Music lovers in Jaffna, long deprived of good Western music are in for a treat. The Chamber Music Society of Colombo (CMSC) and the Sewalanka Foundation will present “Music for Yarl-Paanam”, at the Veerasekaran Hall, on Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 5pm. The public is invited to attend this event, which is absolutely free of charge, with generous sponsorship by Riks Konsert Ene and the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Colombo.

This could be the first orchestra playing classical music in the peninsula. The Tamil root of “Yarl-Paanam” may be translated as “the Land of the Harp Player”, so it would seem appropriate to introduce classical music by great masters once more to the city.  The CMSC believes that they are up to the challenge.

The CMSC intends this concert to be the beginning of a fruitful exchange of ideas between artistes, with it acting as a catalyst for other arts organisations to follow suit.

The programme will include Mozart, Handel, Vivaldi, Haydn and Hindemith, a programme already played in the historic De Groote Kerk at the 4^th Galle Literary Festival in January, and at the Lionel Wendt Theatre, Colombo in February. Both concerts were greeted with enthusiastic standing ovations. The fourth concert in this series will be announced later.

The Mozart is his middle period overture to the opera entitled “The Shepherd King”. The Vivaldi Concerto Grosso features three of the CMSC’s principal string players in a solo role, providing exciting and vibrant baroque musical discourse. The Haydn is his barnstorming Symphony no. 39, and the Hindemith brings new sounds that were challenging even for Colombo audiences. The players look forward to meeting this new Northern audience, extending a hand of friendship and solidarity.

March 10th, 2010 | Announcements, Upcoming Events | No comments

A grand programme by a Grand master

Jean-Bernard Pommier

 March brings a very rare musical treat. The Chamber Music Society of Colombo is proud to present the world famous French concert pianist Jean-Bernard Pommier, who will thrill local audiences with a selection of monumental piano sonatas. The project is sponsored by airline partner SriLankan Airlines, and hotel partner Hilton Colombo Residencies.

The recital will be at the Goethe Institute (German Cultural Centre), 39, Gregory’s Road, Colombo 07, on Saturday, 13 March 2010, at 7pm. Tickets are priced at Rs. 2000 and Rs. 1000, and are available at Titus Stores Liberty Plaza from Thursday 04 March.

The programme for the evening will include Beethoven’s Sonata no. 23 in f minor, op. 57 “Appassionata”, flanked by Mozart’s Sonata no. 18 in D major, K. 576 and Liszt’s only, mighty Sonata in b minor, S. 178.

Born in 1944, Mr. Pommier began piano classes at the age of four with the Russian pianist Mina Koslova, and gave his first piano recital at the age of 7. He went on to study piano at the Paris Conservatoire with Yves Nat and Pierre Sancan, as well as conducting with Eugène Bigot. In New York, he worked with Eugene Istomin. He won first prize at Berlin’s Young Musicians’ International Competition in 1960. He became the youngest finalist at the 1962 International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow, even winning first honourable mention from the chairman Emil Gilels (the year that it was won by Vladimir Ashkenazy and the late John Ogdon). At the same time, he began recording with EMI. Ten years later, he began a long collaboration with Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, in Berlin and at the Salzburg Festival. He has since embarked on a career which has taken him to all of the world’s leading concert halls, to rave reviews by audiences and critics alike.

More recently, his concerto partners have included Pierre Boulez, Daniel Barenboim, Bernard Haitink, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, Michel Plasson, Georges Prêtre, Semyon Bychkov, Charles Dutoit, Riccardo Muti, Lawrence Foster and Sir Simon Rattle. His recital and concerto appearances have included major centres such as London (with all 5 major orchestras), Amsterdam (with the Royal Concertgebouw), Tokyo (with the NHK Symphony), Leipzig, Dresden, Chicago, Paris and Moscow; as well as the Philharmonic Orchestras in Los Angeles, Vienna, Berlin and New York.

He also enjoys an active career as a conductor working with major orchestras in Europe and America. He also frequently takes up the dual role of pianist and conductor with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Northern Sinfonia (England), the Sinfonia Varsovia (Poland), the Israel Chamber Orchestra, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra (Switzerland), the English Chamber Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

His chamber music partners have included Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Leonard Rose, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Paul Tortelier, Jaime Laredo and the Guarneri and Vermeer Quartets. He has given master-classes in Chicago, London, Lausanne, Durham and Melbourne.

Recent recital highlights include a complete cycle of the 32 Beethoven piano sonatas in London in 2008/09.

His native France has bestowed the title of Officer of the Ordre national du Mérite and Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur.

March 6th, 2010 | Announcements, Upcoming Events | No comments

PRESS RELEASE

Rohan De Silva to join CMSC’s Board of Advisors

The Chamber Music Society of Colombo (CMSC) is pleased to announce that Rohan De Silva, luminary of the international concert stage, has joined its Honorary Board of Advisors.  Sri Lankan-born De Silva belongs to a select group of elite musicians managed by the International Music Group, better known as IMG, whose portfolio includes famous artistes such as Itzhak Perlman (violin), Evgeny Kissin (piano) and James Galway (flute).

De Silva said he “would be delighted to join the Board, to help in furthering great music in our badly bruised country.”  He believes the arts community can play a vital role in the healing process, and indicated that he fully supported the progressive mandate of the CMSC. The CMSC’s mission is firstly, to promote music education that would help build discerning classical music audiences in Sri Lanka, and secondly, to encourage new music, by commissioning new works from living composers – especially music written by Sri Lankan composers, or music that embodies Sri Lankan themes. 

The CMSC’s Artistic Director Lakshman Joseph de Saram said the Society was indeed privileged to have De Silva lend his name to the Society, with his formidable influence in the classical music world.

Rohan De Silva’s partnerships with violin virtuosos Itzhak Perlman, Cho-Liang Lin, Midori, Joshua Bell, Benny Kim, Kyoko Takezawa, Vadim Repin, Gil Shaham, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, and Julian Rachlin have led to highly acclaimed performances at recital venues all over the world.  With these and other artists he has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, Philadelphia Academy of Music, Ambassador Theater in Los Angeles, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall in London, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Mozarteum in Salzburg and La Scala in Milan and in Tel-Aviv, Israel.  His festival appearances include the Aspen, Interlochen, Manchester, Ravinia and Schleswig-Holstein festivals, the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, and the Wellington Arts Festival in New Zealand.

De Silva and Perlman performed at the State Dinner for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, hosted by former US President George W. Bush and Mrs. Bush at the White House. 

 The CMSC’s Honorary Board of Advisors that De Silva joins, comprises Richard Bratby – Ensembles Manager, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Dijen de Saram – Co Managing Partner, D.L. & F. De Saram, Malik J. Fernando – Director Operations, MJF Group, Stephen Gaghan -Writer-Filmmaker, Si-Jing Huang – First Violin, Boston Symphony Orchestra (The Mary B. Saltonstall Chair), Daniel Matsukawa – Principal Bassoon, The Philadelphia Orchestra (The Richard M. Klein Chair), Mohan Tissanayagam – Managing Director, ID Lanka Ltd. And Chairman of Premium Brands, Piyasara Shilpadipathi -Master Percussionist and Arunthathy Sri Ranganathan – Carnatic vocalist and musicologist.

November 3rd, 2009 | Announcements | No comments

Poster for Nov 26 2009

This year, the music world commemorates the anniversaries of three great composers, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847), Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) and the revered baroque master Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1759). In the second concert celebrating these composers, the Chamber Music Society of Colombo (CMSC) have put together a superb combination of the unfamiliar, accessible, tuneful and musically rewarding. The concert, at the Lionel Wendt Theatre in Colombo will be on Thursday 26 November 2009, commencing 7:30pm sharp. Tickets went on sale on 06 November 2009 at the venue and at Titus Stores Liberty Plaza. The concert is made possible by the German Embassy (Deutsche Botschaft) in Colombo, who supplied the rare editions, and they also serve as the exclusive sponsor.

The program will include:
Haydn: Overture to L’Incontro Improvviso, Hob Ia:6
Mendelssohn: String Symphony no. 3 in E minor (1821)
Händel: Excerpts from “Hercules”, HWV 60: 1. Overtura, 2. Menuetto, 19. March, 31. Sinfonia (Act 3)
Händel: Overture to Agrippina, HWV6
Haydn: Symphony no. 82 in C major, Hob I:82 “The Bear”

The concert begins with the overture to Haydn’s sixth opera, “The Unexpected Encounter”. It is based on a Turkish subject and features a lively Presto middle section. Those who missed the third String Symphony of Mendelssohn in August, would be pleased to hear that this tuneful minor mode masterpiece by a precocious 12 year old, shall be repeated. Every listening should further inspire and make one marvel anew at the creativity and detail of the string writing. We then have four excerpts from a Musical Drama written 3 years after the famous “Messiah”. The excerpts from Händel’s “Hercules” selected, are an overture with a contrapuntal central section, a truly Olympian minuet, a brass-rich March and a Sinfonia that is at turns brooding and bordering on hysterics. Händel’s overture to his sixth opera “Agrippina” is among the very finest of his overtures. Imperial Rome and the dangers of greed and political ambition are characterised in music by the young composer. The pick of the evening would be Haydn’s Symphony no. 82 nicknamed “The Bear”, written in 1786 for a Parisian concert at which French royalty was present. Without a real “slow” movement and with touches of Haydn’s characteristic humour, this symphony will particularly delight audiences by its melodious bagpipe inspired, dancing bear evoking finale. 

October 29th, 2009 | Announcements | No comments

Tribute to the Masters

The year 2009 coincidentally marks anniversaries of three of the greatest German speaking classical music composers, namely:

250th death anniversary of Georg Friedrich Handel (1685 – 1759)
200th death anniversary of Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809)
200th birth anniversary of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809 – 1847)

As we all know, these composers are icons in European classical music. Their oratorios, chamber music, symphonies and concertos epitomize vital links in Europe’s cultural heritage. Around the world this year, their legacy to posterity is being celebrated. In Sri Lanka, the Goethe Institut has invited the Chamber Music Society of Colombo to pay tribute to these masters, in a commemorative Hauskonzert that will be held at the Goethe Institut Hall on the 20th of August 2009 at 7:15 P.M. The concert will be repeated in Galle at the historic Dutch Reformed Church on the 22nd of August at 6:00 P.M.

The program will include:
Overture to the “Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day” – Handel
Orchestral suite from “Rodrigo” – Handel
Piano Trio No. 39 in G major Hob. XV/25 – Haydn
Symphony No. 1 in D major, Hoboken I/1 – Haydn (DRC Galle concert only)
Sinfonia for string orchestra No. 3 in E minor – Mendelssohn
Music from the opera “Alessandro” – Handel

The Chamber Music Society of Colombo performs under the direction of its Artistic Director, Lakshman Joseph de Saram. Prof. Asoka de Zoysa from the University of Kelaniya will moderate the program.

July 17th, 2009 | Announcements | No comments

Press Release

The Chamber Music Society of Colombo, which has in a relatively short time become one of the most highly acclaimed performing arts groups in the

region, is this year’s recipient of the Deutsche Botschaft “Kulturelle Bewilligung”. This grant from the government of the Federal Republic of Germany includes 56 full orchestral sets of Germanic music, including rare out-of-print editions of works by Michael Haydn, Paul Hindemith and Anton Bruckner.

The privilege of receiving this valuable sheet music in the form of a gift, would significantly enhance the ensemble’s ability to program singular works of distinction in its private and public concerts, said Lakshman Joseph de Saram, the Society’s Artistic Director. “Not only will this rarefied music enrich the live concert experience by intellectually challenging the erudite listener, it will also naturally lead to a greater awareness and appreciation of Germany’s perennial gift to the world of high culture,” he said.

The Society has already made its mark as an acclaimed platform for new interpretations of the classics. More importantly, it is poised to be a primary sponsor for the politically and culturally explosive music of modern Sri Lanka and South Asia. Among the critically acclaimed works of new music of Sri Lankan origin that the ensemble has performed in Colombo are, Stephen Allen’s “Dawn of Kandula” and Premasiri Khemadasa’s “Beyond the Horizon,” both world premieres.

Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Sri Lanka, Jürgen Weerth, said he was pleased on behalf of the people of Germany to be able to extend support to further the mission of the Chamber Music Society of Colombo. These were objectives that can only help to strengthen the cultural understanding between the peoples of Germany and Sri Lanka.

May 25th, 2009 | Announcements | No comments