Three talented young soloists in symphony concert

The 48th season of the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka will open with its popular ‘Young Soloists’ Concert’ this Saturday, July 23. Namali Fernando will be the cello soloist in Schumann’s Cello Concerto.

Eriko Perera, soprano, will sing four delightful arias and songs by Haydn, Puccini, Johann Strauss II and Richard Rodgers. And Anusha Alles will be the piano soloist in Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto in G minor.

Namali Fernando, now 22 has been playing the cello since she was seven. She was admitted as a member of the Symphony Orchestra aged 13 and is a founder member and principal cellist of the National Youth Orchestra. She has several musical arrangements and compositions to her credit and is an accomplished pianist and recorder player.

Schumann described his Cello Concerto as a “Concert Piece for cello with orchestral accompaniment.” The emphasis throughout is on the lyrical and eloquent nature of the solo cello, whilst the orchestral music is notable for its freshness and vitality. Schumann completed the concerto in 1850, the same year as his ‘Rhenish’ Symphony.

Eriko Perera’s programme is delightfully tuneful. Her first aria will be Haydn’s joyful ‘With Verdure Clad’ which celebrates the new life and greening that the Spring season brings. This is to be followed by one of Puccini’s most popular love songs ‘O Mio Babbino Caro’ from his one act opera ‘Gianni Schicchi’.

Richard Rodgers’ ‘If I Loved You’ from his show ‘Carousel’ follows. In this Julie a young mill worker sings of the growing attraction she feels for Billy the carousel barker. Eriko will close with ‘The Laughing Song’ from Johann Strauss II’s operetta ‘Die Fledermaus’, music of Vienna at its most light hearted.

Eriko started singing in her native Japan at the age of ten. She received several prizes as a student soloist including the Silver in the Sanyo Music Competition. On exchange at high school in Illinois, USA, she took the role of “Peppermint Patti” in the musical “Peanuts”.

At university in Kobe she broadened her repertoire from Western Classical to include jazz and Japanese traditional folk songs. Now settled in Sri Lanka, Eriko performs regularly in public in Colombo, and is also giving her services singing to affected people in refugee camps in the South.

The 22-year-old Mendelssohn gave the premiere of his Piano Concerto in G minor in 1831 at a charity concert in the presence of the King and Queen of Bavaria. The programme, all of his own works, included the overture to ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’.

He reported the concerto was particularly well received, and subsequently in London a reviewer praised his performance as ‘an astonishing exhibition of piano playing’. Certainly the concerto overflows with the youthful vigour, and the third movement is truly scintillating - Mendelssohn himself preferred to play ‘as fast as possible’ provided that the notes could be heard!

Anusha Alles, the piano soloist, was born in USA to Sri Lankan parents and is now 15-years-old. She started learning the piano at the age of six and has been a ranking winner of piano competitions sponsored by the Texas Music Teachers’ Association every year since 2001.

Last year, she had the honour of performing in Fort Worth, Texas at the Steinway Showcase which featured the jazz pianist Ellis Marsalis. In addition to piano she plays the violin in the Paschal High School Orchestra, Fort Worth.

The “Young Soloists’ Concert” conducted by Ajit Abeysekera will open with Beethovan’s dramatic ‘Coriolan’ Overture. HSBC is the sponsor. It will commence at 7 p.m. at Ladies’ College Hall. Tickets are available from Titus Stores, Liberty Plaza and from the SOSL office Tel 2682033.

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