Menaka Singers with Barbara Segal present an evening of opera
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The soloists
Colombo audiences can look forward to another in the series of ‘’ After All It’s Opera” presented by the Menaka Singers Opera Ensemble (MSOE), in collaboration with Barbara Segal Opera at the Russian Cultural Centre on Saturday, June 9 at 7 p.m.
The evening will feature spectacular opera arias and ensembles by Mozart, Donizetti, Gounod, Bizet, Puccini, Rossini, Massenet, Lehar & Zeller.
The concert will be directed by British opera star Barbara Segal and Menaka De Fonseka Sahabandu, the founder of MSOE who will also collaborate on piano. Each aria will be introduced by Barbara with a short synopsis of the opera from which it is taken, and the context in which it is sung. This allows even those new to the genre to appreciate the beauty of opera, even though it is sung in Italian, French, or German.
Menaka De Fonseka Sahabandu
Some legendary arias and ensembles including “Ah leve toi soleil” from Romeo and Juliette, “ Welche wonne” from Die Entfurung Aus Dem Serail, “ Dies Blidnis” from The Magic Flute, “Alerta Alerta” from Faust, “Au Fond du Temple Saint” from The Pearl Fishers, “Verano a te” from Lucia Di Lammermoor will be performed at the concert. Soloists for the evening will include Dmitri Gunetilleke, Jehani Gamalathge , Hiruni Perera, Rachel Halliday, Niran de Mel, Emesh Wijewardena, Nishantha Warnakulasuriya and Ravindu Perera.
Barbara Segal
Born in Manchester, Barbara studied with the late Dame Isobel Baillie, and then at the Teatro La Scala Milan, Italy with maestro Cesare Alfieri. She made her operatic debut in the role of Musetta in La Boheme at the Santa Magherita Ligure Opera Festival, and her repertoire includes roles as Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflote, Violetta in La Traviata, Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor and Marguerite in Faust. She has taken on principal roles in concerts in over 23 countries.
Menaka is well-known in Sri Lanka’s classical music scene having taught piano and singing for 34 years. A pianist, singer and also violinist in the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka (SOSL), she is a Fellow of the Trinity College London in Piano and Singing and a Licenciate of the Royal Schools of Music London, in both Piano and Singing.
Barbara has been working with MSOE for the past three years, holding a series of intensive Masterclasses, helping to identify suitable arias for each individual voice. More recently the soloists worked with the British conductor and vocal coach Peter Crockford and Mezzo Soprano Janine Roebuck who was in Sri Lanka, on the finer points of interpretation and technique . Tickets priced at Rs.1200 are available at The Autodrome , 304, Union Place Colombo 2.