The members of Oktave – the Chamber Choir have been busy these past few months recording a new Christmas Cantata, titled “Tidings of Joy”, by Joseph M Martin. The composer uses old, sometimes familiar Celtic tunes and creates a fusion of 10 carols in 4 part harmony to be sung by a mixed voice choir. The music was purchased initially to be performed live in Colombo, Christmas of 2021, but as the prevailing situation led to uncertainty regarding restrictions on public gatherings, the production team elected to provide an online offering instead.
The Oktave team put together an ambitious plan to record the 16 voices in-studio, then set them over filmed music videos, each shot at a unique destination across the island and each with their own theme. Being a multi-denominative and religious choir they felt that they should include different Christian churches, in an effort to be inclusive to all the members of the choir and a wider audience. Locations were set at St. Andrew’s Scotts Kirk (Presbytarian), St. Pauls’s Kynsey Road (Anglican), The Warleigh Church in Dick Oya (Anglican), The gardens of the Cathedral of Christ the Living Savior at Baudhaloka Mawatha (Anglican), St. Mary’s Church Bambalpitiya (Catholic), Methodist Church Hatton (Methodist) , and Thrithva Bhavana in Attidiya (Catholic). A few numbers were also set in neutral settings; including a reenactment of a choir gathering, a formal dinner, and a performance at the Lionel Wendt.
Oktave is directed by one of Sri Lanka’s best known pianists, organists and accompanists, Neranjan De Silva, also acting as sound engineer on this project and handling the recording and mixing of the final tracks, as well as managing the videography and editing for each video.
The concept for the videos and video direction was provided by veteran theatre practitioners, Neidra Williams and Jehan Bastians, both members of Oktave, assisted by Naresh Anthony, all of Silent Hands. Specialized lighting for the Lionel Wendt and Hunters End locations were handled by Gihan Jayathilake, with lighting for the other eight videos handled by Aloker Perera and Naresh Anthony. Sureka De Silva provided invaluable support to the production team in capturing sound and video, and the talented Roshni De Bond created the artful choreography for the carol “Sing of a Merry Christmas”, with narrations handled by Tahsha De Silva and Mathew Williams-Bastians.
The songs included in the Cantata are:
1 “A Christmas Invitation”, based on the Wexford Carol A Traditional Irish Melody,
2 “A Festival Gathering of Carols”, based on 5 carols; The Galician Carol, I saw Three Ships, Sussex Carol in Dulci Jubilo, and Tomorrow Shall be my Dancing Day
3 “Upon the Wind, there Comes a Song”, based on the Moreen (a traditional Irish melody)
4 “From the Prophet Comes a Promise”, incorporating the tunes of the Kerry Dance and Clonmel
5 “A Song of Joy”, based on the Scottish Melody the Kelvingrove
6 “The Silent Stars go by”, based on the traditional Irish melody the Star of County Down
7 “Comfort and Joy”, incorporating the tune of the traditional English melody God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
8 “Look to the Silver Sky”, incorporating tunes of Sky Boat Song, I saw Three Ships and Adeste Fideles
9 “Sing of a Merry Christmas”, based on the traditional Irish melody the Galway Piper.
10 “Glad Tidings of Great Joy”, Incorporating the tunes Joy of my Life, Antioch, The First Nowell, Gloria, In Dulce Jubilo and I Saw Three Ships.
The funding for Tidings of Joy was covered by the way of sponsorships from; HNB Assurance PLC, Earthscape Sri Lanka (Pvt) Limited, and KTronix Lanka (Pvt) Limited, as well as a large collection of well-wishers and donors who have the utmost gratitude of Oktave for their support of this endeavor.
Oktave comprises of:
Anila De Silva - Soprano, Aloker Perera – Tenor, Eshan DeMel – Bass, Eshantha De Andrado – Bass, Jason Senanayake – Tenor, Jehan Bastians – Tenor, Lauren Williams Bastians – Alto, Michelle Hills Senanayake - Soprano, Neha Thambiahpillai - Soprano, Neidra Williams – Soprano, Neranjala Thambiapillai - Soprano, Parshene Roderigo – Alto, Sashyani Roderigo - Soprano, Seneli Premaratne – Soprano, Sherine Vaas – Alto, Srimanthaka Senanayake – Tenor
The 45 minute Cantata is scheduled to premiere at midnight on 3rd December on the YouTube channel; Neranjan De Silva’s Music Library.
Oktave wishes you a Blessed Christmas, and hopes that you, their audience, will have as much joy listening to this wonderful Christmas Work as they did producing it; Oktave bring you Tidings of Great Joy!
