Veteran Sri Lankan music composer Dr. Shelton Premaratne has reportedly passed away this morning (30) in Australia.
This was confirmed by Sri Lankan musician Keerthi Pasquel in a Facebook post.
Dr. Premaratne was aged 94 at the time of his passing.
Dr Shelton Premaratne was a legendary Sri Lankan composer, instrumentalist and music director. At a time when Sinhala music directly emulated 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 to Sinhala cinema, theatre and classical Sri Lankan music.
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, at the time of his passing.
