The De Lanerolle Brothers perform for a worthy cause

By Ranga Chandrarathne

The famous De Lanerolle Brothers will perform in a dinner show on March 15 at the Galadari Hotel. The dinner show is a fundraiser for Kiwanis Battaramulla to help eradicate MNT Maternal Neonatal Tetanus virus from the world.

The proceeds of the show will be in aid of Kiwanis Battaramulla to launch several welfare programs to assist marginalised segments of the population such as the children of Bambalapitiya Railway slum.

Kiwanis is an international, coeducational service club founded in 1915. Its headquarters is Indianopolis, Indiana. Current membership is 240,000 in 7,700 clubs in 80 nations. “Kiwanis is a global organisation of volunteers dedicated to changing the world, one child and one community at a time.”

Kiwanis Battaramulla is one of the four Clubs in Sri Lanka. This year’s objectives is to continue the elimination of malnutrition program which was started last year.

Among the projects are helping the children of Babalapittiya Railway slum, the TNT program which is the Kiwanis Global Programme this year and assisting the Kiwanis Key club

The De Lanerolle Brothers’ of Sri Lankan origin, hail from this beautiful country which is nestled at the southernmost tip of India also known to many as ‘The Pearl of the Indian Ocean’

Rohan the ‘High Baritone’ is the older brother. He is a highly respected vocal coach who is acknowledged both internationally as well as locally for his proficiency. Success has taken Rohan across the globe to grace many concert halls around the world such as the Weill Recital hall, Carnegie Hall – New York, The Altadena Open Air Theatre – Los Angeles, The Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford, The Adrian Boult Hall in Birmingham – UK, The Bentley Music Auditorium - Malaysia and other appearances in Australia, Singapore and the Maldives while collaborating with internationally acclaimed Pianists such as the likes of Rohan De Silva - USA, Dr Jonathan Clarke -UK, Dhilanthi Fernando – USA and UK and Soundarie David – Sri Lanka.

De Lanerolle brothers

He has recorded albums with Sri Lankan pianist Ramya De Livera Perera and appeared with Orchestras conducted under the baton of Dr James Ross and the Christ Church Festival Orchestra, the late Rohan Joseph De Saram and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Sri Lanka and with the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka.

A voice with an undoubted huge vocal range has performed for the President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka’s Christmas Concert in 2007.

Ishan de Lanerolle the ‘Bass’ singer and younger of the two siblings, has held office as the President of ‘The Revelations’ a Male Voice Choral Ensemble who were ranked fourth at the World Choir Games, Graz, Austria in 2008 to which both brothers contributed a great deal towards its success.

Ishan has been involved in directing many choirs in Sri Lanka. Even through their voyages along the musical journey kept these two brothers independent of each other; they would unite on stage from time to time to perform with The Revelations’ as well and on occasions appearing together as a ‘Duo’.

As a country that is mainly known for their ‘Tea’ the De Lanerolle’s own and run a successful ‘Family Enterprise’ in this industry with their father at the helm…

“Music to us is communication and blend” says with a sassy grin, “It’s a communication that we have between ourselves, inevitably drawing our audience who just can’t resist but join in as our ‘backup singers’! Ishan taking over from Rohan states, “People tell us that our blend is amazing”, something which even we can’t fathom, but at the end of the day if I may say,’ like a cup needs a saucer’ all we aspire to do is to ‘Make people happy’ with our brand of Singing. With that it is obvious to us now why they have “Blended in” so well as Brothers, Singers and Business Partners.

Unification

The unification of these two siblings follows the success of many concerts both at home and abroad. They now team up to not only to continue to thrill their local audience, but also carry on sustaining international recognition and be a duo to be reckoned with. ‘The de Lanerolle’ brothers recently concluded a successful European Tour that included performances in Geneva – Switzerland and Graz – Austria and the USA where they gave diverse recitals. Their versatility has no limits. Operetta to Opera, Broadway to Ballads capturing the styles of Il Divo to the Tenors, even going on to selecting all time favourites from the 60s, 70s and 80s as they are regarded as one of the best combinations here in Sri Lanka.

Born to sing, the bothers have that amasing quality to step out and mesmerise their audience combining Talent and Charisma to entertain.

Their 2012 schedule consists of tours to London, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Maldives as well as being involved in preparing for their own productions locally.