Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine

Follow their tunes
What are we to stay tuned for? An evening of great entertainment with versatility and spontaneity is the answer. Ishani Ranasinghe speaks to the people behind Stay Tuned
Ruwani Seimon – most of you would at some point have seen at least one of her concerts. They are known to be both entertaining and exciting to watch, and hardly anyone leaves the concert without humming one of the numbers to themselves.

This time around, Ruwani is working her magic with the choir of Bishop’s College. The name of the concert that you need to be on the look out for? Stay Tuned.

With more than a hundred students participating, you can definitely expect a night of music that would leave everyone swaying and toe tapping. A line up that would be breathtaking… is what she promises the evening programme to be. “We will be having the usual musicals and the classics, but it’s going to be fantastic,” she says with enthusiasm. “We will also have medleys, solo performances, group performances and a lot more.”

Adding more to this wonderful picture that has been formed in our minds is Shannon Jacob, the choir leader of Bishop’s College, who says that it would be, “an evening of song, dance and a little bit of drama here and there… you could say it’s a musical extravaganza.”

According to her, the senior choir are set to perform four medleys: Hunchback Of Notre Dame, Sound Of Music, a pop medley and a Sinhala fusion medley, while the juniors will perform a medley from the much loved Walt Disney tale, The Little Mermaid.

“We want to aim for versatality in our choir,” she says with a sense of sureness that can’t be doubted. With this versatility the repertoire of the evening has become amazing and caters to everyone.

“We also have eleven solo performances, six of which are male soloists who will come in as guest performers,” says Rochelle Kelly, assistant choir leader adding that, to say it in her own words, “it’s going to be one happening concert.”

Even though in the past Ruwani Seimon has done many concerts, this is the first time she is doing a concert with Bishop’s College. It’s also a first for the school, as they have never attempted to present a concert of this nature in the past.

“We have been trying to do this concert since October, and after a lot of things were postponed we are finally doing it this year,” says Ruwani adding that the hundred odd students taking part got together to practice somewhere around February.

As I have said before, being a director of such concerts is something Ruwani Seimon is familiar with. But personally she says that this concert helped her in many ways. “This kept my mind away from things,” she says gratefully speaking about some troubled times she is facing at present.

She went on to say that all the students are really nice to work with, “The kids are just lovely.” Considering herself to be someone who can be very demanding and can get the kids to work very hard she adds that for her, it’s about making these choristers understand the importance of giving more than one hundred percent to a show. Assisting her with the concert will be Kamalini Samarakoon on piano, Jude Thiangaraja on drums, Mahesh Denipitiya on keyboards and Kenny De Silva on bass.

Her shows are known to be different from each other, one of the reasons why she continues to draw audiences. “Because it’s their first concert I did not want to do something radical,” she says explaining why this time around as opposed to a new concept she decided to do something she was familiar with. This way it’s easier for her to get them used to her way of doing things at her speed, “After this concert they will be ready to take on anything. They will be ready for something new.”

She is also quick to add that even though she is doing something many are familiar with, this in no sense means that they will be seeing the same thing. It will be different… Why? “Their interpretation of things will be different. Their spontaneity on stage, the way they present it… all of these things will definitely make it fun,” she says with a laugh.

“I don’t give breaks until someone raises their hand and asks for one. I am very demanding” – stuff heard from the directress of Stay Tuned. It seems that the choristers have been putting in a lot of hard work. What do they feel about the whole thing?

“It is the first time we are doing a concert like this,” says Rochelle adding that there are so many things involved. Having had to go through a lot of hardship she says that at the end of the day it has been worth it, because she can see this being a wonderful performance. “It has also been a lot of fun working with Aunty Ruwani and I feel blessed to be able to do a production with her,” she adds. This whole experience has taught her many things and most of it is not really about singing, “I think it taught each and every one of us about the way of life.”

Agreeing with her, Rochelle adds that she has never done anything like this, “We have never been this involved in a show.” Having to handle almost all the aspects involved with regards to a concert of this nature, she adds that they have never worked like this. Having realised how much hard work is involved with it and getting a lot of help from others she adds that personally it has made her stronger.

The practices have been long and hard for them, but as Rochelle sees, it has brought the choir closer together. “It has also been a lot of fun and I am definitely looking forward to the show,” she says excitedly.

Months of long drawn out practices… many hardships and not forgetting heaps of fun times. It finally boils down to the two days that the outsiders get to see it. For the choir it has been a blast and they promise it to be one extravagant evening. So, for those of you who are interested, this will definitely be one concert you should consider going for.

The choir of Bishop’s College will bring to you Stay Tuned on June 10 and 11 at the Bishop’s College auditorium. The main sponsor for the event is Shanki Dandeniya and the co-sponsors are Cargills Magic and Lever Brothers.

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