The brainchild of Rajeev Aloysius and Neranjan de Silva, ‘Oktave’ is a four part contemporary chamber choir founded in the year 2009. “Neranjan de Silva, one of Sri Lanka’s best known and most sought after accompanists, contacted me with this idea for a new small mixed choir, as many of the best known choirs in Colombo have equal voices [either all-male or all-female]. Together, we started hunting down voices that would give us this special blend, a unique quality sound that would withstand the scrutiny of individual microphones.” said Rajeev speaking of the beginnings of Oktave.
The singers met at various concerts and functions over the years. Many of them are good friends from the St. Mary’s Choral Group at the Bambalapitiya parish. The ages range from the early 20’s to the early 40’s, and all of them have been singing since their early teens.
Oktave often performs as an octet (but is not limited to this number) with Neranjan on organ, piano or keyboards.
Oktave had its first public performance at a wedding in January 2010 and since then have become a recognized choir full of talent and heart. They perform mainly in churches for now, as their repertoire includes church music. It also comprises of Anglican wedding service and hymns, Catholic wedding mass and hymns, Evergreen (Gold) Music from the likes of Stephen Foster, Beatles, and Simon & Garfunkel, original compositions by Lalanath de Silva, arrangements for 4 – 8 parts of 20th century tunes and songs of praise and worship.
Their performances have been held at All Saints Church Borella, St. Lucia’s Cathedral Kotahena and the Cathedral of Christ the Living Saviour in Colombo 7. The choir consists of 9 singers. Trevina Abeyesundere , Nadine Corera , Peshali Yapa, Nadeeka Perera, Dharini Udugama , Jehan Bastians , Harin Deekshan Amirthanathan, Eshantha de Andrado and Rajeev Aloysius.
‘My Tribute’ a concert by Oktave will be held at St. Mary’s Church Bambalapitiya on Saturday June 5 at 7:30pm. The songs will include You Raise Me Up, the Hallelujah from “Shrek”, Majesty, Jesus Messiah and Amazing Grace. “But they are not the arrangements that you [would] expect. Each one is personalized to Oktave’s style” adds Rajeev. “There are no sponsors. We just want to introduce ourselves to a wider audience. It is free of charge and there are no tickets, but a voluntary collection will be taken on your way out of the church.”
For more information about the choir please visit www.oktave-lk.com. |
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