Michael Reckord, Gleaner Writer
Seven-year-old Ellinor D'Melon. - File
At the moment, Jamaica has only a handful of opera singers, but there's a group of young students of the art who possess the potential to increase the present number.
Their talent was delightfully demonstrated on Sunday at a concert organised by the Kingston Soroptimist Club at the Church of the Ascension, Mona.
The singers appeared at the club's fourth annual Classics in June concert in the following order: Benjamin Beloni (bass-baritone), Petal Richards (soprano), Filicia Morrison (soprano), Kadian Northover (mezzo-soprano) and Rory Baugh (tenor).
Not only classics
Despite the name of the function, classical music was not the only type on the programme. The first half was devoted to that genre, but in the second half, there was lighter fare in the form of songs from well-known Broadway musicals and a couple of popular tunes.
In addition to song, there was also a well-received appearance by the popular seven-year-old violinist Ellinor D'Melon (playing Schubert and Elgar), accompanied by her mother, Olga Moraguez, on piano. Little Ellinor has been studying her instrument for three years and has already given more than 50 performances.
Also on piano, accompanying the singers, were pianist-composer Andrew Marshall, the coordinator of the Music Department at Northern Caribbean University (NCU), and Roger N. Williams, director of the School of Music, Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA). The other instrumentalist on the programme was Rafael Salazar (clarinet), an instructor at both NCU and the EMCVPA.
Wittily tying together the various components of the concert was the suave, amiable MC Dervan Malcolm, who did a fine job pronouncing the French, Italian, German and English titles of the several songs. His job as a radio broadcaster has no doubt given him lots of practice with difficult words.
Malcolm's panache failed him only once.
Artiste's performance
Understandably awed by the talent he had to coordinate, he confessed late in the show, "I'm running out of adjectives."
But he did come up with "Superb!" for the particular artiste he was ushering on again. I forget which one it was, but it doesn't really matter; the compliment could have applied to any of the singers.
Beloni sang Pieta, Signore!, a drama-filled piece by Francois-Joseph Fetis, Ol Man River (from Showboat, by Oscar Hammerstein 11 and Jerome Kern), Sweet Mystery (Andrew Marshall), and, appropriately for Father's Day, Dance With My Father Again (Luther Vandross and Richard Marx).
Richards sang Come Unto Him, All Ye That Labour (from Handel's Messiah), Vergebliches Standchen or Futile Serenade (Johannes Brahms), Fly Me to the Moon (Bart Howard), and I Could've Danced All Night from My Fair Lady (Lerner and Lowe).
Morrison sang Alleluia from Exultate Jubilate (Mozart), The Laughing Song from Die Fledermaus (Johan Strauss II), and, together with Baugh, Time to Say Goodbye (Francesco Sartori and All I Ask of You from The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber).
Northover sang L'amour est un Oiseau Rebelle from Carmen (Bizet), (Hammerstein and Richard Rogers) and Can't help Lovin' dat Man from Showboat.
In addition to the songs already mentioned, Baugh sang an unlisted aria by Puccini, and The Music of the Night from The Phantom of the Opera.
Baugh, who studied for a time at the EMC's School of Music was, specifically, a student of Dr Curtis Watson, a privilege that Baugh shared with all the other singers.
Those others are, or have been, students of the NCU. Morrison will be attending Oakwood University in Alabama this fall on a full music scholarship. The university must be proud of them.
The concert was a fund-raising event. Proceeds go to assisting the work of the Ward Theatre Foundation to maintain and refurbish the theatre, Teen challenge Jamaica Drug and Rehabilitation Centre, the Jamaica National Children's Home, the St Margaret's Day Care Centre and Shortwood Early Childhood Education Centre.
