Arts
Unforgettable it certainly was
A class act with a lot of heart – ‘Unforgettable’ showcased the masterful baritone of Gehan Cooray, together with the renowned Soundarie David Rodrigo on piano with a special guest appearance from Rukshan Perera. Presented by Rotary District 3220, the fundraising concert took place on Saturday, January 18 at Bishop’s College Auditorium, with a packed and enthusiastic audience.
Gehan: From arias to old favourites. Pix by Nilan Maligaspe
The first half focused on operatic arias, undoubtedly Gehan’s forte. With succinct introductions to each song, Gehan took the audience on a short journey through the world of opera from the 1700s to the 1900s. His performances of works by Mozart, Rossini, Martini, Reynaldo Hahn and Victor Herbert showed the audience that opera can be accessible to all.
Gehan used the stage to his fullest extent, from commanding centre stage to perching on a bench on the side to lend the space a more relaxed atmosphere. His animated and highly emotive stage presence kept the audience hooked, and helped them understand the gist of the pieces no matter the language of the words.
Rukshan took over for a couple of numbers, performing Imagine by John Lennon in a call for peace. His rendition of Words by the Bee Gees got the audience going, and set the tone for Gehan’s next numbers which focused on the power of words.
With a few lyrical changes to suit his own life, Gehan delivered a tongue in cheek portrayal of his own ‘primadonna’ side with ‘Art is calling for me’ from Victor Herbert’s The Enchantress — eliciting chuckles from the audience and marked a successful first half.
The artist then brought out the old favourites, starting with the titular Unforgettable flavoured with Gehan’s own classical styling. In the collaborative spirit of Rotary, the three artists came together to perform Fly Me to the Moon, starting out slow and soulful and picking up the pace following a jazzy guitar solo by Rukshan.
“You didn’t think I was going to abandon my operatic languages, did you?” Gehan joked, and with total mastery of his voice, delivered a soulful performance of ‘La Vie en Rose’.
Rukshan took over for two more numbers to “jazz it up a little”. The ‘Sri Lankan Scatman’ was out in full force to perform a toe-tapping rendition of Summertime. Ever the showman, Rukshan got the audience to clap along to the beat of George Benson’s On Broadway.
Gehan rounded out the show with a few powerful performances, starting with a lower key rendition of I Will Follow Him. Paying tribute to New York following his prestigious solo concert at Carnegie Hall, Gehan sang the theme from New York, New York by Frank Sinatra.
Gehan then shared his love for the movie-musical My Fair Lady, which also inspired him to adapt another of George Bernard Shaw’s stories into his first feature film ‘The Billionaire’. Tweaking a few of the words to personalise it, Gehan brought the energy of Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle to the stage, exclaiming “I know when Soundarie started playing for me, I could have sung all night!”
Bringing the concert to a close with Battle Hymn of the Republic, the artists enjoyed enthusiastic applause from the audience and were presented with tokens of appreciation by Rotary.