Young voices hit a seasonal note
Singing with Santa: The Asian International School Junior Choir
It was a wonderfully festive musical treat as award-winning Russian all female choir Alye Parusa, directed by Elena Volodina, performed on December 13 and 14 at the Children’s Choir Festival at Cinnamon Lakeside. With over 400 children participating ranging from the ages of five to 14 years, the Choir Festival saw the children and audiences enjoying the music of the season.
On Friday the 13th, the Russian choir was joined by three junior choirs of Soul Sounds Academy as well as the youngsters of Petite Chorale. On the second night, the Alye Parusa choir performed alongside students of local and international school junior choirs, including Asian International School, Gateway College, St. Benedict’s College Colombo, Lyceum International School Panadura, the British School in Colombo and Wycherley International School.
From Russia with love: The Alye Parusa choir. Pix by Nilan Maligaspe
On the morning of December 14th, a choral workshop was conducted by the Russian choir where interested youngsters were able to learn from the experienced choir members.
The performance on the 14th saw the children from the Alye Parusa choir in white dresses and flower crowns, as they belted out beautiful high notes in perfect synchronicity. If one closed one’s eyes one would have thought the voices were those of adults. The rendition of Edelweis was one of the highlights of their performance as well as when they switched their flower crowns for Santa hats and did a medley of Christmas songs such as Jingle Bells and Dashing Through the Snow. Their movements on stage added something extra to their singing as you could tell how much fun they were having.