Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine

The HFC Choir has been chosen to compete at an internationally acclaimed musical festival
Flying high
By Marisa de Silva
The Senior Choir of Holy Family Convent, Bambalapitiya, having won acclaim from local audiences over the years has been selected to perform at the prestigious 58th Llangollen Musical Eisteddfod in Wales, UK, at the Royal International Pavilion, in July this year.

The formation of the International Eisteddfod began in 1946. Harold Tudor, a journalist with the Liverpool Daily Post and a regional officer of the British Council first conceived the idea of an International version of the traditional Welsh Eisteddfod.

Since the first Eisteddfod took place, over 3 million people have visited the beautiful Welsh town that has, for 57 years hosted the world at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod. Each July, between 2000 and 5000 competitors and as many as 50,000 visitors have witnessed the dazzling spectacle and experienced the magic of Llangollen.

The Eisteddfod has remained unchanged over the years. Amateur musicians, dancers and singers from forty countries compete in upto 20 competitions each year. The entrants are judged by an international cross section of adjudicators, while past competitors have included Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and Kiri Te Kanawa and the like.

The remarkable feature of the Eisteddfod is that each evening the best and most colourful competitors share the stage with professional artistes. The 20 categories of the competition range from Mixed Choir to Barbershop Choir to Vocal Solo, Choreographic Adult Dance, Songs from the Shows, Instrumental Solo to the Youth Choir Category, which the HFC Choir will be competing in.

The present choir comprises approximately 40 students and are trained by Soundarie David, one of Sri Lanka’s highly commended musicians. “The girls have worked long and hard and are ready for international exposure,” says Soundarie. Having worked with professional local musicians like Neranjan de Silva and Christopher Prins, the choir has learned a lot about how the professional music industry works.

The choir’s latest project began on a suggestion made by renowned British Conductor Gregory Rose, on hearing the HFC Choir at a workshop organised by Soundarie. She started off by sending a selection of the choirs repertoire on CD, to the organizers in Wales.

The choir launched into the new year with the good news that they had been selected to enter the competition and subsequently were instructed on the manner the songs had to be selected. Soundarie has chosen a familiar local tune by popular local songbird Mignon Fernando and a modern piece in total contrast to it, as the choir’s choices in adherence to the competition rules. The choirs, encouraged as ambassadors of their respective countries, are requested to perform in national dress.

This unique experience, which will enable the choir to compete internationally and to listen and learn from a variety of choirs from around the world, will be an experience worth cherishing, adds Soundarie. The various recitals and outreach programmes the choir will be performing at (in addition to the competition) and the anticipated concert organized in London by the Past Pupils Association, will all add to the novelty of the entire experience.

A helping hand
The debut CD launch, featuring the HFC Choir will be held on February 14 at the School auditorium, where the choir will perform a selection of songs both from the CD and off their range of songs sung over the years. CDs will also be available at the Familan Walk held at the school on February 15.

A concert presented by the choir will be held in late May, the proceeds of which, together with the proceeds of the CD will go towards funding the choir.
A pledge of support is requested of the local business community to enable the choir to meet their predicted budget of five million to meet expenses.

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