A music teacher takes a child's hand, opens a mind and deeply touches the young heart. My musical journey started at the age of 4, with Mrs. Shyama Perera, who was my teacher for the double keyboard organ and was also my inspiration to take on teaching, at the age of 16. Being a student of hers, I realised that it’s not just music we exchanged but a whole new language of speaking, without words and learning to communicate emotions through sound, and that can be initiated in the young mind only through trust, constructive nurturing and respect for each other.

So, this concert- “The Magic of Music” happens to coincide with my celebration of 25 years of joyful teaching and also as a most respectful tribute to my wonderful piano teachers, the late Mrs Joy Ferdinando and the Late Mrs Vilma Varnakulasuriya, under whom I obtained my Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music (LRSM) and the Licentiate of the Guildhall School of music (LGSMDP), Mrs Shyama Perera and my current inspiration Mrs Ramya De Livera. Whilst being most deeply grateful to them for what I’ve learnt from those precious teachers of mine.

I am happy and fortunate that I can pass on that enlightened experience of teaching and learning, now, to my very own students - these wonderful young performers, who are my greatest pride and joy and without whom, I wouldn’t be celebrating 25 years of teaching. They have been the object of all my endeavours and inspiration and the source of my strength. All my dearest students, both past and present, have over the years, done justice to all those sometimes exciting and sometimes arduous hours upon hours of lessons, the days, the weeks, the months and the years of student-teacher interactive engagements. They have never let me down and I am absolutely proud of them.

Today they perform as soloists, chamber orchestras and in renowned orchestras of the island, with some having their own students and I think it’s the perfect time to celebrate them and my promising little players of tomorrow. We will have, Dmitri Guntilake, Rehan Almeida, Menaka Singers, Shyama Perera, Sagara Lakmal Demel, Mariam Wadood, Shammika Mohotti, and Kanchana Malahani who are well-known artistes coming in as guest performers on this night Music binds us tightly together with an invisible and intangible thread and this concert is to celebrate this golden thread that was passed on to me by my teachers and now by me to my own students.

Thanks to the Zonta Club III of Colombo, things were made so much easier organising this night. This event is organised by the Zonta Club III of Colombo to raise funds to alleviate period poverty. Period poverty is one of the most decisive factors that limit the right to education of girls. Period poverty refers to the lack of education on menstruation as well as having little or no access to essential sanitation for basic hygiene during the menstruation period. Concerned with this dire need for menstrual hygiene products especially during the present economic situation in Sri Lanka, Zonta Club III of Colombo has partnered with Zahara Mohamed, to spread the Magic of her Music and raise funds for this topical and worthy cause.