Another musical treat

Michael Reckord, Gleaner Writer

Considering the high quality of the music served up, there were not enough people at the Soroptimist International of Jamaica's sixth annual Classics in June concert on Sunday.

Scores of patrons did attend the event mounted in the University of the West Indies chapel at Mona, but there should have been hundreds. Music lovers who might have helped fill the chapel's benches, downstairs and up, but were absent certainly missed many wonderful musical moments.

Some also missed the opportunity to help "children at risk", the focus of the Soroptimists' charity work this year. Inmates of the National Children's Home, for example, are to benefit from the concert.

Lasting just under two hours, the presentation featured an interesting mix of young and experienced musicians, some local and some foreign.

The already internationally acclaimed soprano Dr Elizabeth Graham was the most renowned performer on the list, but others with less experience gave notice that in a few years they, too, should be getting the world's attention.

One such person was Mikhail Johnson, the first performer. This young pianist, who has been well received at previous concerts, showed with his playing of a brief, warm-up piece by Bach, and then a more demanding one, March Wind, by Edward MacDowell, that he has the talent to make music his profession.

Second-half offerings

His second-half offerings of complex pieces by Sergei Rachmaninoff confirmed the view, but it appears that might not be his intention.

A student at the Northern Caribbean University (NCU), Johnson is reading for a degree majoring in biochemistry. Music is his minor.

Following the music student was a music lecturer, June Thompson Lawson (mezzo-soprano). Accompanied sensitively by Fay Lindo on piano, she sang an aria from Saint-Saens' Samson et Dalila, then one from Gluck's Orpheo ed Euridice. She performed with great feeling and tonal quality, but her pronunciation in the first item, in French, left a lot to be desired. Even native speakers of the language had difficulty distinguishing the words.

She had no problem with the other three songs she sang in the second half of the programme.

Not only were they all in English - they were Thomas Ame's The Lass with the Delicate Air, Leonard Bernstein's I Feel Pretty (from West Side Story), and Edward Boatner's Spiritual On Ma Journey Home - but all were suited to Thompson Lawson's emotive style of singing. Her performance earned her strong applause.

A multitalented youngster was next. Florida-based 15-year-old Alexander Hardan, the son of Jamaican Bianca Shoucair, first sang, then played the piano and, later, the violin. The items were, respectively, Donizetti's Una Furtiva Lagrima, Mozart's Allegro Molto from his Piano Sonata in C minor, K. 457, then Prokofiev's Montagues and Capulets from Romeo and Juliette (arranged by Jascha Heifetz).

Hardan showed great promise with all three instruments (voice included) though, naturally, his voice is far from being mature yet. His piano teacher, a Cuban, Delvis Mesa Rodriquez, accompanied him on piano.

Graham brought the first half of the concert to a close with three songs by Richard Strauss, Gabriel Faure and Mozart. Accompanied by Lindo, she demonstrated her great experience, with her stage presence (a regal bearing enhanced that almost indefinable quality), her articulation and her feeling. At the same time, unsteady, shrill high notes detracted from an otherwise enjoyable presentation.

Her second set of three songs, this time all in English, ended the concert and were even more warmly received. The final songs were Gershwin's Summertime and My Man's Gone Now from Porgy and Bess, and the popular He's Got the Whole World in His Hands.

The newcomer in the second half of the concert was another NCU student, Joel George. A native of Antigua and Barbuda, he is studying music education and has already won awards in various competitions.

Dramatic Prelude

George played a very dramatic Prelude in G minor, Op. 23, No. 5 by Rachmaninoff, then another gentler Eiegie by the same composer, showing excellent fingering and tone in both. His third item, Etude in D minor, Op. 8, No. 12, by Alexander Scriabin, had, interestingly, a mix of the moods of the previous pieces.

The Soroptimists International Club (Kingston), whose president is Grace Allen-Young, is a volunteer service organisation for women in business, management and the professions. It is one of five clubs in Jamaica affiliated with Soroptimists International, which has service clubs in 120 countries. According to a statement from the Kingston club, it has over the years helped to influence national policy and so advance the status of women and children in the island.

For the club's good deeds as well for the fine music usually served up at its Classics in June concerts, patrons at Sunday's performance should heed the parting admonition-cum-promise of Planning Committee Chair Laurice Barnaby, "See you next near!"