|
|
 |
 |
| Sunday, 20 January 2002 |
 |
|
 |
Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Arts Await Vienna boys' choir in Sri Lanka Plans are underway to get one of the super most famous choirs in the world to this little island of ours. The Vienna Boys' Choir, is expected to be in Colombo in March 2002 and boy it's going to be a show worth watching. For want of a foundation charter, historians have settled on 1498 as the official foundation date of the Vienna Hofmusikkapelle and the Vienna Boys' Choir. The choir sang exclusively for the court, at mass, at private concerts and on state occasions. Musicians like Heinrich Isaac, Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Antonio Caldara, Antonio Salieri and Anton Bruckner worked with the choir. Some were choristers themselves, such as composers Jacobus Gallus, Franz Schubert, and - as substitutes - the brothers Franz Joseph and Michael Haydn and the conductors Hans Richter, Felix Mottl and Clemens Krauss. In 1918, after the breakdown of the Hapsburg empire, the Austrian government took over the court opera (i.e. the orchestra and the adult singers), but not the choir boys. The Wiener Sangerknaben owe their survival to the initiative of Josef Schnitt, who became dean of the Imperial Chapel in 1921. Schnitt, an enterprising and shrewd individual, established the boys' choir as a private institution: the former Hofsangerknaben (court choir boys) became the Wiener Sangerknaben, the court's cadet uniform was replaced by the sailor suit, then the height of boy fashion. Today there are around 100 choristers between the ages of ten and fourteen, divided into four touring choirs. The four choirs give between 300 and 330 concerts and performances each year. Each group spends nine to eleven weeks for the year on tour. They visit virtually all European countries, and they are frequent guests in Asia, Australia and the Americas. Together with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna State Opera Chorus, the Wiener Sangerknaben maintain the tradition of the imperial musicians: as Hofmusikkapelle they provide the music for Sunday Mass in Vienna's Imperial Chapel, as they have done since 1498. Gerals Wirth succeeded Norbert Balatsch as the choir's artistic director in 2001. Repertoire: from Bach to World The choir's repertoire includes everything from Gregorian Chant to contemporary and experimental music. Motets and lieder for boys' choir form the core of the touring repertoire; as do the choir's own arrangements of waltzes and polkas by Strauss. Benjamin Britten wrote the vaudeville The Golden Vanity for the Wiener Sangerknaben, and even conducted its premiere at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1967. Austrian composers Heinz Kratochwil, Ernst Krenek, Anton Heiller and Balduin Sulzer have written works specifically for the choir. The Hofmusikkapelle continues to commission new sacred works. Children's Operas A very important part of the children's staged works. The Wiener Sangerknaben regularly produce their own children's operas; most recently Benjamin Britten's The Little Sweep, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Bastien und Bastienne, Joseph Rheinberger's Das Zauberwort, Gerald Wirth's The Little Prince, based on the book by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Wirth is currently writing a new opera for the choir. Choristers also participate regularly in opera performances (such as Die Zauberflote, Carmen, Gianni Scicchi, La Boheme, The Turn of the Screw, Tosca) at different opera houses. The Wiener Sangerknaben are branching out. New collaborations with stage directors, writers, dancers, actors, choreographers, photographers, film makers, painters, sculptors help to define new formats on stage. Inspiration, a journey through the religious music of a variety of cultures was the result of such a collaboration. The boys are required to sing in different tone systems, they process, move, even dance and play ethnic instruments. Other projects include Jewish music, both traditional and contemporary, pop, hip hop, videos and film music. The choir has contributed to a number of soundtracks in recent years: Primal Fear (USA 1996); The 13th Floor (USA 1999), Dokuritsu Shonengasshoudan (Japan 2000), the animated Doraemon (Japan 2000), ICE (USA 2001). For further details please contact; Paul M. Mueller on, 077-380227 or
075-333573. Unrivalled event by Mahes Perera Today, the first Kala Pola for the year 2002, will be staged opposite the National Art Gallery at Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha from 10 am to 6 pm. The pavement at this Mawatha will be a hive of activity with many art enthusiasts assessing the paintings in oil and water colours, presented by professional artists and aspiring artists. This year's Kala Pola which will be a bi-annual event is staged by the George Keyt Foundation and admirably sponsored by John Keells Holdings. The Kala Pola will be inaugurated by Karu Jayasuriya, Minister of Power and Energy and Dr. (Mrs.) Vasantha Jayasuriya as the Chief Guests. Today is the tenth year of the Kala Pola presentation by the George Keyt Foundation who have provided a platform for many an aspiring artist to display their sensitive creativity. John keells Holdings have associated themselves with the promotion of the Arts in Sri Lanka and have supported the Kala Pola to grow into an important event in Colombo looked forward to by many enthusiastic patrons of the arts. This testing ground for entries by many aspiring participating artists
rose to 180 in January last year, and this year the entries have increased
considerably. John Keells Group are going to great lengths to make the
pavements opposite the National Art Gallery inviting to the artists and
the public, and the event an unrivalled one this year. When a word is more than a word Language is a matter of words. They come in singulars and plurals. In English 'the word' is singular and 'words' are plural. So is in Sinhala: vacanaya or vacane means the word, and vacana means words. Of course, Sinhala has another form, vacanayak which means a singular in its indefinite form, a word. However, both English and Sinhala use the singular noun when they refer to words in the plural. In the beginning says the Bible was the Word. What is the Word that the Bible speaks of? It certainly is not a particular word but the all the words that God has spoken. In other words, the Word means the teachings or the scriptures. In Sinhala one speaks of the word of the Buddha, Buddha vacanaya which is in Pali, and it is embodied in the Tripitaka, the three (tri) baskets (pitaka). The Sinhala word vacanayak (a word) is used in many contexts to denote not one but several hundreds of words. The 'preface' of a Sinhala book is sometimes titled vacanayak (a word from the author), but that word runs into pages and pages. When a speaker states that he would also like to say 'a word' on some important matter, it denotes his ideas or opinions. One's decision is also called a vacanayak. When a Sinhalese wants another to give his decision on some matter, he says: mata vacanayak denna (Give me a word) Some decisions are promises, like those between men and women to marry. Sinhalese parents who still think that they have the last word on the
marriage of their children, ask their children to confess if they have
given, without their knowledge, a vacanayk to someone to say I'm willing
to marry you. 'Lagu rasa' the first Malay audio cassette launched Producer Winston Rajudeen and Music Director Stanley Oumar have jointly ventured to bring out 'Lagu rasa' a Malay audio cassette, the first of its kind which is a memorable one to the Malay community of Sri Lanka. The Malaysian High Commissioner, His Excellency Iskander Sarudin, ceremonially launched the Malay Audio Cassette 'Lagu rasa' at the Malaysian High Commission on January 9th amidst a distinguished gathering. Presidents and Directors of SLUMO, SLAMA and COSMO were also present. His Excellency the Malaysian High Commissioner, while commending on the production of the Malay cassette by Winston Rajudeen and the original musical creations and directions by Kalabooshana Stanley Oumar, expressed his willingness to promote the 'Lagu rasa' a cassette over Malaysian Radio and through the electronic media. The audio cassette contains 10 melodious melodies rendered by popular vocalists, Tony Hassan, Haroon Lanthra, Winston Rajudeen, Kumala Sourjah, Nazleen Sourjah and Denzil Lye. Lyrics were by Kalabooshana Stanley Oumar, M.A. Sourjah and Aliba Rawlins. The cassette will be available at the 'Malay Fair Festival' which will
be held on January 26 and 27 at the 'Padang' Malay SLMA Secretariat and
Cultural Centre, Colombo 2. Fifty years of dance and drama Fifty years of dance and drama is the theme of the Sisters of St. Margret Oration this year. This is the second in this series of Orations organized by The Past Pupils' Association of Bishop's College. This year's oration is being delivered by two of the most distinguished and experienced personalities in the fields of dance and drama in Sri Lanka. They are Oosha Saravanamuttu the doyen of classical ballet and Irene Wanigaratne, who has made an immense contribution to the development of Western drama in Sri Lanka, both as an actress, directress of stage plays and teacher of Speech and Drama. Both have over fifty years of experience each in their respective fields. Many of the outstanding figures in the Sri Lankan dance and drama scene, have at one time or the other passed through the hands of Aunty Oosha and Aunty Irene, as they are fondly known by their students. The event is scheduled for Monday, 21st, January 2002, to commemorate the Founders' Day of Bishop's College. The oration will be held in the College Auditorium. The Past Pupils' Association believes that this Oration will be an occasion for past and present pupils of Bishop's College and private pupils of Irene Wanigaratne and Oosha Saravanamuttu and all their friends and well-wishers in their respective fields to honour and pay tribute to these two great teachers. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
