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| Sunday, 19 October 2003 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Rohan Joseph : Goodbye to a genius
It was only last year in August that Rohan was preparing for a major assignment in England; he had the privilege of being invited to conduct the Philharmonia Orchestra, of which the Patron is the Prince of Wales, in London's celebrated Royal Festival Hall in the Bruckner Cycle. It was while the London arrangements were being made while Rohan was in Sri Lanka that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was taking a keen personal interest in his fellow Old Royalist's musical career, that he gave a tea party at Temple Trees in honour of the Managing Director of the London-based Philharmonia Orchestra and for Rohan and his wife Shirani, to which Members of the Philharmonic Society of Sri Lanka and other distinguished names from various fields were invited. Also present at the party was Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Rohan Joseph began his musical career as a young pianist of great talent. He performed with the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka under the baton of then conductor Earle de Fonseka who died a few years ago. Rohan then went on to further his career in the US and became a brilliant product of the famous Juillard School of Music where he showed his colours as a conductor. Thereafter piano took second place. He was only age 26 when he made his Carnegie Hall debut. Then followed performances at the Lincoln Center and the Kennedy center.His South American debut in Mahler's Fifth Symphony -- one of the conductor's favourite composers -- was sensational. He was Principal Guest Conductor of Mexico's Orquesta Sinfonica de Xalapa. Famous concert artistes such as the pianist Abbe Simon, Lily Kraus and Erick Friedman, to name a few, have appeared under his direction. The world-famous Swedish soprano Birgit Nilsson chose Rohan to conduct her farewell concert at the Lincoln Center. It was at the request of President R. Premadasa in the early nineties that Rohan Joseph returned to Sri Lanka to lift Western Classical Music out of the rut it had fallen into here. He did just that. He founded the Lanka Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted some memorable performances at the Elphinstone Theatre, the BMICH and the Lanka Oberoi, now the Colombo Plaza. He conducted aggressively -- the only Sri Lankan conductor who could tackle an international symphony orchestra -- and never used a conductor-s baton, preferring to use his hands to draw out the best from his orchestra. He introduced 'Opera Lank' in March 2002 and some unforgettable dinner-concerts were hosted by the Taj Samudra. Some years earlier, he was appointed director of 'Opera India.'A friend has left our midst. It is a void that can never be filled,an irreparable loss to the cultural scene in Sri Lanka. Rohan was the son of the late B. M. W. Joseph -- the newspaper columnist Sooty Banda of a bygone era -- and the well-known artist Sita Joseph de Saram. Rohan leaves his mother Sita, wife Shirani, a daughter now studying at Cambridge University, a younger brother Lakshman, also a musician, and a sister who lives abroad. May he go to his eternal rest to the strains of all the music he loved best. - Karel |
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| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
The world of Western Classical Music (WCM), such as it is in this
country, has suffered a setback it will probably take years to recover
from. Rohan Joseph, the only internationally recognised orchestral
conductor we ever produced, died in Italy last Wednesday where he and his
family had left for only last week.
