Menaka Singers’ Opera Ensemble (MSOE), the premier opera ensemble in Sri Lanka will be back with its 3rd recital for the year, at the Russian Cultural Centre at 7.30 p.m. on Monday 21 November. Following a sold-out performance in January this year and a triumphant dinner-theatre at Anantara Peace Haven Tangalle in September 2016, the MSOE is proud to present another evening of spectacular opera arias by Mozart, Donizetti, Gounod, Bizet, Puccini, and Verdi.
The concert will be narrated by British opera star Barbara Segal and will be collaborated on piano by Menaka de Fonseka Sahabandu, the founder of MSOE. The unique feature of the ensemble’s performances is that each aria is introduced by Barbara with a short synopsis of the opera from which it is taken, and the context in which it is sung. This allows even those new to the genre to appreciate the beauty of opera, even though it is sung in Italian, French, or German.
Born in Manchester, Barbara studied with the late Dame Isobel Baillie, and then at the Teatro La Scaly, Milan, Italy with maestro Cesare Alfieri. She made her operatic debut in the role of Musetta in La Boheme at the Santa Magherita Ligure Opera Festival, and her repertoire includes roles as Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflote, Violetta in La Traviata, Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor and Marguerite in Faust. She has taken on principal roles in concerts in over 23 countries.
Menaka is well-known in Sri Lanka’s classical music scene, having taught music for 32 years. Multitalented Menaka is a pianist, singer and is also a violinist in the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka (SOSL). She is a Fellow of the Trinity College London in Piano and Singing and a Licenciate of the Royal Schools of Music London, also in Piano and Singing. Menaka has received the award of excellence in vocal western music by the SAARC Women’s Association of Sri Lanka, and the Savasangeetha Award. She has performed as a pianist and sung as a soloist with the SOSL, and has also sung the role of Frasquita in Bizet’s Carmen, staged in New Delhi.
Barbara has been working with MSOE for the past 1 ½ years, holding a series of intensive Master Classes, helping to identify suitable arias for each individual voice. While the initial classes focused on the basics of voice production, breathing technique etc, as the singers’ technique stabilized, the classes focused more intently on stage presence and interpretation of music. Barbara was able to more easily identify the roles that would suit their vocal Fachs, allocating arias for spinto/lyric/coloratura soprano, coloratura mezzo-soprano, lyric tenor, etc. Some legendary arias including ‘Ah, Je Veux Vivre’ (from Romeo et Juliette), ‘The Doll Song’ (from Les Contes d’Hoffmann), ‘The Coat Aria’ (from La Boheme), and ‘La Mamma Morta’ (from Andre Chenier), will be performed at the recital.
Barbara commented, “I was so pleased with the progress shown by all the singers at the Anantara concert. The audience commented that it was great to see Sri Lankan singers who really understood and felt what they were singing, and who were able to convey that to the audience. In fact the Anantara concert was such a resounding success that they have been invited back for a repeat performance in Tangalle on November 27. Menaka and I are incredibly proud of all of them.”
Soloists for the evening will include sopranos Joanne Aloysius Rajiyah, Nipuni Siyambalapitiya, and Samali Liyanage, mezzo soprano Rachel Halliday, tenor Niran de Mel, and baritones Nishantha Warnakulasuriya and Laknath Seneviratne. The 7 soloists are members of the Menaka Singers Opera Ensemble, and have many years experience onstage, with some having been soloists with SOSL, and some, prize-winners at competitions and examinations.