Par excellence

"The powerful baritone backed by the all-girl chorus was another hair-raiser. Lanerolle can command a berth to sing on any stage, anywhere he chooses to appear on" – Max Gerreyn, The Western Australia Newsletter 2007.

Acclaimed as one of the finest Baritones Sri Lanka has ever produced – Rohan de Lanerolle, together with, probably the best musician our country has ever seen – Soundarie David, present Rohan and Soundarie in Concert on August 3, at 7.30 p.m., at the Lionel Wendt Theatre. Rohan tells us more about his concert and his extensive music background.

Q: How and why did the concert come into being?
A. Well the reason is two-fold actually. One being that it'll be a good lead-up to my recital in New York this September, and two, Soundarie and I have anyway done recitals together in England and we thought it was time to perform together here.

Q: Tell me a bit more about your recital in New York.
A: It's my third collaboration with internationally-acclaimed pianist Rohan De Silva actually. We've performed at the Fine Arts Centre in Illinois, Chicago in 2003, The Bible College Hall in Singapore in 2005 and this year the recital is most likely going to be at a location in Manhattan.

Q: What will the evening have in store for audiences?
A: The evening will comprise classics, light classics, gospel and pop music. There will also be guest performances by my brother Ishan de Lanerolle, Soul Sounds and The Revelations.
The show will feature the works of Mozart, Handel, Donizetti and Schubert amongst others in the classical section. Grand renditions of 'Great is thy faithfulness' and 'Keys to the vaults of heaven' in the Gospel, the likes of West-Side Story medley and old favourites by Engelbert Humperdinck and Elvis Presley in the pop section. I hope to have a Trini Lopez 'sing-a-long', so the whole audience can participate as well. The accompanists for the show will be Neranjan De Silva on keyboards and Christopher Prins on drums.

Q: Any particular reason why you selected these guest performers in particular?
A: Well, simply put…because they're the best! But, apart from that, I've been a member of 'The Revelations' since 2000 and know that they make really good music. As for Soul Sounds, I've worked with Soundarie and the girls many times over the years and have found them very easy to work with and know that they too produce some amazing sounds, so it just made sense to invite them to perform, as both these acts could only help better the show and give audiences true value for their money!
As for my brother, it goes without saying that he's one of the best bass voices in the country and the concert is also an ideal platform for the two of us to perform side by side. Both my brother and I have been thinking about performing on stage together for a long time, but never really got around to it, until now. We'll be performing a few duets as well, in addition to the solo numbers we'll be handling. After this performance, I'm sure we'll take our singing together forward.

Q: What do you do professionally?
A: I used to work as the Cargo Manager for Singapore Airlines, but as of early this year, I've decided to concentrate more on my music and take it seriously.

Q: Could you elaborate a bit more about your international exposure as a vocalist?
A: I made my debut recital in the United Kingdom (U.K.) in 2001, accompanied by world renowned composer Jonathan Clarke. He then invited me to once more in 2002 to perform 'Lamente' – an amazing piece of work he'd written for a baritone solo, with a choir and orchestra backing. I was the first to perform the piece at the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford with Dr. James Ross and the Christ Church Festival Orchestra and the All British Choir.

My debut in the United States of America (USA) was also in 2001 in Chicago, accompanied by Dhilanthi Fernando, who's now the music director of the United Nations Choir there.

I've also performed at the St. Andrew's Cathedral Christmas Service in Singapore in 1999 and as of 2003, it's become an annual appearance that I make at the Cathedral where I perform both solo and with the St. Andrews choir. Even my brother, Ishan, joined me on one occasion and performed a few solos at the service himself. In 2000, I also performed at the enthronement service of the 8th Bishop of Singapore.

My most recent appearance abroad was my guest performances at the 'Soul Sounds' concerts in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne, during the choir's tour of Australia this February.

Q: How about some of your most memorable local performances?
A: Well I've performed with the 'Coro Philharmonie' conducted by the late music maestro Rohan Joseph De Saram in 1994 and performed the minor lead role of Marullo, with an all international (solo parts) cast, of Giuseppe Verdi's famous opera 'Rigoletto', with the Lanka Philharmonic in 1995.
Although I've 'hung up my boots' on my acting days, playing a lead role in two productions presented by my Alma Mater – S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia – 'Blood Brothers' in 1997 and 'South Pacific' in 1993 stands out in my mind.
I was also a part of the original performance of Pradeep Ratnayake's 'Indrakeelaya' performed at the opening of the new Central Bank in 2000.

Q: Any music gurus to appreciate?
A: The late Kalasuri Lylie Godridge (or Uncle Lylie as he was best known), Mr. Russel Bartholomeusz and Prof. Kenneth Woollam, who was a former professor at the Royal College of Music, London and was my vocal coach from 2002-2005. Ever since then, I've been training on my own.

Q: What's your daily training routine like?
A: I do about one hour of vocalising and another of physical exercises as it's more important to be physically fit than even perfecting technique and voice quality. Then I also spend some time looking through my music etc.

The key to sustaining your voice is not to undertake songs your voice is unable of having control over. Basically songs your voice is not mature enough to handle. Unfortunately many people choose to ignore this fact.

Official print media sponsors for the event are The Sunday Times and The Daily Mirror and the official hotel for the event is the Hotel Taj Samudra. Tickets will be available at the Lionel Wendt, Hotel Taj Samudra and Quickshaws (3, Sulaiman Avenue, Off Kalinga Place, Jawatte Road, Thimbirigasyaya.)