Suresh Singaratnam"There have been many times when I have seriously thought about giving up on one of the two, so I could truly focus on one of these difficult styles of music, but then I'd find myself missing the other one too much".
This curious dilemma has followed Suresh Singaratnam throughout his musical life. The two styles of music he refers to are of course Jazz and "Classical" music.
Born in the African nation of Zambia, Singaratnam was a traveler at an early age, moving to London, England with his family a year later, and then again to Toronto, Ontario at the age of two. He spent his childhood in this cosmopolitan environment, and started playing the trumpet in his elementary school when he was nine years old. In four years, he began private instruction with local high school music teacher, Rob Krizmanich. After Krizmanich left the school three years later, Suresh began his studies with Baroque trumpet soloist Norman Engel . During these years, he was exposed to even more performance opportunities in high school ensembles, received numerous scholarships from local competitions, and gained performance experience with the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Scarborough Philharmonic. At the age of 16, Singaratnam was featured as a soloist at MusicFest Canada's annual festival in Toronto when he performed Jean Baptiste Arban's Variations on The Carnival of Venice with his high school wind ensemble. A few months later, he won the Scarborough Philharmonic's Youth Concerto Competition and performed Johann Freidrich Fasch's Concerto in D for Trumpet and Orchestra with that ensemble. In his final year of high school, Suresh advanced to the provincial brass finals of the Kiwanis Music Festival after winning the Open Trumpet Solo, Open Trumpet Concerto, and 18 and under Trumpet classes in the Kiwanis Toronto Festival.
After high school, Singaratnam spent a year in the University of Toronto's Jazz Studies program studying with Toronto jazz trumpeter Chase Sanborn and Bart Woomert (of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra), then enrolled in the Jazz Performance Program at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. While receiving private instruction from Lew Soloff at MSM, Singaratnam also had the opportunity to perform with many distinguished musicians including Bobby Sanabria, Bob Mintzer, Hilton Ruiz, Candido, Cecil Bridgewater, and John Benitez. Singaratnam continued his classical trumpet studies by performing in the school's orchestras, chamber ensembles and contemporary Ensembles, and studying with New York Philharmonic trumpeter Vincent Penzarella. Singaratnam recently completed the Masters of Music degree at MSM and continues to study with Mr. Penzarella.
Having performed as a jazz and classical trumpeter in various venues in New York State and the Greater Toronto Area (including Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Roy Thompson Hall and The Toronto Centre for the Performing Arts) Singaratnam continues his pursuit of excellence in both genres.
