Music lovers will enjoy an evening of grand ceremonial music at the Camerata Musica performance of Handel’s 4 Coronation Anthems and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, on July 25 at St. Michael’s Church (Gal Palliya), Colombo 3, at 7 p.m.
The concert will be conducted by Lalanath de Silva. Asitha Tennekoon will be the Chorus Master. Peshali Yapa and Kumudini David will be the soloists in the Pergolesi. This performance of the Stabat Mater is dedicated with respect, to the bereaved mothers of Sri Lanka, who have lost their children in the conflict.
The Coronation Anthems were the composer Handel’s first commission as a citizen of the newly-formed ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain’. It was written for the crowning of Duke Georg August of Hanover (Germany) as King George II on October 11, 1727. The set is scored for chorus (in as much as seven parts) and orchestra.
Stabat Mater is a 13th century sequence variously attributed to Pope Innocent III and Jacopone da Todi. Its title is taken from the first line, Stabat mater dolorosa (‘The sorrowful mother stood’). The hymn is one of the most powerful and emotional of medieval poems ever written, and meditates on the Seven Dolours of the Blessed Virgin Mary during the crucifixion.
Kumudini David (Soprano) has been studying vocal music since 1998 under Mary Anne David. She completed her Royal Schools of Music Grade 8 vocal music exam in 2004 and won the Concerto competition of the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka (SOSL) in 2006. She is an active member of the Merry An Singers and member and soloist of Camerata Musica. She enjoys classical, gospel vocal music in particular and choral music in general.
Peshali Yapa, (Mezzo Soprano) graduated with honours from the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague, the Netherlands, with a double Bachelor of Music degree in Performance and Teaching. She is presently one of the Music Directors at the Asian International School, Colombo and has her own teaching practice.
Lalanath de Silva, the Conductor for the evening, began conducting at an early age and was appointed Deputy Conductor of the SOSL in 1992. In 2000 he succeeded the late Dr. Earle de Fonseka for two years as Conductor of the SOSL until he took up a UN appointment in Geneva.
Programmes will be available from tomorrow at the Lionel Wendt and by private circulation. |
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