Profile of Sri Lankan Choral Conductor Soundarie David

By Seline Augustine

COLUMBO, SRI LANKA — Soundarie David Rodrigo is the consummate
musician who transformed the Western music scene in Sri Lanka by
starting and directing a femal’e ensemble, Soul Sounds, the first
choir to perform and win awards internationally over the last few
years. She was the first Sri Lankan to be on the panel of the Asian
Choir Games held in Korea. She has toured with Soul Sounds
Australia, Kuwait, India, France, China and last year the U.S. and
Malaysia.

An Associate of the Royal College of Music in piano performance
and piano accompaniment, Soundarie is the recipient of the SAARC
Woman of Achievement Award, Zonta Woman of Achievement Award and
the Japanese Bunka Award. With a Masters in Intellectual Property
Law from UCAL, Berkeley, she is a concert pianist and violinist,
and a member of Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka and also the
Interkultur Foundation. She is currently the Deputy Director of the
SAARC Cultural Centre, Colombo. Excerpts from an interview.

On training in Royal College of Music

I guess my training and my ability to relate to singers stems
from my experience while I was at the Royal College of Music, as I
was the resident accompanist for the French Song class, and also
worked with a lot of singers and their vocal coaches. So it not
only enhanced my ability to sight read, but also taught me how to
work with singers.

I did my post graduate studies in Piano at the RCM, so I was
there for 1 1/2 years. It was a great experience, and I am thankful
to all my professors in London. Following that, I was awarded a
scholarship to participate at the Hereford Summer School for nearly
four years, and I kept going back to London.

On balancing law and music

I work a normal 9-5 job, and also lecture part time at the
Colombo Law Faculty. My evenings are full of music, and my weekends
practically 15 hours of music, which gives me virtually very little
time to relax. I enjoy trying to balance both my law and my
music.

However, my passion is music, so I guess it is inevitable that
sometimes unintentionally that takes priority. I am blessed with
people all around who understand this, and everyone has been very
supportive.

I perform regularly with Ramya de Livera Perera on select
repertoire for two pianos and our duo concert in Tata Theatre,
NCPA, Mumbai, this April too drew critical acclaim.