Young talent keeps the Bard alive!
After two charged evenings when the stage at the Bishop’s College auditorium pulsated with all the drama and emotion of Shakespeare’s timeless plays, it was St. Bridget’s Convent, Colombo and S. Thomas College, Mount Lavinia, who emerged winners in the 49th All-Island Inter-School Shakespeare Drama Competition. Last weekend, saw young actors and actresses breathing life [...]
Letters to the Editor
Need of the hour is stability and rule of law In the past, once an election was gazetted, the Election Commissioner saw to it that the Government in power acted strictly as a ‘caretaker government’. The status quo was strictly maintained – no transfers or promotions of public servants, no increments given, no new projects [...]
Appreciations
The unforgettable Kalu Master Panagodage Licius Johnson Fernando Panagodage Licius Johnson Fernando affectionately known as ‘Milan’ by his siblings, relations and neighbours was born on September 22, 1924 in Moratu Wella. He was the eldest child of a family of five children. His parents, Panagodage John Peter Fernando and Lakshapathi Mahavidhanelage Edlyn Meraya De Mel [...]
A kind of September
“Try to remember The kind of September…..” - from a popular song of the sixties For me, the month of September is one that brings back memories of that beautiful song Try to Remember, the work of American lyricist Tom Jones and composer Harvey Schmidt. It was written in 1965 as the theme song for [...]
A plastic waste project that was much more than just an assignment
It was just another ordinary day when my phone rang, jolting me from my routine. It was Shan (Dr. Shan Jayasinghe), a close friend of mine at my own academic workplace, at the Department of Industrial Management, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. “Hey, dude,” he started, his voice buzzing with excitement. “A friend of mine [...]
An imaginative, secular retelling of Haydn’s Seven Last Words
“The story of the end, of the last word of the end, when told, is a story that never ends. We tell it and retell it – one word, then another, until it seems that no last word is possible.”- Mark Strand, The Seven Last Words Haydn’s The Seven Last Words string quartet composition from the late 18th century requires [...]
Tamil cinema’s glamour heroine from Ceylon
An exhibition on a pioneering Tamil actress of a bygone era- ‘Vanamohini: Actress Thavamani Devi—From Ceylon to Madras’ was organised by the Art Circle of the University of Jaffna’s Department of Fine Arts. Held from September 4-8 at the Department’s Art Gallery, it featured her film clips, songs, documentaries on her, as well as family [...]
CPC celebrates English choral music in memory of a beloved choirmaster
The Colombo Philharmonic Choir (CPC) will present ‘Te Deum: A celebration of English choral music’ on Wednesday, September 25, at 7.30 p.m. at the Church of St. Michael and All Angels, Kollupitiya. Throughout the centuries, an immense storehouse of musical treasures has been composed in the British Isles: beautiful choral settings which have come to [...]
Our unique island biodiversity in the spotlight
“Endemism & extinction: The Hallmark of Island Biodiversity” by Prof. Sampath Seneviratne is this month’s National Trust lecture on Wednesday, September 25 at 6 p.m. at the Auditorium of the College of Surgeons of Sri Lanka, No. 6, Independence Avenue, Colombo 7.(For those who join online: https://youtube.com/live/sdHRJSkv568?feature=share) Islands like Sri Lanka are hotspots of biodiversity [...]