Rohan de Saram

Rohan de Saram (born 9 March 1939) is a British-born Sri Lankan cellist. Until his thirties he made his name as a classical artist, but has since become renowned for his involvement in and advocacy of contemporary music.

Rohan de Saram was borrn to Ceylonese parents in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England. At age 11 he studied with Gaspar Cassadó in Sienna and Florence. At 17 he won the Guilhermina Suggia Award to study in the UK with Sir John Barbirolli and in Puerto Rico with Pablo Casals. Casals said of him "There are few of his generation that have such gifts".

At the invitation of Dimitri Mitropoulos, who described him in 1957 as "a rare genius...a born musician... an amazing...cellist", Rohan was invited to give his Carnegie Hall debut in 1960 with the New York Philharmonic, playing Khachaturian’s Cello Concerto under the baton of Stanisław Skrowaczewski. He lived in London from 1972, becoming a teacher at Trinity College of Music, London. De Saram was a member of the Arditti Quartet (1979-2005). He has also toured and recorded with Markus Stockhausen's "Possible Worlds" group. After a recital in the U.S., Gregor Piatigorsky presented him with a special bow. He worked personally with Zoltan Kodaly, Francis Poulenc, Sir William Walton and Dmitri Shostakovich. He performed with the major orchestras of Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and the former Soviet Union with conductors such as Barbirolli, Sir Adrian Boult, Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa and William Steinberg.

In ensemble or as a soloist, he premiered works by Luciano Berio ("Il Ritorno degli Snovidenia"; Berio was so impressed that he wrote "Sequenza XIV" (2002) for de Saram, who gave the first performance and the made the premiere recording), Bose, Benjamin Britten, Bussotti, John Cage, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Philip Glass, Sofia Gubaidulina, Paul Hindemith, Mauricio Kagel, György Ligeti ("Racine 19"), Conlon Nancarrow, Pousseur, Rihm, Jeremy Dale Roberts ("Deathwatch" Cello Concerto, written for de Saram), Alfred Schnittke and Iannis Xenakis ("Kottos"). Yet he also plays music by earlier composers, such as the standard cello concerto repertoire, and the 6 Solo Cello Suites of Johann Sebastian Bach.

He founded the De Saram Clarinet Trio, and a duo with his brother Druvi de Saram. He is one of relatively few new music interpreters to have explored the world of improvisation.

He has made many recordings, including Vivaldi's Sonatas, Edmund Rubbra's "Soliloquy" for cello and orchestra, Britten's "Cello Suites" No 1-3, John Mayer's "Ragamalas" and "Prabhanda", Xenakis' "Kottos" and Elliott Carter's "Figment I" and "II", and works by Bernd Alois Zimmermann, Peter Ruzicka, Gelhaar, Pröve and Steinke.

He travels widely and has taught and given solo and ensemble recitals at Darmstadt Summer School, Avant-garde Tirol and Ruemlingen Festival, Switzerland.

Honours

In December 2004 Rohan de Saram was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters (D.Litt.) from the University of Peradeniya , Sri Lanka.

In December 2005 he received the Deshamaniya, a national honour of Sri Lanka, given by the President of Sri Lanka.

External links

* [http://www.rohandesaram.co.uk/biography.asp]
* [http://www.musicweb-international.com/sandh/2008/Jan-Jun08/aldeburgh20062.htm]
* [http://www.guitarsint.com/bio.cfm/artistid/49]
* [http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/de+Saram,+Rohan]
* [http://www.ecmrecords.com/Background/Background_1694.php]
* [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=48V3kmpJEEgC&pg=PA182&lpg=PA182&dq=rohan+de+saram+cellist+1939&source=web&ots=IPfvBqeWY2&sig=nIXKS9_hEfC5BwlogiQNIM781q0&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result]
* [http://www.uiowa.edu/~cnm/41.070211.html]
* [http://www.naxos.com/reviews/reviews.asp?reviewdate=6/22-30/2006&reviewtype=archive#8.557661-63]