Last Sunday, the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Hanoi organized a Friendship Concert with Christmas Carols by the Hy Vong (Hope) Choir at the Residence of the Ambassador.

The Hy Vong (Hope) Choir is a 16-member group of visually-impaired singers and folk instrument musicians trained and performing under the guidance of pianist Ton That Triem and his opera singer spouse, Nguyen Xuan Thanh. Triem formed the Hope Choir over 10 years ago and has been training the students to sing in many different languages.

At the event on December 2. (Photo: Embassy of Sri Lanka in Hanoi)

The event was held also to coincide with the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on December 3 and is the last event opened to public held at the residence of the Ambassador, Hasanthi Urugodawatte Dissanayake who would be ending her tenure early 2019.

Over 50 guests attended the event including eminent Vietnamese personnel, Ambassadors and Diplomatic Community and other expats in Viet Nam.

Welcomed the audience, Ambassador recalled the fund-raising concert organized by the Embassy of Sri Lanka to aid the Hope Choir on March 5, 2017, with the support of diplomatic community and other organizations and encouraged the guests to support the choir with donations.

The concert was consisted with two parts. During the first phrase, the choir performed Friendship Melodies i.e. melodies from all over the world from different languages includingin English, French, Georgian, Swedish, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, Irish, Vietnamese and Sinhala. In Sinhalese, they sang “Nim Him Sewwa Ma Sasare” Sri Lankan song by late Maestro Pandith Amaradeva.

The second part of the Concert comprised of Christmas Carols from several languages including Italian, French, German, Spanish, Vietnamese and Sinhala. The Choir performed the famous Sri Lankan Carol “Ra Tharu Bebelenawa” of which lyrics and composition was by Father Mercelline Jayakody while the music was arranged by Lakshan Perera.

At the end of the event a collection was made by the guests and was donated to the Hope Choir./.

VNF