On the stage that she loves!
It was a stage she was all too familiar with and on Thursday, December 3, Kishani Jayasinghe enthralled her audience at the Lionel Wendt performing with her friends and fellow musicians Soundarie David Rodrigo, Ananda Dabare and Surekha Amerasinghe – a four part show that delivered beautifully in terms of music and entertainment.
A moment’s pause with Ananda Dabare, and top right, dazzling the audience. Pix by Indika Handuwala
The lyric soprano, who from her early days of treading the boards at the Wendt with the Merry-An Singers, has gone on to the international stage, was clearly delighted to be singing at home.
The past decade has seen her performing at some of the celebrated concert halls of the world – the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, Sadlers Wells, La Scale Milan, among them.
She began the show with ‘Fantastique Opera Francais’ a selection of excerpts from operas by French composers. The first was that of Marguerite from Charles Gounod’s Faust and Kishani also performed an excerpt from her acclaimed role as Leila from Bizet’s Pearl Fishers, which incidentally is set in the island of Ceylon.
The next segment of sacred music contained well loved songs such as Ave Maria, Amazing Grace and The Holy City alongside an operatic rendition of ‘Danno Budunge’.
Compere Arun Dias Banadaranike also announced during the show, the formation of the Colombo Opera Company, an initiative by Kishani together with Mohan Tissanayagam, who will serve as Chairman of the COC.
The company will take opera to the region and aims to engage with audiences through workshops and creative sessions. “The aim of the COC is to make opera and all things related to it, as lovable and enjoyable as it could and should be.
It aspires to make this western art form accessible not only to the social elite but also more accessible to people from all walks of life and to kindle interest particularly in the younger generation,” a statement in the programme said.
The COC calendar envisages full scale opera, gala concerts and master classes and creative sessions with Kishani, all aimed at the promotion of local talent. An exciting prospect – see www.coc.lk
The last two segments of familiar tunes and seasonal music was more festive-“I have to begin with the opera and classics as that’s my passion and what I love to perform,” Kishani explained, adding “but as a singer I do like to do something fun with my audience.”
Her encore item in particular was an inspired choice- a medley from My Fair Lady.
It was a dazzling performance by Kishani, returning to her “favourite stage”, and while her audience may have been, as she laughingly put it, “the hardest audience to perform for, because I put so much pressure on myself to do well for you all,” they loved it, giving the soprano and her fellow musicians a standing ovation.
Star cast: Soundarie David Rodrigo, Kishani, Ananda Dabare and Surekha Amerasinghe
