A mellifluous chorus of the choirs of Good Shepherd and St. Joseph's echoing the strains of 'Namo Namo Matha' and 'God Save the Queen' opened the first musical interlude to the High Scorers' Concert and distribution of awards of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music – London, on Sunday, June 14 at 5 p.m., at the Bishop's College Auditorium. Gill Westaway, Country Director of the British Council was the Chief Guest along with other distinguished special invitees. The 80 voice choir as guest performers sang Verdi's popular 'Va Pensiero' at its emotional best.
The first interludes on piano, violin and singing were by the three youngest candidates to obtain distinctions at the ABRSM examinations, Diyanna Edirisuriya, Kavishka Senarath Paranavithana and Natalya Dissanayake. Due credit accrues to the presenters for the very entertaining selection of music performed especially by the early grades.
The programme included arrangements for piano, violin, flute, descant recorder, cello and singing, ranging from James Bastien to Rodgers & Hammerstein onward to Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Verdi, Chopin and a host of others. The Rodgers & Hammerstein numbers were predominantly solo singing with Naomali Gunaratne dancing all night in My Fair Lady! Young Suhanya Joseph de Saram gave a passionate scintillating rendition of Pam Wedgewood's 'Come Dance with Me' on violin.
She displayed her maturity not just in her playing but also when a string of her violin unwound and lost its pitch. In her calm and collected stage movements she showed extraordinary professionalism and able to re-perform the entire piece with the virtuosity it deserved.
While the entire concert reached the highest of standards special mention has to be made of the following performers: Kiara Wickramasinghe, winner of the Grade 4 and Grade 5 singing awards who vivaciously rendered 'Many a new day' from Oklahoma and later as winner of the Grade 6 violin awards performed the popular Monti Czardas soulfully bringing out the composition's contrasting timing.
Hansal Mannanayake who had the unique distinction of winning the Grade 8 cello and Grade 8 piano awards at the same exam session in 2008, first displayed her agility on the cello in performing the difficult but melodious 'Requiebos' by Gaspar Cassado; she then entertained the audience with the lesser known Chopin Polanaise in C Sharp Minor. Dhanushi Wijekulasuriya, winner of the Grade 8 singing awards justly stole the audience applause with an arousing and professional operatic performance of Verdi's 'Caro nome'.
The concert continued by the ABRSM DIP awardee Prasadhini Perera vividly singing an extract from Motzart's 'Don Giovanniand'. Amila Abeysekera who was awarded DIP ABRSM for cello with a rare Distinction mark proved her musicianship in the demanding 'papillon' of Gabrille Faure. The finale was by LRSM awardee for piano Zahara Vilcassim who proved that a small and delicate stature can still bring out the fire and brilliance of Turina's 'Orgia'.
As a whole, the score showed a sincerity and fearlessness of emotional expression that lifted it above average criticism. The High Scorers' Concert is a bird of passage along which the Board's erstwhile local representative, Mano Chanmugam, seeks to portray the ongoing work of ABRSM in the teaching, learning and assessment of music in Sri Lanka.
The distribution of Awards for Practical and Theory Examinations 2008, Special Awards for 2008 and the presentation of Diplomas for 2008 brought the evening to a close.
It would not be possible to close without mention of Pam de Alwis and Neomal de Alwis – Pam for her untiring dedication to the organization and administration of the examination results and Neomal for cleverly synchronizing every detail of the presentation to ensure it was a job well done. |
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