Deepani de Alwis, Canadian born Sri Lankan Pianist received the Canadian National Gold Medal for Licenciate Piano for 2015 from the Royal Conservatory of Music at a grand convocation ceremony in Toronto’s Koerner Hall on 22nd November. The award was based on the results of the Licentiate exam of the Royal Conservatory of Music (LRCM) held last June in which she obtained First Class Honors with Distinction, getting a stunning 95 percent and coming first in the country.

The Licentiate of The Royal Conservatory (LRCM) in Piano Performance is the zenith of the Royal Conservatory program and is open to all candidates from North America. The examination is evaluated as a professional concert performance. Candidates are expected to demonstrate a masterful command of the instrument and communicate an understanding of stylistic characteristics and structural elements of each repertoire selection with interpretive insight and a mature musical personality. Six days after appearing for the LRCM exam, she did a Grade 10 RCM singing exam coming through with First Class Honours. Before she appeared for these exams, Deepani had obtained her ARCT performance 2014, April in Toronto  (First Class Honours with Distinction).  First Class Honours and Distinctions seem to have become a habit with her!

Deepani was born to Sri Lankan parents in Edmonton, Alberta and accompanied them when they returned to Sri Lanka. She received her primary and secondary education at Ladies College, Colombo, the Colombo International School, and St. George’s English School in Rome, Italy, where her father, Dr. Kingsley de Alwis, served with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization for many years.

Deepani commenced her musical studies at the tender age of four under the tutelage of her mother, Mrs. Ranjani de Alwis, a piano teacher in Sri Lanka, Canada, and Italy.