Let Us All Sing Concert at Bunjil Theatre

Celebrating the second ever joint Welsh/Sri Lankan concert, Victoria Welsh and ConChord Choirs powerfully combined on the opening number with Rushan Hewawasam conducting Let Us All Sing, which was the name of not only Sunday’s concert but also of ConChord’s recent triumphant tour of Sri Lanka.

Co-compère Tony Davies introduced Lorna Ogilvie – the accompanist for both choirs – and Faleiry Koczkar, VicWelsh’s Musical Director. Our first bracket comprised the Welsh tunes Blaenwern (Love Divine) and Ar Lan Y Môr (By the Seaside) followed by Working Man featuring a dramatic bass solo by Barry McMahon which was hugely enjoyed by the audience. 

Before Battle Hymn of the Republic, Faleiry rehearsed patrons in preparation for joining in with the final choruses – which they duly did to great applause.

Co-compère Rayesh Gunasekara next introduced the famous Sri Lankan De Lanerolle Brothers. Combining seamlessly, Rohan and Ishan masterfully sang their first duet, Leoncavallo’s Mattinata, made famous by Pavarotti, before the second Italian number Serenata.

ConChord Choir, under the baton of Rushan Hewawasam, then presented a very varied bracket of songs – first, the liturgical Three Contemporary Latin Settings with sensitive violin accompaniment by Brendan Chung. Secondly, Rushan conducted, while simultaneously leading the call and response on the African protest song Senzenina in a stirring performance. Thirdly, Fix You, a very modern song by Coldplay, led by four male choristers plus violin and trumpet (Gemma Webb). Fourthly, the well-loved Bridge Over Troubled Water with the De Lanerolle Brothers. Other accompaniment during this first half came from Rashika Gomez on cello, Will Hardy on flute, Kithum on drums and Dimuth on guitars.

For their second set, Rohan and Ishan promptly invited up on to the stage expatriate tenor Niraj Vedanayagam who was now resident in Melbourne. All three then combined beautifully on the well-known Ave Maria which elicited great appreciation from the audience as well as from all the choristers. Rushan then joined the brothers at the piano and led the brothers into an upbeat version of How Great Thou Art, to the delight of the assembly.

The brothers then combined with both choirs on a wonderful rendition of Benedictus followed by When The Saints Go Marching In, complete with prior audience rehearsal and subsequent performance, to finish the first half in a suitably buoyant tone.

For the second half, the choirs changed position so that ConChord were now behind VicWelsh as Faleiry then conducted both ensembles in the challenging Speed Your Journey from Nabucco. Extra accompaniment this half was provided by Kithum on drums and Dimuth on guitars.

Rayesh introduced ConChord’s bracket, starting off with a lively medley from the shows  featuring an emotional solo by Teruni De Alwis on I Had A Dream, moving on to Dancing Queen and finishing with We Are the Champions. 

Rushan further showed his versatility by playing piano and conducting a Sri Lankan medley in Sinhalese and Tamil and being joined by the brothers for the final tune. They then combined with the choir on the famous John Farnham number You’re The Voice along with the entire theatre and VicWelsh singing and clapping along.

Ishan then commanded centre stage as he moved into the old standard Ol’ Man River. With superb breath control and perfectly pitched notes, this was a basso profundo at his peak with an effortless virtuoso performance.

Joined by Rohan, equally affecting was their perfectly modulated duet Watchman – What of the Night by Sargeant, a brilliant performance by this hugely talented fraternal combination.

Tony Davies remarked on the variety of different languages already sung and put Welsh and other Celtic tongues in their context before the brothers returned to lead the choir on You’ll Never Walk Alone from Carousel. VicWelsh continued with the hugely nostalgic Goin’ Home  by Dvořák which did not fail to tug at the heartstrings. The choir dedicated the hymn Cwm Rhondda to Mrs Hendrika Vis in the audience for her part, with her ex-chorister husband Joh, in recruiting Rushan to VicWelsh. Patrons eagerly joined the choir to sing the final chorus Songs of Praises as well as on the reprise. From ‘treading the verge of Jordan’ to the measured tread of Ed Hughes and Bob Ash next appearing as French policemen to entertain everyone in the comic Gendarmes’ Duet, complete with baguettes instead of batons. As the laughter subsided, Tony explained the story of the Aboriginal guerrilla fighter Pemulwuy before Rushan conducted both choirs in this eponymous song by prolific Australian composer Paul Jarman. Back came Rohan and Ishan to lead everybody in a modern arrangement of Waltzing Matilda. In preparation for the chorus ConChord enchanted the entire theatre by first humming and then singing  the Sri Lankan anthem Namo Namo Matha which prompted a good number of patrons to rise up from their seats. This was repeated as half of VicWelsh sang Waltzing Matilda at the same time, with the other half singing the Welsh National Anthem Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau which stupendously built up to the triumphant finale of three anthems being sung simultaneously, a fitting finish to this multicultural and multilingual concert.

Finally, Rohan and Ishan then joined hands with Faleiry, Rushan and Lorna at front of stage as the whole theatre gave them and the two choirs a very well-deserved standing ovation.