Saranga Cooray was introduced to the cello at a very early age by his father, and commenced cello lessons under the tutelage of Savithri Jayathilaka, upon which he obtained a grade eight cello examination of Associate Board of the Royal School of Music (ABRSM) with distinction. He has also completed an Associateship diploma from Trinity College London (ATCL) in cello performance in 2011, and has obtained his Licentiate of Trinity College London (LTCL) in cello performance with distinction in 2016.
Saranga has been a frequent award winner for DipABRSM of the Associate Board of the Royal School of Music and LTCL (Licentiate) in cello performance of Trinity College of Music London.
Having had the opportunity of attending a master class by American Cellist Joshua Roman in 2011, he is now a member of the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka. One can find him regularly playing cello in the OPUS String quartet under Ananda Dabare. Aside from that, he also plays cello in Krasna Ensemble and is the principal cellist in National Unity Orchestra, Krasna Orchestra, and Bangalore City Chamber Orchestra. Saranga was also selected as a cellist of the Indian National Youth Orchestra in 2011 and the South Asian Symphony Foundation in 2019.
Brunch had a chat with him about his career and more.
How did you get into music?
When I was young I was a very strange character. I didn’t have a clue about the art field. So back then, my father helped me focus on what I was actually interested in; music. My father was in the oriental and local music scene, but he noted that I had a different taste in music. He let me listen to some western classical music recordings through cassettes and I fell madly in love with the sound of the cello. Then I started learning the cello with him.
When I was growing up, he wanted me to learn the cello from a highly qualified cello teacher so he sent me to Savithri Jayathilaka. When I was learning with her, she recommended me to Lakshman Joseph de Sarem when he was looking for cellists for the Chamber Music Society of Colombo. Eventually I started playing in that orchestra when I was schooling and after a while, I got many chances to play chamber music with him and a few international musicians such as Rohan de Silva.
Then I met Ananda Dabare. He was looking for cellists for his junior symphony orchestra during 2009 and 2010 and I got the opportunity to play many concerts with him where I played as the principal cello.
Later, I auditioned to play with the Symphony Orchestra in my teens; I played the Bréval Cello Sonata in C and The Swan by Camille Saint Saens for the audition and I got selected. After that, Ananda Dabare was impressed with my performance and he requested me to join his string quartet. We were playing at the Cinnamon Grand along with many renowned concert venues for a long time and I improved my skill of playing ensemble a lot.
Who or what has been the most important influence in your musical career?
There are many important influences that I have followed. When I was young, I was listening to a recording of Misha Maisky playing Bach 6 Cello Suites. When following his music, I realised his vibrato was making a musical sound through different finger positions. I also follow video recordings of Cellist Jacqueline du Pre.
What has been the greatest challenge of your career?
The greatest challenge of my career is keeping my reputation as a musician in this country. I’m an instrumentalist and we don’t have any such opportunities here to maintain ourselves as instrumentalists in a professional manner. There are no orchestras here where musicians get paid salaries on a monthly basis even if there are no concerts. We don’t have EPF or pensions. Many of the best musicians here are freelancers.
We have sacrificed our whole life to be musicians but no one cares about our service. The Government should make the decision to build a professional platform for us. Music is a special part of the development of the country; it’s not a small part of entertainment. Especially music such as classical music. If you noticed, most of the developed countries in the world have given their full governmental support for musicians.
Which performance are you most proud of and why?
When I was 21, my cello teacher arranged a private concert at the residence of a Minister where I performed solo recitals with my teacher.
My favorite group performance was Requiebros by Gaspar Cassado; it was a lovely Spanish dance. My teacher was playing the piano and it was a challenging piece so I got more attention from the audience and I was very satisfied with my performance.
What is your opinion on the classical music scene in Sri Lanka?
The classical music scene in our country is very small. I don’t expect or need it to be large, but the content of the music at concerts needs to be of superior quality, no matter how easy the work they play is, because most musicians in our classical music circle are not full time musicians and they can’t show their full potential. Only then can we gradually increase the level of our repertoires. That’s what I personally believe.
Which particular work do you think you play best and why?
I can’t exactly say what work that I play best. Most of the time I give main priority to my fundamental techniques in cello to keep me alive as a full time cellist. Personally I love to play Bach especially Suite No 1.
In my leisure time, I play Bach Suite No. 1 by memory and it really helps me to keep myself spiritual. In my opinion, you don’t need to be religious to practice spirituality.
I also really love playing Sarabande from Bach’s Suite 1 ,2 ,3 ,4 and 5 . Personally I believe I can give my best on those pieces. Other than that I really love to play Beethoven.
Do you have any advice for aspiring musicians?
My main advice for aspiring classical musicians is to listen to fine music recordings of world-class professional musicians; not just your music instrument. You need to listen to every kind of music such as choral, opera, symphonies, concertos, modern contemporary music, and many other kinds of music. It really helps improve the skills of communication, co-ordination, intonations, and much more. That’s what really matters in music learning.
