A man of simple tastes

Gregory Rose back in Sri Lanka:

A purported lookalike of David Gower, Bill Clinton and Richard Gere, "(I think they look like me!"), he has performed on some of the world's most famous stages. He is dynamic, effervescent and outgoing,and his exuberance is contagious. International conductor and composer Gregory Rose is back in Sri Lanka, this time for a landmark performance of Verdi's magnificent Requiem by the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka. He has arrived one month ahead of the scheduled date of the performance, March 7, to practise for the concert which, he says, took four years in planning. "When I spoke to Ajit Abeysekera four years ago about performing it, he immediately said "Yes". But it has taken quite a lot of time to plan and to get the timing right, because this is such a big project, with nearly a 100 singers and a large orchestra. It will be a fantastic performance."

Such is the scale of the Requiem that it has only been performed once before in Sri Lanka, in 1971. "This is a once in 20 to 30 year type of piece. In this part of the world it is not possible to put it on too often," says Rose. He has conducted the Requiem twice before, the last time being about 14 years ago, and excerpts of other Verdi works as well - Falstaff twice, and Otello, in addition to some of Verdi's other sacred pieces. Of Verdi he says,

"He was a fantastic composer particularly of opera and was brilliant with voice."Several specialist instrumentalists and singers will be travelling for the concert from London and from Mumbai to join a large SOSL orchestra that also combines forces with six leading choral societies in Colombo and Kandy, numbering a massive total of 160 performers.

"All the soloists are Asian, three Sri Lankans and one Indian, and I am really pleased about that. They are all very good. Kishani of course, and Gayathri and Dhilan have also done very well. Amar Muchhala the tenor is also a very good singer from Mumbai and is doing a lot of opera. We thought long and hard about the selection and the names gradually came to us.

Vastness

Gregory believes that the sheer vastness of the Anglican Cathedral of Christ the Living Saviour at which the performance is to be held will do justice to the work. "I went to the Cathedral about 4 years ago and felt it was the perfect place from the start. It has a small reverberation and since is a very religious and large-scale work it needs a big building like that."

To maximize on acoustics, Gregory has an unusual seating plan that involves reversing the Cathedral's current seating, which will make the set-up of the choir and orchestra much easier, and give all the audience better sight-lines. This is Gregory's sixth visit to Sri Lanka. "The Symphony Orchestra in Sri Lanka is an excellent and committed group of professionals and semi-professionals which improves in standards each time I return here and I have real pleasure in working with this group," he says.

Orchestras

Gregory is a Professor of Conducting at Trinity College of Music, London, and has conducted orchestras throughout Eastern, Western Europe and the Far East, particularly in romantic and contemporary repertoires including many of the major oratorios. Orchestras conducted during his career spanning three decades include the St Petersburg Symphony, Finnish Radio Symphony and London Philharmonic Orchestras, and the National Symphony Orchestras of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Ireland. Gregory has also conducted numerous choirs including the Nederland Kamerkoor, the Netherlands Radio Choir, Westdeutscher Rundfunk Chor, Groupe Vocal de France and the BBC Singers.

His own compositions include works for orchestra, ensemble and choirs.

A man of simple tastes, Gregory enjoys nothing better than travelling by bus, his keen interest in people being the chief motivator in this preferred choice of the transport of the common man.