Name: The Art of the Lied
Start: 2024-06-29T19:00:00+05:30
End: 2024-06-29T20:25:00+05:30
Location: Goethe-Institut Sri Lanka

Dhanushi Wijeyakulasuriya is a classically trained soprano living in Seattle, USA. Her focus lies in the Art Song and Lieder repertoire, particularly German Lieder from the 19th Century. She is a performing member and frequent recitalist of the Ladies Musical Club of Seattle, presenting recitals across the Greater Seattle Area at venues such as the Tagney Jones Hall at Seattle Opera and the West Seattle Public Library. Recently, she played the role of Barbarina in the LMC Opera’s production of “The Marriage of Figaro”. Before moving to the US in 2015, Dhanushi performed extensively in Colombo. She has previously performed with the Chamber Music Society of Colombo, as a soprano soloist in Vivaldi’s Gloria in 2014.
Dhanushi holds a Licentiate Diploma in Singing from Trinity College of Music, London, and attributes her love for classical music to her formative years at Ladies' College, Colombo. She began vocal studies with Menaka De Fonseka Sahabandu in 2004 and currently continues her studies with American theatre actress and opera singer Rachel Anne Moore and the world-renowned opera singer and recitalist Barbara Bonney.
The program will include 11 of Schubert’s well-known lieder. The selection of songs will demonstrate the diverse range of styles, moods, and characterizations Schubert is capable of. His prodigious talent in weaving beautiful melodies is equally evident in simple songs like “Seligkeit” and “Heidenröslein” to highly dramatic songs like “Ständchen” and “Die Junge Nonne.” He composed over 600 songs in his tragically short life of 31 years and was a pioneer in establishing “lied” as a musical genre in the 19th Century.
The program includes songs spanning his entire lifetime, from “Gretchen am Spinnrade,” a monumental work in this genre, composed when he was 16 to “Der Hirt auf dem Felsen,” a poignant and demanding work for Piano, Voice, and Clarinet, (performed on Flute for this concert) his penultimate composition, published a year and a half after his death.
The development of the pianoforte and the inspiration provided by German poetic giants like Goethe and Rückert in the 19th century enabled Schubert to establish a strong partnership between his writing for voice and piano. This treatment of the piano accompaniment was unique for his time. He used the piano to set the scene, to anticipate, and for tone painting: e.g., a bubbling brook, the whirring of a spinning wheel, the tolling of church bells, etc. He had a profound influence on the lied composers of the 19th century, e.g., Brahms, Schumann, and Wolf.
This celebration of Schubert’s lieder will be presented with light commentary by the soloist to be accessible and engaging to all audiences.
The all-important collaborator on piano for this special concert is Johann Peiris, the principal keyboardist of the CMSC, and Sureka Amerasinghe, the principal flutist of the CMSC will join on 'Der Hirt auf dem Felsen'.
This concert will be held on the 29th of June, at 7 pm, and repeated on the 30th of June at 7 pm. at the Goethe-Institute Hall, 39 R.G. Senanayake Mw. (39 Gregory’s Road) Colombo 07.
These concerts are made possible by significant support from the CMSC Chairman's Circle: Asia Securities, A Baur and Co., and the Tokyo Cement Group, with in-kind support from the Goethe-Institut, Colombo.
Unreserved tickets at Rs. 2000 will be available at the Goethe-Institut Library, and the Department of Coffee, Book Corner, Colombo 07. from the 17th of June, 2pm onwards.