For most of us, music is a part of our lives because most often, music surrounds us, and when hearing a song there are always memories that come with it. For most of us, our schools play an important part in keeping music and singing alive and one such school from its inception, which has always had a rich tradition of music and choral music in particular, is S. Thomas' College, Mt. Lavinia.

You will have the chance of listening to a few numbers by these Thomians young and not-so-young, when they bring you The Music's Always There, which will be an evening of entertainment which will cover a number of genres of music from classical, to pop to rock and roll.

The two choirs performing will be Canto Perpetua and Nuovo Vita. The choirs will be directed by Vinodh Senadeera who has, for the longest time, been involved in theatre and music in his alma mater.

The concert will be produced by an old boy of the school who needs little introduction - Jith Peiris. As Jith went on to say, "There will be music which will range from the new stuff to old songs like "Danny Boy", and even Rock'n Roll numbers, as well as romantic pieces like "Besame Mucho." The saxophonist Damitha Peiris adds a lot to the performance, he said, going onto say that there will also be a solo by him. About Jith Peiris being part of the production, Vinodh had this to say. "He put me on stage first, and I would not be where I am without his guidance and support. He adds a lot to the flavour of the show."

The title of the concert has been taken from a song by John Rutter, and Vinodh feels it (the title) is apt since music has always been an integral part of the school. "We have been brought up with the culture of singing in this school. One thing about our school is that we have boys from all cultures and we never bother about the person's race or religion," he went on to explain.

Moving on to the music, they will be performing Vinodh said, "we are trying to make the song our version and not cover versions" adding that they will be giving it their flavour. He also went on to say that "people like to listen to well known songs," thus the choice of songs for the concert will be numbers that are known and loved by all.

There will also be a medley of Sinhala and Tamil songs as well which will be accompanied by the drummers of the College Hewisi Band. The sound for the concert will be handled by Jerry Jayasinghe and they will be accompanied by Shanon Jacob on piano, Stephen Phillips on guitars, Damitha Peiris on saxophone, Shenal Pathiana on violin and the drumming will be by Birendra Siriwardena and Heshan Jayawardena.

The evening of music will be choreographed by Yohan Benedict and designed by Imran Pakeer Saibu, while the costumes will be handled by Shermila Fernando.

The experience

Canto Perpetua, which translates into 'Singing Forever,' the all Thomians choir consists of around 100 choristers from Year 2 to Year 14 comprising of kids from various backgrounds. Why this is significant is because only Christians can be part of the Chapel Choir, but Canto Perpetua allows anyone who loves to sing, to join, Vinodh said.

Speaking to Shehan Mendis (18) the choir leader said, the choir started last year, and is a concert choir and covering various songs from Disney movies to classical, pop and rock and roll numbers. Speaking to Rohantha Jayawardana (18) the assistant choir leader, the secretary Marlon Jesudasan (17) and a few members of the committee Sandharu Ferdinando (17) and Surandhaka Cabraal (16) as to what songs they like performing for this show they all said, that the songs are in four part harmony adding that they all like all the songs.

"It will be a different experience," they said, about the show, adding that it caters to anyone. "We were at one point all together in the choir," said Vinodh about Nuovo Vita, which means "New Life" and he went on to say that there are three past choir leaders in this choir, who were all part of the Chapel Choir. They were formed two years ago and they continue to try and meet every Sunday.

Speaking to a few members of the choir Johann Gunawardana (22), Angelo Jesudasan (23), Rumesh Fonseka (27) and Rahulan Visvendraraj (28), they said that this has been the first time they have ventured into pop because they have, in a sense, been brought up learning spiritual music, adding that they have only tenors and bases and that, "most of the songs consist of our own harmonies."
With regard to them being part of a choir again, they said, "it's nice to come back to College and meet up with the younger guys as well," and about the concert, they said the audience should, "expect the unexpected."

The rose among the thorns so to speak, is a young lady by the name of Shannon Jacob (20) who is the pianist for the show who has learnt piano from the age of four and was a student of Bishop's College. About being the only female around, she said, "it's nice because they don't exclude me from things." About the concert, she said that what she likes best is that there is good variety of music, which will be a treat to listen to.

So try and be a part of The Music's Always There which will be staged at The Empire Ballroom of the Mount Lavinia Hotel at 7.30pm on Sunday July 20. Ticket for the concert will be available at the College Office, Mount Lavinia Hotel and the Liberty Plaza Lobby. The media sponsors for the concert are Art TV, Lite 89.2, The Daily Mirror and The Sunday Times.