House rules notwithstanding, the smartphones were all drawn at the Musical Arts production of You Will Be Found on the St Augustine campus of UWI on May 13. OMG! would probably have been the online text contraction of choice for most of the young audience members defying the instruction not to record the proceedings and to put away the phones...and with good cause.
For, above and beyond the accomplished offerings of the steel and wind ensembles, conducted by Trinity Cockburn and mobilised for the occasion, were the voices of some of the finest talents under the wings of the Department of Creative and Festival Arts’ (DCFA) graduating Certificate of Music class.
Eric Alvarez worked the stage and audience like a seasoned pro while musical director/vocalist Anton Williams and accomplished pianist/singer, Samantha Joseph displayed a high level of knowledge of their craft.
Christopher Sookhoo also quite clearly knew what he was doing and was a solid participant in what appeared to have been an unscheduled trio with Alvarez and Williams later on in the programme. Kern Summerville also came through with a faithful version of Sam Smith’s Lay Me Down.
It did not matter, by then, that some items on the programme got scrambled or that lighting the JFK stage is always a challenge, or that some members of the audience could not contain their constant chatter during performances.
The first hint of dominance by the voices came early with Anton Williams’ arrangement of Shadowland from The Lion King. Alvarez was to follow up two songs later with a soulful rendition of Feeling Good, to the strains of the wind ensemble.
Though the song is easily recognisable by many through the female blues voice of Nina Simone, it was actually the 1964 composition of Anthony Newley who also presented its first recorded version. Alvarez must certainly have spent time listening to the magnificent Newley version.
Williams came on with I’m Here from The Colour Purple to show he is himself no slouch on the mic’ returning for the trio on The Colour Purple from the movie of the same name.
Much of the accompaniment on the piano was by Samantha Joseph who, in addition to Williams, was arguably the busiest musician on the night. Hers was an exceptional talent on display, lacking only a standing ovation for a delightful duet with Alvarez on the The Prayer written by Carole-Bayer Sager/David Foster in 1998, with finely tuned voices in mind—Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion in the first instance. Joseph and Alvarez aimed rather high.
DCFA director, Jessel Murray, led the cheerleading section six or seven rows behind when the two were done.
Full marks for song selection in a set list that included the melodic I Dreamed a Dream nervously delivered on the French horn by Brian Cave. A more confident solo performance however came from Joshua Ramsey on the tenor sax playing Maria Theresa von Paradis’ Sicilienne.
As noted by Williams at the end of the show, You Will Be Found was entirely the effort of the graduating class—its “proud creation”, according to his notes on the programme.
“Enjoy the experience of the exciting merger of pan, wind, and voice in this explosion of emerging music professionalism,” the programme says.
There were no disappointed participants along the way, both on and off the stage. OMG! Indeed.