National Youth Symphony Orchestra:

Grand Show in December

The National Orchestra, Youth Symphony Orchestra will be formed with youth from all over the country for the first time. The idea to form a National Orchestra was initiated by Chairman National Youth Corps Colonel Dharshana Ratnayake and is fully endorsed by Minister Dullas Alahapperuma.

We have already received 1500 applications in response to our paper advertisement and plan to start auditions end of this month, said Colonel Ratnayake.

Harsha Makalande

The cream of talent from around the country will be selected and further trained, said the trainer of the Orchestra well-known musician Harsha Makalande.

There will be a pool of 150 members and at any given time the orchestra will have 75 performing members and they will be the best performers.

The orchestra will play any type of music ranging from pop to jazz, fusion and symphony, he said. Already we have planned to have a grand show on December 12 where the National Orchestra will perform for the first time.

The training sessions will be held in Colombo and it will be full time for five days of the week. The selected members will belong to the Colombo Youth Corps Centre and will receive all the benefits enjoyed by other youth corp members said Colonel Ratnayake.

He said that they don’t plan to provide accommodation to the members but will look after the students who come from the outstations.

Makalande invited all talented youth to join hands with them and be a part of the youth symphony orchestra.

The Coordinator of the orchestra Sanjaya Mahavithanage said that this is a good opportunity for talented youth who could further enhance their talents and perform nationally and internationally. National Youth Corps (NYC) a government youth training organization was formed in 2002.

The mission of the NYC is to pave the way for youth to face the new challenges in nation building by empowering them with proper leadership, strong personality and development of life skills. NYC has 37 training centres and it is planned to open two centres in Karainagar and Mannar.

NYC together with the Sabaragamuwa University conducts certificate and diploma level courses in IT, English, business management as well as pre-school teacher training.