Canto Perpetua

Nuova Vitae (New Life), and ensemble of past choristers of S. Thomas' College Mount Lavinia will make their debut choral performance on the 19th and 20th of October 2007.

The much anticipated choral group has been put together consisting past choristers who have left college in the last decade. The youthful sounds of the choir will reverberate with music which is traditional and modern, specially arranged for the concert.

All proceeds of this concert will be donated to the chapel renovation project and the enthusiastic group is happy to do so as they all cherish the chapel even to this day.

The unique aspect of this group is that all members are PAST CHORISTERS, and have been under maestro Russell Bartholomeusz. The line up of singers have all been members of the college choir. The group of singers have all come together and is hoping to be together for many years. One of the rewarding factors is that they are all united and enjoy all practice sessions.

The brain child behind the formation of Nuova Vitae is three past choir leaders - Dayan Fernando, Rumesh Fonseka and Vinodh Senadeera (Present Choir master of STC). All three members have been choir leaders with immense amount of musical experience.

And they are delighted to form this unique group with members of their time. All performers are professionals in their own fields, who find the time to do what they love best - SING. Despite their heavy schedules they meet twice a week to conduct their practice session which has largely contributed towards the success of this concert.

The evenings performance will be unique event as for the first time The All Thomian choir will consist students from different Religious faiths. The Thomian Boy's Choir first performed in May but have now officially formed themselves as a regular Choir. The conductor is Amila Gunasena. And its leaders are Jurinesz Shadrach and Shehan Mendis.

The choir consists of 50 students singing all four parts. The director is Vinodh Senadeera.

The concert features music from Bach, Handle, Mendhellson, Shubert, Rutter and modern music. The Concert will also feature two famous poets' works performed in Choral speech style. Jean Arasanayagam and Richard de Zoysa's poems will be narrated and will be directed by Mrs. Tanya Bartlett.

Canto Perpetua, promises to be an evening rich in traditional music interspersed with a touch of modern music. The director of the performance is Vinodh Senadeera. On piano will be Shannon Jacob and Pankaja Dissanayaka, on drums will be Elmo Shanmugam, on Violon Harith de Mel and Shenal Pathirana, Jurinesz Shadrach will be on flute.

The rest of the team comprises of Dayan Fernando, Rumesh Fonseka, Johann Gunawardena, Anjelo Jesudason, Keshan and Sushan Jayatheepam, Rahulan Visvendaraj, Niruban Subramanium, Christy Sugitharatnam, Nirupan Richards, Ashan Fernando, Arthur Sovinalingam, Elmo Shanmugam, Ashan Algama and Elmo Marshall.

The All Thomian choir soloists are Sandesh Bartlett, Nrian De Mel, Dinel Dias, Shan Jayasena, Chatura Gunasekera, Ashwin Shafter, Shehan Mendis, Milindra Kulugammanna and Harith De Mel.

Tickets for the performance are available at Janashakthi (Staples Street), Galle Face Hotel (The Management Club), and the College Gymnasium. The performance will commence at 8 p.m. and end at 9.15 p.m.

Nuova Vitae will also present their Christmas concert later in December at the Russian Cultural Centre.