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Spotlight - June 2005 |
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Making Music
A cast of extraordinary performers will perform “Strings with Song” at Queen’s Hall on the 24th, 25th & 26th June, 2005. On stage will be Oliver Lewis, one of Britain’s top violinist, Natalia Dopwell, the young rising talented soprano and award winning British pianist Jeremy Filsell, accompanist. Joining the cast will be a number of distinguished guest artists including the accomplished soprano, June Nathaniel and classical vocalist Vanessa Bushe. Violinist Oliver Lewis’ recent performances of Bruch’s G minor Violin Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London were box-office sellouts. As a child prodigy he made his concerto debut at the age of 12 with the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain. Soon afterwards he played Ravel’s Tzigane and Bruch’s G minor Violin Concerto with the Bern Symphony Orchestra in Switzerland. This launched his international solo career and he has since performed to audiences worldwide, touring throughout Europe, United States of America, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, China, Taiwan, Brazil and South Korea.
His numerous recordings are played continuously on radio stations worldwide, and he most recently recorded the Fantasy by Nigel Hess with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the composer conducting. He also recorded the solo violin soundtrack to the film Inverse Canon – Love Story 2000, especially composed for him by Ennio Morricone, and most recently recorded the solo violin soundtrack to Ladies in Lavender, the biggest British film of 2004. He plays a violin made by J B Guadagnini in 1760. Music lovers would be aware of the rising talent of soprano, Natalia Dopwell. At the 2004 Music Festival of Trinidad & Tobago she captured the adjudicators’ award of the Most Outstanding Performer, The May Johnstone Trophy and later in the year presented “Je Veux Vivre” a classical concert with other outstanding guest artists. The encouragement she received at the prestigious Summer Workshop at the International Academy of Nice, France, strengthened her resolve to pursue a career in singing. In September 2004 she began her studies at Mannes College of Music in Manhattan New York and was selected to perform the role of Marguerite in the opera “Mephistopheles”.
The third member of this very talented cast is Jeremy Filsell, pianist and accompanist. He was an organ scholar at Keble College Oxford and studied piano with the late David Parkhouse and Hillary MacNamara as a post graduate at the Royal College of Music. He has worked extensively with individual singers and instrumentalists and with such groups as the BBC singers, Croydon Singers, Pimlico Opera and the European Contemporary Music Ensemble. As a soloist he has appeared in festivals in London, Cambridge, Salisbury and Lichfield. He has been lauded for “his ability to make the music unfold with irresistible logic and clarity: music making of the highest caliber”. Jeremy Filsell is currently a Professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Gala Performance Saturday 25th June and Sunday 26th June
Master Classes in St. Lucia
The St. Lucia School of Music was founded 17 years ago and receives financial support from the Government of St. Lucia. Situated at the mouth of the harbour to Castries, it has architectural plans for a building expansion. The School offers tuition in piano, strings, guitar, winds, pan, and percussion, and a foundation in music theory. The website of the School of Music is www.lcmusicschool.com (click first on Piano Department, then on Summer Workshop). Ray Luck is no stranger to music lovers in Trinidad. In October last year he performed in concert with the UWI Festival Steel Ensemble at Queen’s Hall and premiered Guyanese composer Hugh Sam’s composition ‘A Trinidadian Rhapsody’. If you are interested in going to St. Lucia for this summer’s music course(s), contact Ray Luck (rayluck@rayluck.com).
Theatre in Alternative Spaces Tales of the Islands
Later in the month the Rio Manzanare Dance Suite, a composition of Dominique Le Gendre and Celia Reggiani, was presented in the Purcell Room of the Royal Festival Hall on April 21st. 2005 in the programme “All about Samba”. The Rio Manzanare Dance Suite was conceived as part of a multi media performance piece involving original choreography to the suite and curated by a video documentary on the music tradition, Parang, which inspired the suite. To date the documentary Salt of the Earth by French director Sophie Meyer has been completed and presented in Trinidad to the parang musicians in the film. Spotlight understands that The Patrons of Queen’s Hall are talking with Dominique Le Gendre about the presentation of Tales of the Islands here in Trinidad and a tentative date has been set for 2006.
Queen’s Hall Theatre Camp for Young People The Theatre Camp now back to the refurbished Queen’s Hall for the second year will run for 2 weeks. The QH Board was not able to make the customary 3 week booking available due to the heavy demand for use of the Hall. But the Patron’s organizers have rearranged the programme to ensure that the campers still have a wide ranging exposure to the performing arts and that their popular end of camp production will take place on the Queen’s Hall stage. The Camp open to youngsters aged 7 to 16 starts on Monday 11th July and runs to Friday 22nd July, 2005. Work shops start at 8.30 a.m. and end at 3. 45 p.m. The cost of the camp is $300 for the fortnight. Patrons of Queen’s Hall children enjoy a 10% discount.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS JUNE 4 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 11 *17, 18, 19 *24, 25, 26 JULY *1,2,3 *14th thru 22 27th thru 31st DISCOUNTS FOR PATRONS JUNE 18,19 25,26 July 1,2,3 14th thru 22
Do You e-mail? We are putting together a data base of the Patrons membership to give you a better service. If you would like to be included please send an email to Hotfoot1@wow.net at your convenience. Saying Goodbye
Welcome New Members Donald Walker |
Ray Luck, international concert pianist, is
offering three days of music classes at the St. Lucia School of
Music on the 25, 26, 27 July 2005. There will be two separate
courses in Piano Performance (for performers and auditors in master
class format) and Piano Pedagogy (Teaching Piano to Beginners)
This chamber suite composed by
Trinidadian musician Dominique Le Gendre (pictured at right)
had its world premiere on Sunday 10th April, 2005. It is based on
Derek Walcott’s Tales of the Islands, a collection of ten
sonnets which present the rich and complex portrait of the
Caribbean. Le Gendre has used five of the poems. The narrator of the
piece was Willard White, a Jamaican born singer who has performed in
the major opera houses of the world. Tales of the Islands was
directed by Peter Manning, who is recognized as one of Britain’s
finest musicians and is at the leading edge of performance
throughout the world both as soloist, director and concertmaster.
