artist Faculty at the Brevard Music Center and Brevard College, and woodwind coach for the Asheville Symphony Youth Orchestra. She lives in Brevard, NC with her husband Jason, and two children. She is solo piccolo of the Asheville Symphony Orchestra, and travels back to India to perform as Principal Flute with the South Asian Symphony Orchestra.

Rohan De Silva, PianistRohan De Silva has partnered with violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman in worldwide recitals, and every notable violinist on the concert stage today. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Barbican and Wigmore Hall in London, Bronfman Auditorium in Tel Aviv, Suntory Hall in Tokyo and at the White House at the invitation of President Barack Obama in 2012 for Shimon Peres; at the Millennium Grammy Awards ceremony in 2000; and at a State Dinner in 2007 hosted by President George W. Bush for Queen Elizabeth. A native of Sri Lanka, Mr. De Silva was invited in 2015 by the Prime Minister of his country to perform for U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on his historic visit to Sri Lanka.In the 2024/25 season, Mr. De Silva celebrates his 25th anniversary season with Itzhak Perlman with recitals across North America including Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Antonio, West Palm Beach and Sarasota among others. He also performs with Mr. Perlman on the program An Evening with Itzhak Perlman which captures highlights of Mr. Perlman’s career through narrative and multi-media elements, intertwined with performance. Mr. De Silva served on faculty at the Perlman Music Program from 2000 to 2007 and currently teaches at the Juilliard School where he has served on faculty since 1991 and at Heifetz International Music Institute. He has led masterclasses in Collaborative Piano at University of Texas at Austin, Indiana University in Bloomington and the University of Gainesville in Florida.Mr. De Silva began his piano studies with his mother, Primrose De Silva, and with Mary Billimoria. He spent six years at the Royal Academy of Music in London studying with Hamish Milne and received many awards including the Grover Bennett Scholarship, the Christian Carpenter Prize, the Martin Music Scholarship, the Harold Craxton Award, and the Chappell Gold Medal for best overall performance. In 2015, he was appointed Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in London. Mr. De Silva was the first recipient of a special scholarship in the arts from the President's Fund of Sri Lanka. This enabled him to enter the Juilliard School, studying with Martin Canin, Felix Galimir, and violin pedagogue Dorothy DeLay. He was awarded Best Accompanist at the Ninth International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and received the Samuel Sanders Collaborative Artist Award presented to him by Itzhak Perlman at Carnegie Hall.Mr. De Silva has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, CBS/SONY Classical, Collins Classics in London, RCA Victor and Chandos.

D r. Mezraq Ramli, OboeDr. Mezraq Ramli serves as Assistant Professor of Double Reeds at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) where he teaches oboe, bassoon, chamber music, sight-singing and ear training. Prior to his appointment at UTRGV, Dr. Ramli served on the faculties of Northwestern Michigan College, Saginaw Valley State University and Lubbock Christian University. Recent engagements include recitals and masterclasses at Texas Tech University, Eastern New Mexico University, New Mexico State University, The University of Texas at El Paso, Central Michigan University and Miami University.Dr. Ramli maintains an active and diverse career as a chamber and orchestral musician, recitalist, and arts administrator. He performs as Principal Oboe with the South Asian Symphony Orchestra in India, Valley Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka, as well as Second Oboe with the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria, and the Baroque on Beaver Music Festival in Michigan. He has also performed with the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra, Traverse Symphony Orchestra, Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra, Lubbock Symphony Orchestra, Middletown Symphony Orchestra, and Holland Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Ramli has concertized throughout South and South East Asia, Japan, the Netherlands, Germany, Finland, and the U.S.A. He is the Orchestra Manager of the South Asian Symphony Orchestra.Dr. Ramli is an F. Lorée of Paris Performing Artist and is proud to perform on their exquisite handmade oboes.

Nirupama Rao, Founder of The South Asian Symphony OrchestraNirupama Rao, Founder-Trustee of the South Asian Symphony Orchestra, is a former Indian Foreign Service officer. She retired as Foreign Secretary to the Government of India, being the second woman to occupy the post (2009-2011). She was the first woman spokesperson (2001-02) of the Indian foreign office. She served as India's first woman High Commissioner (Ambassador) to Sri Lanka (2004-2006) and to the People's Republic of China (2006-2009). She was Ambassador of India to the United States from 2011 to 2013. In retirement, she has taught at Brown and Columbia Universities. Her book entitled "The Fractured Himalaya: India Tibet China, 1949 to 1962" was published by Penguin India in October 2021.She is a Global Policy Fellow of the Wilson Center, Washington D.C. She was a Jawaharlal Nehru Fellow from 2015-2016. She is a member of the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bangalore, on the Board of the Indian Council for Research in International Economic Relations (ICRIER), and a Council Member of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. She has an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from Pondicherry University, India. She is also the Vice-Chairman of Tibet House, New Delhi, the Cultural Center of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.She is a staunch believer in the power of social media as an advocacy platform for policy and currently has over 1.3 million followers on Twitter.Ambassador Rao has received several awards recognizing her contributions in public service including the K.P.S Menon Memorial Award, the Sree Chithira Thirunal Award, the Vanitha Ratna Award of the Government of Kerala and the Citizen Extraordinaire Award of Rotary International. She is also the recipient of the Fellowship of Peace Award of the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Center in Washington D.C.Ambassador Rao is a Founder-Trustee of The South Asian Symphony Foundation(SASF) (<a href="https://www.symphonyofsouthasia.org/" title="https://www.symphonyofsouthasia.org/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">www.symphonyofsouthasia.org</a>) - a not-for-profit Trust which is dedicated to promoting mutual understanding through music in South Asia.She is currently working on a book on the imaging of India in the eyes of the world.

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Peace Notes

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