SoundsLikeSydney is a website for music lovers where you can catch up on musical activities in Sydney. Always independent, we take no fee for content or reviews. Visit us for:

♫ Information on what’s happening in Sydney’s music scene – people, concerts, dates and venues; previews, reviews features and interviews, and music news ,

♫ The perfect platform for showcasing Sydney based musicians, and informing audiences,

♫ Links to interesting features from around Australia and the world.

♫ More than the mass media provides

♫ An avenue for you to express your opinions

Our reviews are independent, fee-free and thoroughly researched. They are often written by knowledgeable musicians who have performed the pieces they are reviewing. We do not chase headline for the sake of publicity. Our primary purpose is to inform our readers.

Sharing our content:

We work hard to provide content that is informed, entertaining, diverse and well written. We would be honoured if you would like to share content that appears on SoundsLikeSydney. However we ask that you observe some simple courtesies:

Reprints: Please seek our permission before reprinting a full feature or anything more than a quote. we don’t expect to say ‘No” but ask that the sentence :”Reprinted courtesy of www.soundslikesydney.com.au” appears at the bottom of the feature. The name SoundsLikeSydney is protected by trademark law.

Hotlinks:We welcome hotlinks to our features. No permission is required, but if you do link to our features, let us know so we can reciprocate!

Quotes: You’re very welcome to quote from our content if you find that something we have said will benefit your venture. Please follow the quote with: SoundsLikeSydney and we would be extra grateful if you hotlinked it to www.soundslikesydney

..after all we all have the same aim – and that is to support music and musicians in Sydney!

SoundsLikeSydney was founded in April 2011 by Shamistha de Soysa.

Shamistha is an active musician. She sang with the Sydney Philharmonia Symphony Chorus for 12 years,  performing regularly with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House and in other venues around Sydney and New South Wales. She was a member of the choral contingent which travelled to London in 2010 to open the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. She has also sung with the London Symphony Chorus and with several smaller choirs in Sydney including the Sydneian Bach Choir in kits Bach project from 2000 – 2010 and Coro Innominata. She has sung in choral concerts conducted by David Robertson, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Edo de Waart, David Zinman, Zubin Mehta, Richard Hickox and Sir Charles Mackerras.

In March 2021 Shamistha began writing for Limelight as a reviewer and feature writer.

She has interviewed numerous musicians, amongst them Zubin Mehta, Jordi Savall, Roger Woodward, Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Nicholas Vines, Richard Gill, Yvonne Kenny, Stuart Skelton, Paul Mealor, Nicola Benedetti, Lyndon Terracini, Jane Sheldon, Sally-Anne Russell and Sally Whitwell.

She holds the AMusA Diploma in Voice and the Licentiate in Pianoforte Teaching. She also studied the violin and has played both piano and violin in social and community ensembles.

For nearly 5 years, Shamistha was a volunteer at radio station Fine Music FM, where she was a presenter, programmer, interviewer, producer, feature writer and Board member.

Shamistha is an avid concert goer both in Sydney and on her travels. She has been a Patron of Opera Australia for over 10 years.

Shamistha’s professional work was in the field of medicine, having been in clinical practice and research, she learnt the art of talking to people about things that matter to them and translating that into writing.

SoundsLikeSydney wants to hear from you about what is happening in Sydney and your response to it – musically speaking – Who, what, where and why! Join our community and tell as many people as you possibly can about us!

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