The musical evening “ Entwined” presented by the students of Lakshmi Seneviratne and Neluka Seneviratne held at the Russian Cultural Centre on October 2 saw music lovers treated to a wide variety of instrumental and vocal music. Clearly, this was a concert of polished performance, given by a group of outstandingly talented young musicians.
Nine violinists opened the show with the Sri Lanka National Anthem played in three part harmony followed by the European Union anthem, the Ode to Joy taken from Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.
From among the younger ones, Tainika Kane-Potaka who sang ‘Everybody Step’ by Irving Berlin stood out as an impressive little performer. An enthusiastic audience clearly appreciated her talent. Hemali Ratnaweera who played Persistent Rhythm by Martha Mier displayed a formidable technique and polished skill in her performance on the piano.
La Cumparsita known to be among the most famous and recognizable tango songs of all was the choice of Nimaya Harris who performed it with great confidence, full of spirit.
Another popular piece Leroy Anderson’s ‘Blue Tango’ performed as a piano duet by Nuran Gomez and Shyamalee Ratnaweera was played with precision and style. The coordination between the parts was well matched.
The audience was delighted to see Thanuki Goonesinghe singing ‘I could have danced all night’ from My Fair Lady. She exhibited an amazingly rich tonal quality with beautifully modulated emotion and expression. Another young singer with a strong and mature voice was Vithma Kumarage who sang two songs by George Gershwin-‘Somebody Loves Me’ and ‘I got rhythm’. She displayed great stage personality and confidence, much like a professional singer.
The first guest performance of the night saw the students of the School for the Blind performing a song in Sinhala titled ‘We too are children of Sri Lanka”. This was indeed an inspiring and heart warming performance.
The violin ensemble of 11 players performed a medley of pieces by Kathy & David Blackwell. The titles of these pieces were complemented with some interesting visuals which further enhanced the audience’s appreciation of the music.
The second guest artist was the young bass baritone Laknath Seneviratne. His marvellous tonal quality was excellently displayed with superb manipulative control of his vocal chords and palate resonance, making each note and the expression of each word into a thing of beauty. This was enhanced by his dramatic, controlled body language, giving full importance to Bizet’s ‘Toreador’s song’ and ‘Music of the Night’ by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
The ‘Rhythm of Life’ by Cy Coleman, a song which largely comprises tongue twisting words in three part harmony was handled with aplomb by a group of 18 singers trained by Neluka Seneviratne. This was indeed an energetic and colourful performance.
The evening drew to a close with a captivating rendition of ‘We are the world’ by all the performers. A fitting end in celebration of Children’s Day which fell on October 1. |
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