The Beginning
After relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area after spending nearly 20 years in London, Sujeeva spent her first few years frequently traveling internationally for Concert performances. In 2006 Sujeeva decided to turn part of her focus to Music Education. In addition to a number of Master Classes through Steinways in San Francisco and Fresno, Sujeeva started a piano studio at her home in the San Francisco Bay side community of Redwood Shores. As a new resident in the area, she started by advertising her studio in the local community magazine, the "Redwood Shores Pilot". Students from the neighborhood, many who lived within walking distance from Sujeeva's home started attending piano lessons. Soon many of their friends joined the studio and Sujeeva's had a full teaching schedule. With this talented and very young group of students, some just 4 years of age, and a dedicated group of parents, Sujeeva's living room soon became a place of learning, a place of fun house concerts, summer soirees and Christmas parties. Sujeeva's students started having lots of fun learning classical music!!.
Awards
By 2010 all of Sujeeva's young students were earning highest honors in their music exams. Further to their academic achievements, her students were winning awards at prestigious State, National and International Piano competitions. By
the end of 2015 her students had made over 20 appearances at Weill-Carnegie Hall New York.
Young Artists Performance Series
As a performer herself, Sujeeva was keen to share the joy of performance and entertaining audiences with her students. Sujeeva focused on exposing her students to many genres of classical music. She organized a series of house concerts with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra and her students had an opportunity to meet many professional Bay Area musicians. Sujeeva also arranged for a number of her students to join other Bay area students and perform on stage with celebrated concert pianist Lang Lang. Her students also auditioned and went on to perform in Master Classes with concert pianists Simon Trpceski and Yin Chengzong amongst others.
In 2010 Sujeeva created the Young Artists Performance Series. Her students soon started collaborating with other musicians to raise funds for various local charities. Students also started performing at local community centers and at senior homes to rave reviews. In addition to these public charity events, these young students continue to be regularly invited to perform recitals for the San Francisco Symphony League, for popular schools events as well as to entertain family and friends especially over the holidays.
Musical Bridges Concert Series
In 2011 Sujeeva created the Musical Bridges Concert Series, to focus the talent of these young artists to serve the community through their performances. The Musical Bridges concert series was launched with the help of parents later that year. The first concert in this series, Musical Bridges-2011 (MB-1), Sujeeva, her students and their parents collaborated with local businesses to raise over $11,000 to purchase a new piano for the Redwood Shores Elementary School. The new Boston Upright Piano donated to the Redwood Shores Elementary School, today serves the Elementary school students and is also used by the Peninsula Youth Orchestra as a concert and rehearsal venue.
This successful concert series continued with Musical Bridges-2012, 2013, 2014,2015 and 2017. Sujeeva, her students and parents collaborated with the Upper Peninsula League of the San Francisco Symphony and Music at Kohl Mansion's "Kohl for Kids" Program to raise funds for youth music education programs. Over 5000 students from less privileged schools were provided opportunities to attend the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra's Youth Music Education and participate in other programs through funds raised by these concerts. The Musical Bridges Concert Series was featured on the local TV program KTSF in 2013 and have successfully raised and donated over $25,000 for Classical Music related charity programs.
On-Line Virtual Recital Hall
In 2013 Sujeeva went on to collaborate with her husband Prasanna to record key performances by these young artists. A "Virtual Recital Hall" to share their music with on-line audiences was launched at www.sujeevahapugalle-youngartists.com in the Summer of 2014.
2019...
By 2019, many of the young artists had completed 10+ years of studies with Sujeeva. Appreciation of classical music and community service through music had become an important part of their development. Written essays that express passion for music and highlight rewarding experiences of serving community through "Musical Bridges" and other charity programs, supported by compelling recorded classical music performance portfolios, have helped graduating students with college applications. They have gained admission to competitive university programs, and have won education grants including the coveted National Merits Scholarship.
This brings our story right up to today. We hope you will stay tuned and join us on our musical journey to the future....
Site design and content produced by
Prasanna Amerasinghe - Jul 2014
Rev-1 - Dec 2015 Rev-2 - Jul 2016 Rev-3 - Jan 2018
Rev-4 - Jul 2018 Rev-5 - Jul 2019
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