IDENTITY: A Song Cycle

“The world premiere of IDENTITY was a truly astonishing happening – a feast for the eyes and ears.” – Measha Brueggergosman

“The music of Dinuk Wijeratne reflects so deeply on identity, especially cultural identity. With IDENTITY – a balance between classical, jazz, and global traditions – Dinuk Wijeratne unifies music of multiple cultures.” – SOCAN

IDENTITY: A Song Cycle (2025)

Duration: 70 minutes

Instrumentation: baritone, piano, double bass, percussion

World premiere: Toronto Canadian Stage, May 23/24, 2025

Commissioned by Against the Grain Theatre

(Orchestral version TBA 2027)

photo credit: Dahlia Katz

IDENTITY: A Song Cycle

Composer’s Note:

Creating IDENTITY has been a profound artistic journey – one that explores the universal human experience of reconciling our multifaceted selves. It has been a particular pleasure to collaborate with my dear colleague, the poet Shauntay Grant, as she transformed Elliot Madore’s powerful personal narrative into poetry. Her words resonate with both intimate specificity and universal truth.

We all inhabit multiple identities simultaneously – often existing at intersections that defy simple categorisation. Perhaps these are ethnic, racial, religious, gender-related. For me personally, it has been the ongoing navigation between East and West – these identities not only sometimes in opposition but in conversation with one another. Yet we rarely discuss how we reconcile these different facets of self, how we carry them within us, how they inform and sometimes challenge one another.

The cross-genre nature of this music deliberately reflects this multiplicity. The composition blends Western classical traditions with elements from South Asian and Middle Eastern musical languages, alongside contemporary pop and jazz idioms. The music does not simply alternate between these worlds but exists at their confluence, creating something that honours each tradition while becoming something entirely new.

In IDENTITY, we follow a protagonist through his struggle with conflicted identity—a journey of fragmentation and eventual integration. The emotional arc reaches its climactic turning point with the realisation that he will become a father to a daughter. This revelation becomes his catalyst for change, as he confronts his own unreconciled self in hopes that she might inherit wholeness rather than division. He dreams for her a childhood not fragmented like his own—a future where she might embrace all facets of herself without internal conflict.

My deepest hope is that this music creates space for you, the listener, to contemplate your own multifaceted identity. There are no labels that can fully contain us. Identity is fluid, always in motion – capable of being many things simultaneously. The beauty lies in this complexity, in the way our various selves can coalesce into something greater than the sum of its parts.

My heartfelt thanks to director Joel Ivany, to our funders, and to the entire team at Against the Grain Theatre for their vision and dedication to this project. It is a profound privilege to share the stage with my fellow musicians – Elliot, Tyler, and Nick – whose artistry brings this work to life in ways I could only have imagined.

May this cycle invite us all to embrace our whole selves, with all our beautiful contradictions and harmonies.

SCORE & AUDIO

perusal score & audio available upon request: wijeratneworks@gmail.com

Purchase clarinet part and score in PDF format – $30 USD (please allow up to 48 hours for email delivery)

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'Exuberantly creative'

the New York Times

'An artist who reflects a positive vision of our cultural future.'

the Toronto Star

'A modern polymath...one of Canada’s
most sought-after classical artists'

The Manitoba Chamber Orchestra

'I'm a big fan of Dinuk. To experience the birth of a new piece of his is exciting.'

James Ehnes

'The [Tabla Concerto] is fantastic, complex, and brilliant.
The orchestration and solo writing are masterful. I didn’t
think one could pull off [such] a concerto, but Dinuk did.
I don’t know of anything like it. The audience went crazy
after it for good reason.'

John Corigliano

'[The] mesmerizing Sri Lankan-Canadian composer/conductor/pianist Dinuk
Wijeratne…proving his inestimable chops in all three disciplines while living up
to his creative reputation.'

the WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

'He is representative of the best of a new generation of musicians
who work fearlessly in a variety of styles with flair and imagination'

Ara Guzelimian
Dean - the Juilliard School
Former Director - Carnegie Hall

'Dinuk Wijeratne is a musical force to be reckoned with.'

The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra

'Internationally acclaimed'

the North Sea Jazz Festival

'Compelling'

The Telegraph (UK) on the Tabla Concerto

'Dinuk Wijeratne continues to astonish us'

the Chronicle Herald

'Dinuk is one of the most gifted musicians I know.'

Bernhard Gueller
Music Director Laureate - Symphony Nova Scotia
Former Music Director - Johannesburg Philharmonic, Cape Town Philharmonic, Nuremburg Symphony

'Young Dynamo'

the Coast

'[Dinuk] is a fabulous composer writing music full of energy,
expressivity, rhythmic complexity and non-stop excitement.
As a composer, conductor, pianist, improviser and experimenter
across various musical genres, Dinuk redefines what a classical
musician is and does.'

Christos Hatzis

'An artist internationally respected for his virtuosity and sensitivity'

the CBC

'Wijeratne's multi-disciplinary piano-playing sounds like
the work of an entire backing band....stretch[ing] his
audience's conception of how the instrument should sound'

Lebanon Daily Star

'[The] Tabla Concerto is a pioneering work of musical fusion,
a seamless integration of the most complex aspects of
North Indian Classical Tabla music into a totally Western model.'

Bernhard Gueller
Music Director Laureate - Symphony Nova Scotia
Former Music Director - Johannesburg Philharmonic, Cape Town Philharmonic, Nuremburg Symphony

'Dinuk Wijeratne’s Tabla Concerto is a breath of fresh air
in the repertoire – a vibrant, colourful piece that orchestras
love to play, and audiences will never forget.'

JoAnn Falletta
Music Director - Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra & Virginia Symphony Orchestra
Principal Conductor - the Ulster Orchestra

'Remarkable piano artistry....he has an enviable touch'

the California Chronicle

'Wijeratne’s extraordinary setting was the last of three concerts featuring
works commemorating Bishop. Not only interesting but apocalyptic - an
exciting whirlpool of energy and tranquility, marking the impact of Portuguese
steel on Brazilian rainforest and aboriginal humanity, and rising in its latter
stages to an apotheosis of movement and drums. The music was a brutal
exposition of colonialism at its nastiest, yet colourful, exotic, vividly original,
and sent over the top by the last section.'

the CHRONICLE HERALD on 'Brazil, January 1, 1502'

'Dinuk embodies the true meaning of an artist. His creative
approach to composition brings a fresh virtuosity to an age old
art form. Invisible Cities is a milestone in the genre.'

TorQ Percussion Quartet

'Voraciously curious, indefatigably adventurous,
Dinuk is an artist who appears to be constantly
challenging himself.'

Sri Lanka Sunday Times

'[Love Triangle] is the kind of direction I like to see composers who are writing for chamber music go in.
What [Dinuk] is able to do so expertly is articulate a mix of sounds, and a mix of worlds.'

Roman Borys, the GRYPHON TRIO

'[The] East-meets-West work bristles with the energy of a coiled spring,
fuelled by a near-impossible melting pot of Indian tabla-like dance rhythms,
funky jazz riffs, tonal clusters and extended instrumental techniques. It left
the impression one had just journeyed into the heart of a strange new world
of breathtaking beauty and joyous energy, and it earned a rousing standing
ovation by the bewitched crowd.'

the WINNIPEG FREE PRESS on 'Gajaga Vannama'

'One of the most exciting compositional voices in this country right now.'

the CBC (2023)

'The Tabla Concerto [is] an east-west fusion at once beguiling, deeply serious and joyous.
Wijeratne creates an entirely original soundscape.'

The Guardian, UK