Evening of Excellence strong at 12

Michael Reckord, Gleaner Writer

The 12th anniversary concert in the Andrews Memorial Seventh-day Adventist Church's annual series, titled 'An Evening of Excellence', was held on Sunday.

A large and appreciative audience found much to enjoy throughout the musical evening at the University Chapel, Mona.

Lasting some three hours, the concert featured mainly experienced singers (appearing in choirs and as soloists) and instrumentalists. They performed mainly classical music, though there were also gospel and popular music items.

There were numerous appearances by choirs, with all but one being part of the combined choir which opened the programme, the Andrews Memorial Church Choir & Adventist Praise Chorale. The aggregation, which comprises more than 40 singers, indicated that the music would be of a high quality with a full-throated, enthusiastic delivery of Hallelujah (from Beethoven's oratorio The Mount of Olives).

The choirs generally sang well (though the church's Teen Choir was understandably not as strong as the adults), but it was the Andrews Memorial Church Choir with its final number, Shall We Gather by the River by Robert Lowry, that pulled the audience to its feet for a standing ovation.

Superbly arranged as a slow march, the gospel song was sincerely and joyously rendered to Livingston Burnett's sonorous accompaniment on the organ.

The fact that the choir saved the hymn for the last suggested they knew how powerful its impact would be, but their earlier song, Great is Thy Faithfulness, was also delivered with great feeling. The choir is a fine one, with a 40-year history and extensive experience singing in and outside the island.

The other choirs, Andrews Memorial Men's Chorale (with Rejoice the Lord is King and Somebody's Knockin' at Your Door) and Adventist Praise Chorale (with Haydn's Sing The Lord Ye Voices All and Pietro Mascagni's Anthem for Spring), sang well and with heart.

Among other things, the Men's Chorale "focuses on helping men to adopt positive values and maintain positive images of themselves and of their roles and responsibilities in society". The Praise Chorale (formed 1995) has toured the United States and Antigua and Barbuda.

amateur and professional

Though the concert's three soloists are at different stages of their careers, their singing was so good it would have been difficult for the audience to distinguish between amateur and professional.

The first of the three to be heard, Yanique Leiba Ebanks, a professional, did more than just sing; she was one of the accompanists - on piano. She first sang in a duet with Oswald Smith, the original, and current, organiser of the Evening of Excellence series.

The song was a gospel number, I Asked the Lord. Ebanks' second song, one in the 'popular' category, was When You Walk Through a Storm.

The second soloist, Keith Mitchell (tenor), is still a student, and he is completing his degree in Vocal Performance at Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts' School of Music. Another versatile musician, he also composes and arranges. His songs were Pieta Signore, and Handel's Comfort Ye and Every Valley.

The third outstanding soloist was Lucette Cargill, a chemist by day and a singer at every opportunity she gets. She sang Rubenstein's Give Me an Understanding Heart and Mozart's Alleluia.

As emcee, Pastor Jovan Whyte ushered the performers into and out of the playing area at the front of the chapel in humorous fashion.

The annual concerts are fund-raisers for various altruistic organisations, including Musgrave Children's Home, Jamaica Cancer Society, Mona Rehabilitation Centre, Jamaica Society for the Blind, Best Care Foundation, Mustard Seed Communities and Jamaica AIDS Support. From the proceeds, scholarships have also been provided for needy students and small businesses have received start-up capital.