Viva Italia and Music of the night

A classical concert on the shores of Colombo

By Nizla Naizer

Last week, I was transported to the beautiful meadows and mountains of Europe as three talented musicians charmed and played their way into the hearts of all those present. The feeling however was conflicting with the sounds of the waves crashing on the beach at the Galle Face Hotel making me realise that I was still, unfortunately very much in Colombo.
However, waves and chords alike, the concert with a cause was a night to celebrate Italy’s National Day and Sri Lanka’s dawn of peace in musical harmony. The music of the night was a charity concert organised by the Sri Lanka Italy Friendship Society which saw a cross section of Colombo’s international and local community alike gather to listen to the talented musicians from Italy and contribute to the development of numerous children across the country.

The three talented musicians, flutist Roberto De Angelis, Nicola Zuccala on clarinet and Antonello Ghidoni on guitar brought the magic of European composers to the delight of those who gathered. The night started off with Josef Kreutzer’s Grand Trio which instantly had me longing for meadows of lavender and cool, blue skies (a vision dispelled by the seaspray), before moving on to Astor Piazzola’s Lo Que vendra and Libertango, my favourite of the night with its teasing and uplifting guitar strums. Francesco Molino’s Grand Trio Concertant and Gioachino Rossini’s The Barber of Saville were some of the other compositions that brought a perfect harmony of guitar, flute and clarinet in varying degrees and paces to bring a touch of magic that night.
Proceeds from the concert went towards improving the capacity of the ‘Triposha’ factory situated in Ja-Ela which currently runs at 53% of its capacity. Explaining that large segments of the Sri Lankan population who are poor are vulnerable to malnutrition especially children and pregnant women, the organisers stated that Triposha is an important tool to combat malnutrition. The UN Food Programme, the Italian and Sri Lankan Lions and the Government of Austria are coordinating with the Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry in order to improve the capacity and provide this fortified food of soya, maize, milk, vitamins and minerals which Triposha combines to the masses who need it the most.
The waves kept crashing and the concert came to an end, but all those gathered were aesthetically and morally uplifted by the work of the night.