A DELIGHTFUL EVENING was promised and a delightful evening was had by all. What made it even more special was the fact that there we were, in St. Kitts, at the St. George’s Anglican Church, listening to great, world-class composers like Mozart, Handel, the Gershwin Brothers and Puccini performed with ease and class by our own ‘home-grown’ Pauline d’Opera Herbert exquisitely accompanied by our own ‘home-grown’ Christian Nathaniel.
There was ample evidence during the entire concert that Music is a universal language and that words are completely unnecessary when music is the vehicle being used to transport mood or emotion. Indeed the very first item had no words at all yet this did not detract from the audience’s appreciation of it.
Guided skilfully by MC Dawn Mills through the programme, the patrons were able to appreciate the genius of French, English and Italian composers because of the ease with which D’Opera expressed their works and the joy and fluidity of the accompaniment by Christian Nathaniel.
To the ‘layman’ of opera music who may not have been able to appreciate the enormity or history of the great composers, this was not an intellectual exercise. The operatic voice was totally in sync with the tone and tempo of the piano, hence all the ripples and warbles and ululus were appreciated. When relaxed enough, patrons were seen swaying to the lilting expressions. It was as though a golden voice were responding to a talking piano and vice versa.
Much of the joy of the evening came from seeing how much the participants made the music their own.
We were not watching musicians play the music of others; it was watching two people playing music they loved and who delighted in expressing it.
The same can be said of Jermaine James who in contributing his solo during the programme, performed ‘How Great Thou Art’ with his own deep feeling and personal interpretation.
Nadine Natta, a student of d’Opera Herbert showed much promise as she boldly flexed her voice in a well rendered classical piece.
Satisfied music lovers and friends hastened up to the musicians to express their appreciation at the end of the evening’s performance.
Thanks must also go to Ms Clarita Richards who assisted in organising the Evening after just five months of preparation by the skilled performers; to the Rotary Club of Liamuiga; to Archdeacon Hodge and the St. George’s Anglican Church who all lent their support to this fine endeavour.
We look forward to expanding our appreciation to other forms of music as well. We can be made richer by an Evening of Jazz or an Evening of Country and Western or an Evening of Spirituals before and or after the many Evenings of Soca and Calypso we are about to engage in. “If Music be the Food of Love, play on...”
