Concertaid VII by the Peradeniya Singers and Young Professionals.
Bridget Halpé, the well-known musician and teacher of music, directed Concertaid VII, a concert of choral music by the Peradeniya Singers, taught and trained by her. Vocal and piano solos were also included in the programme, followed by a surprising addition of dance by three young performers.
Concertaid VII opened with two extracts from Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem – the bass solo sung with deep feeling by Shigeru Okamoto accompanied by the choir in Libera Me, followed by In Paradisum. Fauré’s Cantique de Jean Racine was also sung by the choir with sympathetic understanding accompanied by piano, flute and cello.
Tharindya, Namali and Renushi sang the Caccini aria Ave Maria with an understanding of its quiet beauty and with a reverence that was touching.
The three dances by three young performers were innovative and entertaining. Chamari’s peacock dance and Lankan folk dance were done well and Insight, a modern dance aptly named, was a sudden step into the New. This was skilfully unravelled by Sudesh Mantillake and his jacket!
Ten-year-old Oshini Aloysius danced twice with aplomb, first in a mature and faultless understanding of Bharatha Natyam and later in an Orissa dance.
There is an endless and renewing wonder in good music and to know and understand it is to know the magical power and wonder of sound.
Well done. Please be back soon – all of you! |
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