SOSL Guest Conductor Concert

Eminent British Conductor James Ross returns The Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka's (SOSL) latest concert, the Guest Conductor Concert, will be held on Saturday 20th February at Ladies' College Hall (7pm). SOSL warmly welcomes the return of Dr James Ross as its Guest Conductor.

They will perform an outstanding programme of dramatic music in this, their fifth season of working together. Dr. Ross has demonstrated his ability to bring out the best in the Orchestra in past concerts, to the delight of audiences and critics alike. The Box Office opens this Friday, 5th February at Titus Stores, Liberty Plaza. SOSL and its British born Guest Conductor will perform three major orchestral works - Mascagni's Intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana, Shostakovich's Chamber Symphony and Beethoven's Overture Leonora No.3. And in the first part they will partner the much admired Swedish Soprano Sara Jonsson, gifted with a beautiful yet strong voice, in a recital of three great concert arias - Wagner's 'Dich teure Halle' from Tannhäuser, Mascagni's 'Voi lo sapete o mamma' from Cavalleria rusticana and Beethoven's 'Ah, perfido!' Wagner's Tannhäuser is a heady mixture of history and myth. It moves from the fictional Venusberg to the very real setting of the Wartburg Castle in Eisenach, Germany, then back again, and includes real Medieval German poets, amongst mythological characters. Elisabeth greets the great hall of Wartburg and sings of her love for the poet-knight Tannhäuser.

Cavalleria rusticana (Rustic Chivalry), a one-act opera, was a triumph from its first performance in Rome in 1890: when Mascagni died in 1945, it had been performed more than 14,000 times in Italy alone! Set in his native Sicily, its raw, vivid human emotions are heightened by appealing and almost cinematically-direct music. Santuzza weeps at her husband Turiddu's betrayal of her through adultery with Lola, herself married.

Ah, perfido!, written in 1796, is an early Beethoven work, immersed in eighteenth century operatic tradition.

The concert aria owes much to Mozart whilst its verses are of the Baroque era.

It is the lament of a scorned woman, Deidamia, whose lover Achilles has left her. Deidamia is thrown between contrasting emotions of anger, vengeance, pity and scorn in a manner verging on desperation and possibly madness.

Orchestral music after the interval begins with Dmitri Shostakovich's Chamber Symphony which expands his Eighth String Quartet for full string orchestra.

Composed in 1960, this is Shostakovich music at its most powerful and epitomises his life's work, both spiritually and literally. The concert ends with Beethoven's overture 'Leonora No.3' written 150 years earlier than the Shostakovich but with no less rhetorical power; and a very different conclusion, as the full orchestra leads with increasing urgency to a 'fff' climax and a vigorously joyful ending.

Swedish born soprano Sara Jonsson has, since finishing her studies at the world renowned Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, Hungary, taken lead roles in a vast range of operas throughout Europe. Her repertoire stretches from Handel and Mozart through Wagner to 20th Century opera.

She has also directed several productions including Cosi fan tutte, Le nozze di Figaro and The Turn of the Screw.