Sri Lankan audiences are in for a treat when the Oktave choir and friends together with the Piccollini children’s choir in association with the Gustav Mahler Orchestra present a free Christmas concert on Wednesday, 11 December at St. Paul’s Church, Kinsey Road, Colombo 8 at 11 am (Morning concert – Poya day). The concert will be conducted by Dr. Lalanath de Silva, the well know Sri Lankan composer and conductor. The concert will herald in the season and feature two works from the religious repertoire.
The morning’s concert will begin with Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria, a work written for choir, solo singers and chamber orchestra. Vivaldi considered this to be his finest work and the sheer sense of joy and exuberance of the music is will elevate the spirit. The concert will end with a community sing-along of the Hallelujah chorus by George Frederick Handel.
The second work is Lalanath de Silva’s own Christmas Oratorio The good news which he composed when he was 17 years old. The work was composed in 1976 over a period of one month for a large orchestra, chorus and a soloist. The work was premiered by the Symphony Orchestra and chorus of Sri Lanka under the baton of Dr. Earle de Fonseka in 1977 and re-performed in 1985. De Silva has revised the score for the forthcoming performance. The Sinhalese libretto for the Oratorio was written by the late Fr. Marcelline Jayakody, better known as the pansale piyatuma, and a winner of the Magsaysay award for literature.
The morning concert will feature three of Sri Lanka’s best singers – Anagi Perera (Soprano), Peshali Yapa (Mezzo Soprano) and Rachel Halliday (Mezzo Soprano). Neranjan de Silva the well known Organist will play continuo in the Vivaldi.
The Oktave Choir was founded in 2009 by Neranjan De Silva together with Rajeev Aloysius and is one of the most sought after Choirs in Sri Lanka specialising in a wide range of music.
The Piccolinis choir is a Children’s choir founded by PeshaliYapa who is a brilliant singer and singing teacher. The Piccolinis emerged as winners of the recent World Choir Games.
The Gustav Mahler Orchestra of Colombo is Sri Lanka’s largest orchestra with musicians coming together from several areas of the country. The Orchestra was established by its Chief Conductor Srimal Weerasinghe, Rachel Halliday, Vidhurida Samaraweera and Amanda Halliday with the aim of revitalizing and creating opportunities for Western Classical Music in Sri Lanka.
This concert is performed Free of Charge. All are invited!!!