A feast of Christmas from SOSL
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Scenes from the Family Christmas concert. Pix by Eshan Fernando
The Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka pulled out all the stops when they brought back their much-loved Christmas concert on December 16 and 17 after a three year COVID pause. A packed audience at the Bishop’s College auditorium enjoyed a feast of Christmas music under the batons of Dushyanthi Perera who took on the bulk of the orchestral pieces, and Nishantha Warnakulasuriya, who conducted the choral items.
A minute’s silence was first observed for Dinesh Schaffter, who played a huge role in making this concert possible and was a long-time benefactor of the SOSL. The concert opened with a medley of Josh Groban songs including ‘You Raise Me Up’ and ‘To Where You Are’, after which came ‘Mary Did You Know?’ sung by a chorus consisting of Menaka Singers, Resonance, and The Old Joes’ Choir, the latter taking the stage for their third consecutive Christmas concert. This was followed by an arrangement of popular Christmas songs and the festive ‘Overture to Miracle on 34th Street’.
Chrisantha de Silva (CC) lent his vocals to ‘O Holy Night’ in a performance that displayed his vocal range. The other soloist for the night, the powerhouse that is Amarsha Tissera, who also pulled double duty on the night as one of the SOSL’s cellists, brought the house down with Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want for Christmas’.
A highlight of the instrumental kind was ‘Silent Night’ in a sweeping arrangement for solo trumpet (flugelhorn) and orchestra, with Naveen Fernando’s velvety trumpet notes. Violinist Nilupul Silva performed a thrilling arrangement of ‘We Three Kings’, displaying her mastery of the electric violin.
The orchestra veered away from the Christmas theme with cinematic music from ‘The Prince of Egypt’ and ‘Danzon No 2’ by Mexican composer Arturo Marquez, the rhythmic composition inspired by the Cuban dance style giving the evening more variety.
A final high, ‘O Come, O Come, Emmanuel’ arranged by Paul Thomson and first performed by the orchestra in 2018, went from beautiful harmony by the tenors and basses built up dramatically to a majestic finish, rounding off a delightful evening.
-Shannon Salgadoe
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