Launching on a classical journey together
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In perfect harmony: Kishani and Soundarie at Kishani’s recent concert in Colombo
‘Classically French’ featuring opera singer Kishani Jayasinghe and pianist Soundarie David Rodrigo, will mark the beginning of a concert series by the two of them. Here Kishani talks to Duvindi Illankoon
For Kishani Jayasinghe, these are interesting times. The soprano is one of Sri Lanka’s most successful opera singers, with a host of acclaimed roles on the international stage to her name.
She has returned time and again to the Lankan stage for performances with her “favourite audience”; and this time around, she will embark on a classical recital series with Soundarie David Rodrigo.
Earlier this month Kishani’s rendition of a Lankan classic caused quite a stir- so no doubt all eyes will be on her when she takes to the Russian Cultural Centre next week with Soundarie for the first in a series of concerts that will focus on classical music, entitled ‘Royally Classical’.
She spoke to the Sunday Times about the inspiration behind the series, and what you can expect at this first show, ‘Classically French’.
At her last show in December, Kishani launched the Colombo Opera Company together with Mohan Tissanayagam. So she’s been quite busy preparing for the company’s maiden opera, conducting master classes, recitals in Singapore and of course, as she puts it-“Bringing opera to the masses and sparking a national debate about our cultural identity!”
Of course, both Kishani and Soundarie are names synonymous with western music in the country. But there’s more to it than what just meets the eye, says Kishani.
“We have so much in common and our lives have run along parallel lines for such a long time that we decided we would like to celebrate that with a concept new to Sri Lanka.
Therefore being classically trained lawyers having studied at the Royal Academy and Royal College of Music, presenting a classical music recital series together, it made sense to call it the Royally Classical Recital Series.”
The Royally Classical Recital Series will focus on presenting purely classical music over the course of just an hour. “It will be quite different from our usual performances which tend to cater to a wider range of interests and tastes in music,” says Kishani.
“This will be at a more intimate theatre (in this case the Russian Cultural Centre) which will allow the audience to really enjoy the close proximity to the performers and get a real feel for the music.
We will present a mix of songs and operatic arias which we hope will cater to a more enlightened (or adventurous!) audience and make it a wonderful evening of entertainment.
The pieces are handpicked to give a general picture of the repertoire featured in that Programme and will mainly be pieces that we both just love.”
What can you expect? The duo are keeping the programme close to their hearts, so all we know is what the name tells us.
Being the first recital of the series, they were keen on a repertoire that was “beautiful, challenging, clever and extremely enjoyable,” we’re told.
“In addition we wanted it to be a repertoire that Soundarie and I both loved and felt would really work with the elegant feel of the concert, with a combination of classical songs and operatic arias – French repertoire fit the bill perfectly!
“There’s something incredibly beautiful about French repertoire. It really requires skill, an absolute vocal control and the ability to glide around from note to note from phrase to phrase, to make the music flawless and elegant.
We are so excited about starting this off and it should be a truly memorable night.”
‘Classically French’ is on at the Russian Cultural Centre on February 18 from 7.30-8.30 p.m. Tickets are priced at Rs. 2000 (free seating). For bookings calls 0718867071