| The Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka will open its 52nd Season with a landmark concert of a single work – Verdi’s magnificent Requiem - at the Anglican Cathedral, Bauddhaloka Mawatha on Saturday, March 7 at 7 p.m. Such is its scale, it has been performed only once before in Sri Lanka, in 1971.
The international Conductor Gregory Rose will direct the performance with a fine quartet of solo singers working overseas, a large SOSL orchestra augmented by visiting specialist instrumentalists, and a Symphony Orchestra Chorus of nearly 100 voices which combines the forces of seven leading choral societies of Colombo and Kandy.
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| Verdi |
The concert’s main sponsor is the Dr. Earle de Fonseka Trust, and is in memory of Dr. Earle who directed SOSL for over 30 years. Admission is free of charge.
Verdi composed 28 operas which today provide the back bone of the repertoire of opera houses all over the world. They include such wonderfully tuneful and dramatic works as La Traviata, Rigoletto, Il Trovator, Otello and Aida. The Requiem is his only major work not written for the stage and its composition was inspired by events which moved him very deeply.
In 1873, Alessandro Manzoni the influential Italian poet, novelist and hero died of cerebral meningitis. Verdi was so saddened by his death, that he did not attend the public funeral in Milan, but instead paid his respects alone at the grave.
Grief-stricken, but inspired by the death of his friend, Verdi began composing the Requiem, completing a work of grandeur and sweeping scope in less than a year. The premiere was on May 22, 1874, the first anniversary of Manzoni’s death, at the Church of San Marco in Milan. Vast crowds were outside the church, and those lucky enough to get in were profoundly moved. Other performances followed quickly throughout Europe.
The Requiem opens with a whispered prayer for the dead. The unaccompanied chorus fugue at Te decet hymnus is followed again by the prayer, before the soloists begin an impassioned plea for mercy with the Kyrie.
The core of the work, the Dies irae (day of anger, day of terror), is subdivided into nine sections which give a horrifying depiction of judgment day. Verdi’s genius in heightening the emotions of the words is breathtaking: the four colossal thunderbolts seemingly from heaven introducing the tempestuous vision in the Dies irae; the trumpet crescendo of the Tuba mirum summoning the dead to their maker; and the final expression of grief in Lacrymosa passed between the soloists and chorus.
The final movement begins with an anguished, passionate soprano cry - Libera me, Domine (Lord, deliver me). It is full of emotion: grief, fear, guilt, despair, hope and repentance. The Dies irae theme returns, as does the opening Requiem passage for soprano and chorus. The Requiem closes as it began, in almost spoken prayer.
The four remarkable solo singers in the Requiem are Kishani Jayasinghe, Soprano, the first Sri Lankan to perform as a soloist at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden; Gayathrie Patrick, Mezzo Soprano, a frequent award winner at international festivals and competitions in England and Wales; Amar Muchhala, Tenor, a graduate of London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama Opera Course, now embarking on an international opera career; and Dhilan Gnanadurai, Bass, a recent graduate and post-graduate at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he won several scholarships and awards, who performs as a soloist in a wide range of oratorio works.
I love working here
By Marisa de Silva
Well-known conductor and composer Gregory Rose has been invited to Sri Lanka once more, this time to conduct Giuseppe Verdi’s masterpiece - “Requiem” which will be performed by the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka (SOSL) next month.
The performance on March 7 at 7 p.m., at the Cathedral of Christ the Living Saviour (next to the BMICH) will feature the likes of Kishani Jayasinghe, Gayathrie Patrick and Dhilan Gnanadurai and famous Indian tenor, Amar Muchhala along with combined choirs from Colombo and Kandy, such as Soul Sounds and the Merry-An Singers.
What brings you back to our shores?
I seem to be invited back here most years and I always try to make it fit into my timetable. I love working here - the musicians and media are immensely friendly and kind to me, and the orchestra (SOSL) gets better every time I come over.
What type of work are you involved in back home?
I am a freelance conductor and composer. I only work ‘regularly’ twice a week: I teach conducting at Trinity College of Music on Wednesdays during term, and conduct a contemporary music ensemble, ‘CoMA London Ensemble’, every Tuesday evening. The remainder of the time I travel a fair amount to conduct - a mixture of orchestras and choirs - and also am a staff conductor at Trinity, specifically the Contemporary Music Group (CMG). I have conducted nine operas for the college over the past 15 years.
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| Gregory Rose |
My composing is becoming more of a regular item as well - a mixture of choral music, mostly religious - and instrumental. At the moment I am working on another mass setting (my 4th), a motet, and am beginning sketches for a violin concerto and a large-scale music-theatre piece, for solo singers, chorus, dancers and ensemble for a premiere in Tallinn, Estonia for June 2011. There are other little pieces also taking place. I have a mass being premiered in Indianapolis Cathedral, USA next weekend, an anthem in Oxford in mid-March and a new mass in June, both in the UK. I have also done some orchestral rock arranging and conducting, for two American sopranos doing a cross-over album, called ‘Siren’, and then an album with Diana Ross (“I Love You”), which was hugely exciting and quite an honour!
What’s on the agenda this time around? Elaborate a bit on the show itself and what audiences can expect.
The performance in the magnificent Anglican Cathedral, will be a rare performance of the huge “Requiem” by the Romantic Italian composer, Giuseppe Verdi, composed in 1874. We are doing one performance on Saturday, March 7th, beginning at 7 p.m., with four all-Asian soloists, three of whom are Sri Lankan: Kishani Jayasinghe, Gayathrie Patrick and Dhilan Gnanadurai; they are joined by the Indian tenor, Amar Muchhala; the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka, joined by guest performers from Mumbai and London, and massed choirs from Colombo and Kandy. Altogether there will be about 160 performers, and audiences can expect a really dramatic work, hopefully performed in a really dramatic and exciting way! The last time the work was performed was in the 1970s, so I urge people to come and listen - they won’t be disappointed!
How has it been working with the many different choirs and the orchestra?
As I said before, SOSL improves all the time - we had the first rehearsal last Sunday and the players picked up the dramatic style very quickly: the dynamic range is from very soft to very loud, so it all has to be carefully graded. The choir is also coming on very well - it’s a really tricky score for the singers, and they perform most of the time: they have two movements where they are not performing, and the piece lasts for around 100 minutes. It’s fun to be working with such a range of singers. I know quite a lot of them from the fine chamber choir, ‘Musica Camerata’, which I have given two concerts with, and other singers who have worked with me in different ways over the years. I have had a lot of help from Mary-Anne, who is ‘Chorus Mistress’, and has done a lot of very valuable work, and has brought in her choir as well. I have to try and blend all the different singers, which is a challenge and a pleasure.
What are your plans here other than for this show?
Well this is taking up a lot of rehearsal and planning time - for example, I’ve just spent a couple of hours at the cathedral, but also I have brought composing and marking work (from my students), and I love walking around Colombo, and I swim every day.
What is your opinion of the talent in SL, considering you’ve worked with quite a few musicians and choirs from here?
There is lots of talent here. I have performed several concertos with different players over the years, some of which are Sri Lankans working abroad, but I am also always impressed with the sheer diversity of Sri Lankan musicians: you have the classical players, who work really hard at their practice, whether for SOSL or in a solo capacity and then you have the award winning ‘Soul Sounds’, led by Soundarie David, and this choir goes from strength to strength, winning international competitions and making wonderful CDs. What more need I say?
The concert is free of charge with special programmes available at the cathedral entrance.
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