Four young, outstanding musicians in Symphony Concert

Hot after the fabulous success of Soul Sounds and Revelations in winning gold for Sri Lanka in the World Choir Games in Austria, comes another opportunity to celebrate the outstanding talent of young Sri Lankan musicians. Four highly talented young musicians will be performing in the popular Young Soloists' Concert of the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka on Saturday August 9.

Eighteen year old Vinayak Rajendran, will be the soloist in Mozart's famously beautiful Piano Concerto No.23 in A major, Tahanee Aluwihare and Natalie Gooneratne sopranos will sing four lovely arias from operas by Handel, Mozart and Puccini, and the twenty-two year old pianist and composer Eshantha J. Peiris will conduct the concert, including the premiere of his latest work 'Perceived Historical Identity', and Beethoven's great Second Symphony.

Vinayak Rajendran began studies on the piano at the age of four. In June 2004, aged fourteen, he received 'Honourable Mention' as a finalist at the Biennial Concerto Competition of SOSL and in 2006 he won the senior category of the 'Young Musician of the Year' competition, and its 'Most Outstanding Pianist' award.

Surprisingly, Mozart's Piano Concerto No.23, now universally known for its elegant structure and lyrical melodies, was not published during Mozart's lifetime. He withheld it as one of "the compositions that I keep for myself or for a small circle of music-lovers and connoisseurs". It was a personal treasure; music that had, for him, a deeper meaning.

Lyrical

Mozart composed the concerto in March 1786, whilst also working on The Marriage of Figaro. The first movement is serene and warmly lyrical. In contrast, the slow second movement is impassioned music which flows with enchanted spontaneity.

Standing alone among all Mozart concerto movements it has a tragic power, a pathos, not to be heard in orchestral music again until Beethoven. The wind writing is particularly expressive, and the piano solo is as simple and haunting as any slow aria. The third and final movement is a buoyant and delightful rondo, exuding joy and brilliance.

Now eighteen, soprano Tahanee Aluwihare began her vocal studies at an early age. This year she was a member of the chorus in Bizet's Pearl Fishers staged in Colombo, and in Carmen in New Delhi, and at Easter she was a soloist for Camerata Musica in works by Orlandus Lassus.

Tahanee will sing the famous, heart rending aria 'Lascia ch'io pianga' from Handel's opera Rinaldo of 1711. It was Handel's first opera for London and the first Italian opera composed for the London stage. Handel directed from the harpsichord and it was a triumphant success.

Mozart composed his comic opera The Marriage of Figaro in just six weeks and it was first produced on May 1st 1786 at the Burgtheater Vienna with Mozart directing from the harpsichord. Applause was so great, on the first night five numbers were encored, and seven on the second.

One of the most enchanting and humanly perceptive of all operatic masterpieces, Figaro's plot revolves around the domestic arrangements of the Count and Countess Almaviva and their servants Figaro and Susanna - with a sub-plot of the male-female struggle in the household.

Tahanee will sing Cherubino's delightful, vivacious aria from Act I 'Non so piu'. A young page in the Count's service, Cherubino has just been dismissed for being discovered alone with the gardener's daughter. He tells Susanna that, suddenly, every woman excites him. "I don't know any more what I am, what I'm doing!"

Very early

Natalie Gooneratne started singing studies from a very early age, and in 2006 was awarded the Licentiate with Honours from the Trinity College of London and the prize for the highest mark. Awarded a scholarship by the Herman Foundation for Arts and Culture, she received extensive technical vocal training in Austria in 2007 under the renowned Opera singer Peter Karner.

Natalie will sing the Countess's poignant aria 'Dove sono' from Act III of The Marriage of Figaro. The Countess sings with great beauty and nobility of her wish that her marriage were happy as it once was. "Where are the lovely moments of sweetness and pleasure gone?...

Natalie's second aria will be Puccini's ever-popular 'O mio babbino caro' from his one act opera Gianni Schicchi. Lauretta appeals desperately to her 'dear Father' for his help so she may marry Rinuccio with whom she is passionately in love.

Born in Sri Lanka, Eshantha Peiris spent five years at New York University, where he earned Bachelor's (2006) and Master's (2008) degrees in Music Performance and Composition and served as assistant conductor of the NYU Orchestra. Eshantha's association with the SOSL spans eight years, during which he has appeared as both a piano soloist and as a conductor.

Concert

Eshantha's new work 'Perceived Historical Identity' will be premiered at the Young Soloists' Concert, with the composer conducting. Eshantha says of it....." The 'South-Asian Sound' is currently the musical vocabulary that I most closely identify with... it opens doors to valuable cultural fusion..... I hope this short piece will give you something to think about."

The final work at the Young Soloists' Concert conducted by Eshantha J. Peiris, will be Beethoven's great Symphony No.2 in D major. It was completed in 1802 at Heiligenstadt, a quiet, countryside village near Vienna, where Beethoven, aged 32, had withdrawn to try to come to terms with his increasing deafness and isolation from society.

Despite the composer's emotional turmoil, the Symphony itself is light hearted and spirited, betraying an optimism for the dignity of humanity seen in his later works. It marks a transition point in his musical ideology, with many innovations, and the warmly lyrical Larghetto is especially beautiful.

The Young Soloists' Concert on Saturday 9th August will be at 7 pm at Ladies' College Hall.

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