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Symphony Orchestra on Oct. 9
The next concert of the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka (SOSL) will
be held on October 9, The annual Premiers Concert of the SOSL is a much
looked forward to event in the Colombo Music lovers’ calendar. The SOSL
is delighted to have Keiko Kobayashi, who conducted the orchestra last
year in the rousing performance of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, return to
conduct the Orchestra in this year’s Premieres Concert. This concert
will also feature Atsushi Kimura performing Mozart’s much loved Concerto
No. 3 for French Horn and Orchestra.
  The Symphony Orchestra just completed a very successful cross
cultural programme featuring two Sri Lankan icons, Victor Ratnayake and
Nanda Malini singing with the orchestra. Ananda Dabare’s orchestration
of the original orientan music and the singers rendition of those songs
were received with rapturous applause from a very enthusiastic and
appreciative audience. Many in the audience were hearing an orchestra
for the very first time.
The Premieres Concert in October will feature three new works never
heard before in Colombo.
R. Strauss’ rousing Fanfare was written for the Trompeterchor (Brass
Band) of the City Vienna in 1943. Its two minutes feature some brass
playing of great brilliance.
Mozart’s Third Horn Concerto, K447 is perhaps the finest in this
genre, and has great richness and is more symphonic than the other
three. The ‘Romance’ second movement allows the soloist to display his
finest cantabile, and infectious high spirits dominate its hunting horn
finale.
Mendelssohn’s Ruy Blas overture is mainly in C minor, and is a
wonderfully tuneful overture for large orchestra. It was written for a
Victor Hugo play of the same name, which the composer hated.
The pick of the works to be performed is perhaps Schumann’s finest
orchestral work, the Rhenish Symphony in E flat, op. 97. Written in
1850, this is a truly monumental Romantic five-movement symphony, which
will finally receive its first performance in Sri Lanka. The fourth
movement is a luxuriously orchestrated contrapuntal masterpiece, a
challenge for any conductor.
Tokyo-born conductor Keiko Kobayashi, needs no introduction to
Colombo audiences who heard her compelling Beethoven 5th Symphony
performance in October 2008 with the orchestra. A pupil of Kazuyoshi
Akiyama, Kenichiro Kobayashi, Yuji Yuasa, Douglas Bostock and the
legendary Seiji Ozawa, her latest achievement was the first Prize at the
Boswil International Conducting Masterclass in Switzerland, after which
she conducted the Aargau Symphony Orchestra earlier this year. Since her
debut, she has conducted the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra (TPO), the
Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra,
Tokyo Kosel Wind orchestra (TKWO) and the Siena Wind Orchestra. In 2006,
she was repetiteur and assistant conductor at the Hallwyl Opera Festival
in Switzerland. She had her European debut with Bizet’s “The Fair Maid
of Perth” at this festival, to which she returned in 2009 to conduct
Smetana’s “The Bartered Bride”. A CD and a DVD of her performances at
the All Japan Band Competition 2010 with the TKWO will be released in
January 2010.
The soloist Atsushi Kimura was born in 1958 in Kanazawa, Japan, and
has been playing the horn from the age of 12. He completed his studies
at Toho Gakuen Music School, Tokyo, under Prof. Masahiro Tanaka and
Prof. Katsuyoshi Kurosawa. He has been a member of the Tokyo Symphony
Orchestra, and spent 10 years in the horn section of Seiji Ozawa’s famed
Saito Kinen orchestra. Since 1986, he has been a member of Tokyo Kosei
Wind Orchestra (TKWO). He is currently the director of the Japan Horn
Society.
The main sponsors of the concert are Asian Alliance Insurance and the
Japan Foundation.
Spirit centre stage for under privileged youth
by Mahes Perera
For the first time in the musical history of bands hailing from
Moratuwa, the band Spirit with Lucky Deva and Shiraz will present a
Sundown Musical Evening to fund the underprivileged children of the
Sevana Pre School Moratuwa.
 Lucky Deva, the leader of the band is a committed psycho-social
programmer who was trained by the Red Cross and together with his band
members Spirit they are in this concert reaching out to the beach
children and homeless youth whose lives need to be uplifted in order
they be useful citizens in our country. “The show is titled Golden
Memories and will be held on October 17 at the Ranmal Hotel, Moratuwa
from 7 p.m. We intend to have a two hour show of English and Sinhala
songs and the music will be all the good popular songs of the 60’s, 70’s
and the 80’s.
We are targeting the youth to make them appreciate music with no
trace of rap or hip-hop. Because we believe that today’s youth are under
heavy stress and need to be de-tensioned and enjoying good happy songs
this is one way of helping them out,” reveals Lucky Deva when we spoke
with him to elaborate on this concert. Spirit have been on the scene for
the past three years with only one change when Chaminda moved out to
enlist in the Army and the replacement is Lakmal.
The other members of the band apart from Lucky Deva, singer,
guitarist and composer, are Shiraz, Lakmal, Disnaka and Kamal. The
concert will feature young Devshan of the group Battery, Melantha of
Mirage, Lankika and Chanaka of Golden Chimes fame and young Shenya who
will perform the song “To Sir With Love.” The concert is also designed
for the adult audience as well because Golden Memories will include
their favourites too. Each ticket holder is entitled to a complimentary
snack and drink and of course Spirit have ensured that the audience will
enjoy ticket draws with surprise prizes and many more gifts.
Coming back to your efforts to help youth and under privileged
children through music what exactly is your programme?
“Children today want instant happiness. They don’t know how to enjoy
the good things in life, so we have workshops to guide the youth in how
to select the good from the bad - this includes music, films and drama.
We were also involved in tsunami programmes down south, we performed
along with tsunami affected children and helped them get over their
trauma.”
With their involved social activity Spirit have a tight schedule of
dances and weddings. The CD Maliniye Roo Rajiniye, a tribute to Malini
Fonseka turned out to be a success story for Lucky Deva.
The band is working on tracks for a new CD but before that is
released, catch “Golden Memories” by Lucky Deva and Spirit a fundraiser
for a truly worthy cause to help the underprivileged children. |
