Maestro Dr Shelton Premaratne passes away

Veteran Musician Maestro Dr Shelton Premaratne has passed away earlier this evening in Sydney, Australia. This was confirmed by his son Agra Premaratne this evening. He was aged 94 at the time of his passing.

Maestro Dr Shelton Premaratne is a legendary Sri Lankan composer, instrumentalist and music director. At a time when Sinhala music was directly emulating Hindi and Tamil music from India, Dr Premaratne was a pioneer in developing a music style that was original and unique to Sri Lanka. Masterful with various Eastern and Western instruments, Dr Premaratne has contributed greatly to Sinhala cinema, theatre and classical Sri Lankan music.

Dr Premaratne was the music composer and director in over 30 stage productions, including  Henry Jayasena’s popular theatre production Hunuwataye Kathawa (The Caucasian Chalk Circle), and  21 Sinhala films including films such as Daskon , Romeo Juliet Kathawak  and Hithaka Pipunu Mal. As a teacher and mentor, Dr Premaratne has cultivated the talents of many world-class musicians and created unforgettable melodies for the likes of Rukmani Devi, W.D Amaradeva, Latha Walpola, Sunil Shantha, Nanda Malini and Victor Ratnayake.   Dr Premaratne’s contribution to Sri Lankan arts and culture over a career spanning six decades as both teacher and practitioner makes him one of the greatest musican alltime in Sri Lanka.

He was the music composer and director in over 30 stage productions, including Henry Jayasena’s popular theatre production Hunuwataye Kathawa (The Caucasian Chalk Circle), and 21 Sinhala films including films such as Daskon, Romeo Juliet Kathawak and Hithaka Pipunu Mal.

Dr Premaratne was residing in Sydney, Australia with his beloved son, Agra Premaratne at the time of his passing.