As a multi-genre conductor/music director, chamber musician and pianist, Yshani Perinpanayagam has performed at venues from Wigmore Hall to the London Palladium, at events from Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival to the Barbican Mime Festival, and with artists from the Philharmonia Orchestra to comedian Nina Conti.
Recent productions as conductor/music director include Kurt Weill’s Street Scene for Opéra de Paris, Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea for English Touring Opera, a double bill of music by Freya Waley-Cohen and Francesca Caccini for Longborough Festival Opera, Ruination at Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Goat for Rambert Dance Company/Lost Dog Dance, Stephen Sondheim’s Passion, starring Ruthie Henshall, in Manchester and Les Noces for New Movement Collective.
She is music director of The F**gots and Their Friends Between Revolutions by Philip Venables & Ted Huffman, which has had performances at Manchester International Festival, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Bregenzer Festspiele, Holland Festival, Ruhrtriennale and will travel to Park Armoury New York in 2025.
Yshani’s commitment to contemporary music has seen her premiere works including by Charlotte Bray, Joe Cutler, Gavin Higgins, Hannah Kendall, Benjamin Oliver, Alex Paxton and Kate Whitley. Her commissions for piano, Commodore 64 and bespoke 8-bit synthesisers have been performed at the National Theatre Riverstage, The Place Theatre and the All Your Bass National Videogames Arcade festival. As a composer, commissions include works for the London Sinfonietta, Onyx Brass, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and St. Martin’s Voices, with arrangements performed by CHROMA, Chineke! and for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra's Share Sound.
She performs improvised piano for Comedy Store Players and was part of the Olivier award winning Showstopper! The Improvised Musical. She is a regular guest broadcaster on BBC Radio 3.
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Street Scene
Opera National de Paris
The orchestra moves brilliantly from jazzy accents to grand operatic flights without ever covering the voices, instead in beautiful harmony with them…. Through her clear and precise direction Yshani Perinpanayagam, a young British conductor with a successful international career, makes a significant Parisian debut here
Concert Classic
In the pit, the conductor Yshani Perinpanayagam breathes great energy and an infectious sense of swing
Concertonet
Ruination
Royal Ballet and Opera, London
Musical director and onstage pianist Yshani Perinpanayagam swathes the show in a weird, genius musical patchwork where old hits by Radiohead and George Harrison become soaring vessels to transport you to another world
Time Out
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