by Mahes Perera
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Kishani Jayasinghe |
 The
Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka opens its 52nd Season with a performance
of Verdi’s Requiem at the Anglican Cathedral, Bauddhaloka Mawatha on
Saturday March 7 at 7.00 pm. The concert will be conducted by
international conductor Gregory Rose.
The Symphony Orchestra Chorus will comprise 100 voices drawn from
leading choral societies in Colombo and Kandy. But most important will
be the remarkable solo singers who will perform in the Requiem.
The spotlight falls on Kishani Jayasinghe, soprano the first Sri
Lankan to perform as a soloist at the Royal Opera House in Covent
Garden.
The mezzo soprano Gayathrie Patrick is a frequent winner at
international festivals and competitions in England and Wales. Both
Kishani and Gayathrie were in Sri Lanka recently for concert
performances and classical music lovers will be happy to hear them
again.
Joining in as soloists are Amar Muchhala, tenor a graduate of
London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama Opera Course and our very
own Dhilan Gnanadurai, bass, a recent Graduate at the Post Graduate
School of Music and Drama, where he won several scholarships and awards
and performs as a soloist in a wide range of oratorio works.
Conductor Gregory Rose directs this performance by a fine quartet of
solo singers and a large SOSL orchestra augmented by visiting specialist
instrumentalists and a chorus of nearly 100 voices which will be a
landmark concert in memory of Dr. Earle de Fonseka who directed the SOSL
for over 30 years.
The music of the legends of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s was released in
five CD’s for the listening pleasure of the Sri Lankan music lovers, on
the Star Lanka Music label. This was launched in collaboration with the
versatile singer, composer, show presenter Rajiv Sebastian.
 The
first two CD’s are the `20 year Explosion’ containing the only available
live performance of the late Clarence Wijewardena along with Annesley
and Indrani recorded at the Colombo Hilton 20 years ago, backed by the
fabulous Fortunes led by the late Stanley Peiris.
The CD’s also include Clarence’s description on how he composed his
hit songs. Indrani commented that “the CD’s have sentimental value
because Clarence himself explains how he composed certain songs”. On the
other hand Annesley said “no matter how many CDs our fans have of us
these are a must”.
The third CD is the Big Band Sound of the legendary Harold
Seneviratne Combo, recorded 20 years ago with colleagues the late Lucky
Manickavasagar, Jewel Gunatilleke, Claude Fernando and Duncan Clyde.
Packed with 22 evergreen hits, Harold after listening to the recordings
said “I wish I could play the same way now”.
The fourth CD is a nonstop recording by the Tamil Pop Chakrawarthi
A.E. Manoharan backed by Rajiva and the Clan. Containing his time
honoured hits Manoharan confessed that “I don’t think I could present
anything better for the music loving public than this.”
The 5th CD is the Mega Hits of the Seventies which contains songs by
Desmond de Silva, Sunil Perera, Shyami Fosneka, Los Muchachos, La
Cylonians and many more.
- MP
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