MENAKA DE FONSEKA SAHABANDU: Opera and Classical Music

It so happens that Mother's Day is tomorrow, while my talk show guest today, Menaka de Fonseka Sahabandu, is both a Mother and a Teacher. I had only been studying with her for a few months, at the age of fourteen, when her daughter Tiyanie was born, and I witnessed firsthand how motherhood transformed Menaka into the best version of herself. They say in Sri Lanka that the best teachers are akin to second mothers, and Menaka has certainly been a maternal figure towards me over the past two decades. Although, I had an excellent musical foundation already at St. Joseph's College, both Western and Eastern, I had been primarily focused on Broadway and West End Musicals, until Menaka all but insisted that I study Opera as well. I became the only Male Finalist at the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka's Concerto Competition in 2006, at the age of eighteen under Menaka's tutelage, which is also when she opened the door to the indescribable richness and magnificence of Opera. My voice had matured to a point where I could tackle Operatic arias from Handel and Mozart through Donizetti to Gounod. If you aren't familiar with all these composers, you should definitely tune into today's episode to receive our "crash course in Opera" as it were. 

I start the show by discussing the four primary periods of Classical Music with Menaka, for even though the general public erroneously believes that Opera is a single, monolithic entity, the style and very sound of Opera will change radically and dramatically depending on which period the composer belonged to. First up, we have the BAROQUE PERIOD, where the external presentations and the actual physical productions of operas were far less grand as Menaka points out, while the singing itself was heavily ornamented and intricate. Nothing makes the voice as flexible as singing Baroque Opera (most notably the works of Handel). Next up, there is the CLASSICAL PERIOD, during which Mozart was the pre-eminent Austrian composer, while Rossini and Donizetti exemplified Opera in Italy. Although, this period also features its own lion's share of vocal ornamentation, Menaka is quick to point out that a singer cannot ornament a Donizetti aria the way they would ornament a Handel aria from the Baroque era. In other words, the singer must make it a point to be AUTHENTIC AND TRUE to the particular composer's time period. I personally demonstrate some of the differences on today's show, so be sure to watch the episode on Daily Mirror's online platforms (YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter). The third era of Opera is known as the ROMANTIC PERIOD, which as Menaka explains is when we see the flourishing of "grand opera" with exceedingly lavish productions, sets, costumes etc. The singing itself was ornamented to a very minimal degree, which is interesting because in previous eras, it was the physical productions of the operas that were minimalistic (in terms of the staging), and while we see an exact reversal during this era, the Orchestras also became much bigger and played a much larger role than ever before. 

Opera as a whole became more "epic", and the Romantic period composers like Bizet, Puccini and of course Wagner, started to explore the full scope of human passions and emotions in an unrestrained and unbridled manner, whereas the Baroque and Classical composers like Handel, Mozart and Donizetti, had taken a more formal, proper and "dignified" approach to musicalizing emotions. Menaka and I are both in absolute agreement that an operatic singer must keep all this in mind when performing onstage. There is no such thing as "singing opera" in general, without being mindful of the specific characteristics of each epoch. CONTEXT is everything!

Finally, there is the MODERN PERIOD of Opera, and although Menaka has taught her students many modern arias as well, in keeping with the syllabi of the Trinity College of London Exams and the Royal Schools of Music Exams for instance, I think it is safe to say that she and I both have a preference for the older periods. It is very important to us, and to Menaka's daughter Tiyanie as well, that we perpetuate the legacies of the Great Classical Masters the world over. 

In fact, Menaka entrusted me with the task of directing a few operatic productions in Sri Lanka, soon after I graduated from the University of Southern California and returned to Sri Lanka for a few years. We staged Mozart's THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO (in which I also portrayed the villainous Count Almaviva) and Rossini's THE BARBER OF SEVILLE (in which I also played the heroic Figaro), for example, in 2010 and 2011 respectively, and when I asked Menaka what gave her the confidence in me to let me direct as well as perform, she said that it was imperative that every teacher build up the next generation of musicians, by empowering them to carry the art form further and further into the future. To this end, she has also allowed other students of hers to direct, because she does not believe in hogging all the limelight herself, as it were. She sees herself as a Medium of Music, and does not make it all about herself. In fact, we also talk about the FALSE VALIDATION that so many uneducated, self-proclaimed performers seek on social media today. Many of these people think that receiving hundreds of thousands or even millions of "likes" for their internet uploads makes them great, but they are only fooling themselves, for they will never be taken seriously in the real world among consummate professionals and artists. To become an Opera singer or a Classical musician takes years if not decades of unbelievably hard work, and an artist's work will always speak for itself. Menaka and I, do not crave meaningless validation from the mindless masses on the internet, but instead cater solely to discerning people of quality and substance, which is what Opera and Classical Music are ultimately all about. 

When I did a Solo Concert at Carnegie Hall in New York, in October 2019, it was like the culmination of everything I had started to learn with "Aunty" Menaka in my early teens. I was able to sing the entire concert without a microphone, both the Classical and Operatic pieces, as well as the lighter Broadway and Hollywood musical numbers (which are usually sung with a mic), because as Menaka explains on today's show, a Classical or Operatic Voice is much more complex, with far greater depth and richness, capable of being heard across a large performance hall, and deriving all of its support from the diaphragm. Needless to say, the discipline and commitment it takes to achieve this is lifelong, and not for the faint of heart. Everyone needs a teacher like Menaka to inspire them and set them on the right musical track, as it were, and so I hope that all serious young musicians out there seek out teachers like her, and I wish Menaka a very happy Mother's Day, as I do all of you.