Ashan Pillai


Ashan Pillai is a British violist. He was educated as a music and academic scholar at Merchant Taylors School, London and then at the Royal Academy of Music, London, the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, the Banff [Centre for Arts and Creativity|Banff Center for the Arts], Alberta, Canada, and the Juilliard School, New York City. His principal teachers were John White, and distinguished American pedagogues and former students of William Primrose, Donald McInnes and Karen Tuttle.
Between 1994 and 1998 he won several prizes at international and national competitions including the Tertis International Viola Competition|Tertis] and Rome International Competitions, the Royal Overseas League and Park Lane Group Competitions in London and Artists International in New York. These successes led to acclaimed debuts in London's Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room, New York's Carnegie Hall and festivals throughout the world including Kuhmo, Salzburg, Tanglewood, Banff, Ravinia, Aspen, Casals, and Schleswig-Holstein. He has premiered works by noted Spanish composers Anton Garcia Abril, Leonardo Balada, Francisco Fleta Polo and others, and also works by Krzysztof Penderecki, Wolfgang Rihm and Gavin Bryars.
Pillai has performed as soloist under the batons of Christian Zacharias, Eiji Oue, Andrew Parrott, Christopher Hogwood, Robert King and Lawrence Foster, with the English, Gulbenkian, Czech, Andorran and Scottish Chamber Orchestras, as well as I Musici, London and New York, several Spanish orchestras and collaborated with the likes of Lynn Harrell, the Kreutzer and Brodsky Quartets, and the Ensemble Modern, Frankfurt.
He was assistant principal violist in the English Chamber Orchestra, co-founding member of the Mobius Ensemble, violist in the Zukerman Chamber Players, violist in the Trio Cervello with pianist Enrique Bagaria and clarinetist Josep Fuster, and principal violist with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra. Pillai is Professor of Viola at Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya , the Conservatori Superior del Liceu in Barcelona the Alfonso X El Sabio University in Madrid. In 2014, he was appointed chair of viola and chamber music in Música en Compostela, the historic music festival which specializes in Spanish music.The distinguished faculty voted him as Artistic Director in August 2023. In 2020, Pillai was appointed Artist in Residence and Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music, London. The same institution appointed him Professor in 2021.
As a recording artist, Pillai has recorded widely for EMI, Naxos, ASV, Altara, Verso, Meridian, Bel, Columna, RTVE, the BBC and Oehms Classics. His recordings include sonatas by Brahms, Bax, Debussy, Lluís Benejam, Felipe de los Rios, Juan Oliver Astorga, Mendelssohn, Naumann, Glinka, Schubert, Gerhard, and concerti by Hoffmeister, Mozart, Leonardo Balada and Josep Soler. Among Pillai's notable recordings are The Viola Sonatas from the Royal Palace in Madrid, The Virtuoso Viola in Spain, the Hoffmeister Works for Viola, and the string quintets recorded with Zukerman.
Pillai edited the 12 Estudios o caprichos de mediana dificultad for viola solo by José María Beltrán Fernández, published by Clivis Publications. In 2016 he edited the first edition of the 11 sonatas from the Royal Palace in Madrid for Boileau Publications and released the first recording of this monumental collection of works for viola. He has also edited the Sonata en Re by Tomas Lestan for Edition Piles.
WWW Official Site

Discography

;ViolaThe First Viola Romantics; Ashan Pillai ; Juan Carlos Cornelles ; Nîbius NIBI 131 Reinecke: Música of Cámara para clarinete, viola y piano ; Trio Cervelló; Josep Fuster ; Ashan Pillai ; Enrique Bagaria ; Columna Música 1CM0373 The Virtuoso Viola in Spain ; Ashan Pillai ; Juan Carlos Cornelles ; Nîbius NIBI 127 Schumann: Música of Cámara para clarinete, viola y piano ; Trio Cervelló; Josep Fuster ; Ashan Pillai ; Enrique Bagaria ; Columna Música 1CM0357 The Royal Palace in Madrid: Eleven Viola Sonatas ; Ashan Pillai ; Juan Carlos Cornelles ; Nîbius NIBI 122
;Chamber music

Editions

Music scores edited by Pillai
  • José María Beltrán: 12 Caprichos per a Viola, Clivis Publications, ISMN 979-0-3502-1055-6Sonatas para viola de la Real Capilla series:
  • Tomás Lestán; Sonata para Viola, Piles Editorial, PIL1783, ISMN 979-0-3505-1147-9