On January 22, 2024, the Lionel Winter Theatre in Colombo was packed, and the "Belt and Road" bel canto concert hosted by the Chinese Cultural Center in Sri Lanka, the School of Music of Nanjing Normal University, and Walkers Travel Company officially opened, which also kicked off the "Happy New Year" event in Sri Lanka. More than 250 people attended the event, including Zhang Yingbao, Cultural Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka, Ni Lisheng, Director of the China Cultural Center in Sri Lanka, Thilak Hettiarachchi, Deputy Secretary-General of the Ministry of Culture of Sri Lanka, Madhubani Perera, Director of Public Relations of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Authority, and Prabhath Harshakumar, Director of Marketing and Business Development of Walkers Travel Company.
Ni Lisheng delivered a speech to welcome the arrival of Yan Luotao, a teacher from the School of Music of Nanjing Normal University, and thanked them for their hard work to come to Sri Lanka, the ancient country of lions, to carry out artistic exchanges and promote people-to-people bonds. Ni Lisheng said that the Cultural Center will actively build a platform for the exchange and mutual learning of art troupes and creative talents, promote exchanges and cooperation in performance groups and stage design, and provide opportunities for young talents to show their talents.
The artists of the School of Music of Nanjing Normal University gave a musical feast. The famous songs "My Darling", "The Sun Rises on the Ganges", "I Weep for My Destiny", "She Is Calm", "Do You Know", "I Say, I Am Not Afraid of Anything", "Just Like the Dashing Paris", "Great Soul, Noble Heart", "Starlight", "Manasavera Opera", "That Day I Saw You", "Love, Respect, Glory" aroused bursts of applause and lasted for a long time.
The concert was kindly sponsored by Sri Lankan musicians, and the students of the Kemadasa Foundation, led by Gayathri Khemadasa, also performed the local Sinhalese opera art, which was very popular with the audience.
The concert ended with a "sound poem", and the voiceover came slowly: there is no distance between each other, and thousands of miles are still neighbors. Sri Lanka, which is beautiful and welcoming, has been with China with a long history and culture, helping each other and developing together. May the tree of friendship between the two countries be evergreen and the brotherly love will last forever!
Source: China Cultural Center, Sri Lanka