Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Shanti Sivarulrasa  (b. 2003) is a composer and violinist based in Kjipuktuk (Halifax, Nova Scotia). She is in her final year of the Bachelor of Music program at Dalhousie University on a four-year Fountain Performing Arts Scholarship. Shanti is pursuing a concentration in composition, studying composition with Dr. Jerome Blais and violin with Dr. Leonardo Perez. Her previous composition teachers include Amy Brandon and Dr. Matthias McIntire.

Shanti made her professional solo debut with Symphony Nova Scotia in 2025 performing her composition Chrysalis for solo violin and orchestra as part of the Open Waters Festival. In 2025, she was also the Artist in Residence with the Ottawa New Music Festival, premiering her work First Encounters for two violins with violinist Maria Nenoiu. Shanti's works have been performed by leading ensembles including the Alkali Collective (Halifax, NS) and the Array Ensemble (Toronto, ON). In 2024, Shanti was selected for the first Canadian edition of the Earshot Readings with the National Arts Centre Orchestra (Ottawa, ON).

 

Shanti is a three-time winner of the Dalhousie Concerto Night Competition and served as the Concertmaster of the Dalhousie Symphony Orchestra from 2022 to 2024. She is the recipient of more than a dozen academic and artistic scholarships from Dalhousie University and beyond including the Elisabeth Meyerhof Scholarship in Music, the Jay MacLellan Family Award for Music Leadership, the Evanov Radio Group Scholarship, and the Djokic Family Prize for Excellence in Performance. Most recently, Shanti was awarded the Music’s Future Scholarship by the New York- based Music Performance Trust Fund, recognizing her as one of thirty current and future leaders in the music industry across North America.

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​Shanti is the co-founder and co-creative director of the Nuovo Contemporary Concert Series, a series dedicated to showcasing new works by Halifax-based composers. She is also the first violinist and a founding member of the Rostova String Quartet, a group performing classical and contemporary music in Halifax. Beyond her work as a composer and performer, Shanti is a violin teacher at Long and McQuade and runs a free violin program for newcomers to Canada at the YMCA Centre for Immigrant Programs in Halifax.

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