Long Bio:

Sri Lankan - American cellist and educator Amali Premawardhana was born in Chicago where she grew up playing piano for a while, under the guidance of her musician mother, Dhilanthi Fernando. After showing interest in the string family, her mother brought home a small cello with which Amali immediately fell in love. She began lessons with Elizabeth Anderson at the Merit School of Music and later continued with Richard Hirschl of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Amali’s undergraduate studies started at Indiana University with Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi. She completed her Bachelors Degree at the Manhattan School of Music as a student of Julia Lichten. During her education, Amali took part in programs such as the Tanglewood Institute and the New Directions Cello Festival, and was fortunate to work with world-renowned artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Ron Leonard, Nancy Lesh Kulkarni, Matt Haimovitz and Kurt Masur.

Passionate about teaching and impacting young lives, Amali completed her Masters in Education at the University of Bridgeport where her concentration was elementary and secondary music education. She also completed her long-term Suzuki Teacher Training at the New York School for Strings with Pamela Davenport, and is registered in Every Child Can and Cello Books 1-8.

As a teacher, Amali most recently served as Director of the Suzuki Strings program in Greenwich Public Schools, Connecticut, and also served on faculty at the Greenwich Suzuki Academy. Prior to that she spearheaded the Strings program at Primoris Academy in Northern New Jersey. She has enjoyed teaching cello and chamber music during summers at Kinhaven Music School in Vermont and Eastern US Music Camp based at Colgate University.

Amali is a long-time cellist with Distinguished Concerts International Orchestra of New York, which runs its seasons at Carnegie Hall. She co-leads Karavika, an improvising chamber folk ensemble, with Brooklyn-based violinist Trina Basu. Karavika blends Western classical music with folk and classical music of India and Sri Lanka. Karavika has been hailed by the New York Times as "a soulful blend of classical and folk traditions". San Francisco Classical Voice described Trina and Amali as "commanding performers... suggestive of some of the adventures of such crossover explorers as Edgar Meyer and Yo-Yo Ma." 

As a collaborative artist, Amali has worked with Akshara Ensemble, a strings and percussion group led by mridangist and composer Bala Skandan. The group explores the rich and complex rhythmic and melodic systems of North and South Indian Music and has performed in concerts and workshops throughout the Northeast, including the Learnquest Festival for Indian Music in Massachusetts.

Additionally, Amali has had the distinct joy and honor of performing in several notable festivals, including New York’s Summerstage with vocal artist, Imani Uzuri, Jazz at Lincoln Center in collaboration with Kathak dancer, Parul Shah, Brooklyn Raga Massive’s Raga’s Live Festival at Pioneer Works, BRIC’s Celebrate Brooklyn Festival alongside Roy Hargrove and Brooklyn Raga Massive, the Classical Revolution Festival at venues across the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as at some of her favorite New York City venues such as the Blue Note, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Harlem Stage, Symphony Space and Joe’s Pub. She has performed and toured internationally with the Black Rock Coalition Orchestra’s “Daughter’s of Nina Simone,” an all-women ensemble led by Tamar-Kali. She’s performed in the Broadway show, South Pacific, in the off Broadway production of Phantom of the Opera, as well as in corporate gigs and commercials for brands including Nestle and Stella Artois. She has also appeared at the Kennedy Center, as the cellist for Le Cantanti di Chicago.

Currently, Amali is based in the Chicago area. She is a newly appointed elementary strings teacher in Naperville Community Unit School District 203, in addition to serving as the Adjunct Cello Professor at Elmhurst University. She teaches private cello and ensemble classes at Chicago West Community Music Center and the Merit School of Music. As a performer, she plays with New Philharmonic Orchestra and in various projects in and around the city. She lives with her bassist husband, Perry Wortman and their three beautiful children, two of whom are string players themselves.