Reviews and Testimonials
Reviews p2.
"Marvellous Angeline"
12th November 2005
Angeline Kanagasooriam
I have heard Angeline several times either as a member of the audience or as her accompanist. She has a marvellous voice, intonation and diction.
This concert revealed more of her talents – those of a pianist and accompanist. There are not many people who can accompany themselves but Angeline is one of them.
The concert was informal and the programme started with three arias from Handle's Oratorio Messiah. These were sung with intense clarity and feeling.
This was followed by three folk songs from Britten. The chord sequences in Benjamin Britten's arrangement of O Waly. Waly are not altogether straightforward but Angeline played them beautifully.
She completely changed her style in the next sequence, Lazy Days and Nights, leaving one's imagination conjuring up images of South Sea Islands.
I have not heard how Lovely are the Dwellings or The Holy City for many years. It made a difference to sit back and listen to them sung with such clarity.
Michael Cooke
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Canterbury Festival - Song for Emmaus
October 2004
The Canterbury Festival was well served in a recital by Angeline Kanagasooriam (soprano), Jonathan Duke (piano) and Grenville Hancox (clarinet) held in the Cathedral Crypt on Saturday 9th October 2004 in aid of the Dover branch of Emmaus, the charity for the homeless.
(Angeline) Kanagasooriam has a powerful range of lyrical and dramatic character, expressed most effectively in four Spanish Tonadillas by Enrique Granados and the Letter Scene from Tschaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. The influence of the eminent Glynebourne coach Jonathan Hinden, who once unforgettably coached me briefly, was clear.
Hancox was at his best in Bagatelles for Clarinet and Piano by the undeservedly rarely heard composer Richard Walthew. The virtuoso partnership (“accompanist” would underestimate his contribution) by Duke was at its most delicate and passionate in the aria Casta Diva from Bellini's Norma.
(Angeline) Kanagasooriam accompanied herself skillfully on the piano in a delightful Summertime Medley of old favourites that she herself arranged and the closing rendering of A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square convinced me that this delightful bird had also visited Canterbury. Fortunately, she can be heard again on her CD 'Peace in Our Time'.
Robert Le Fever
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Canterbury Festival - Song for India
Kentish Gazette
October 2003
The Synagogue
"Evening of Song was One to Treasure"
One of Canterbury's hidden treasures is the Old Synagogue, secreted among the surrounding buildings in King Street. It was the venue for a performance by one of Canterbury's other treasures, Angeline Kanagasooriam.
The Old Synagogue was full to support this fund-raising event for the local charity Health for All.
Angeline was joined by her friends, mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Appleyard and pianist Robert Scott and Peter Cox.
After Angeline and Elizabeth opened with Mozart's Domine Deus, Angeline gave a wonderful performance of Schumann's Frauenliebe und Leben, sung in the original German.
Peter Cox ran across from the Shirley Hall and, having gathered his breath, joined the stage for Mozart's Marriage of Figaro.
The second half included performances by Bellini and Verdi and then Mozart's The Magic Flute, including the wonderfully sung performance of Pa-pa-pa-pa.
Angeline showed her wide range of talents by following with a couple of Britten cabaret songs and ended with four spirituals. For the latter she accompanied herself on the piano. It was a wonderful and intimate concert, enjoyed by everybody who packed into the Old Synagogue. Angeline's joy and enthusiasm was contagious and much appreciated.
Mark Jones
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Deal Festival - Astor Theatre
"Singers Talent"
Although it is sometimes suggested that singers are less popular than instrumentalists, there was no evidence that this was true at the last of the Astor Theatre's Autumn Concerts. Both the size of the audience and the manifest pleasure with which Angeline Kanagasooriam's recital was received made this evening a felicitous conclusion to a successful series.
This was not the first time that she has sung in this theatre, but since then the range of her program has expanded considerably and she now displays a rich talent capable of a first-class interpretation of songs of every genre.
After a relaxed rendering of a set of songs by Granados in which she captured the enchanting Latin rhythms, Angeline came to to the principle work in her recital Schumann's Frauenliebe und Leben.
This celebrated cycle of eight songs depicts the stages in a woman's love life and makes huge demands not only on the technical ability of the singer but also upon the emotional involvement of the singer and throughout her rendering the soloist was able to communicate the inspiration of Schumann's composition.
The second half of the programme was a happy blend of the familiar – operatic arias by Mozart, Puccini and Verdi – and the less well-known in the form of songs by Holst and Bliss.
English songs are often a neglected genre in the repertoire and Bliss's five songs from seven American poems were a welcome inclusion in this programme.
The Holst songs were written for voice and violin and Ben Hancox displayed a precocious talent as he tackled a most demanding accompaniment.
It is impossible to overstate the importance of the accompanist in any song recital, and this one, with its vast range of styles and moods, imposed particular demands.
Derek Hyde offered a masterly exposition of the art of accompanied, attentive always to the pacing of the sings and adding intensity to the voice. No less appreciated was his scholarly and helpful introduction to the Schumann work.
A third series of concerts is already planned for the next spring and details will be published in the near future.
I.K.