Standing ovation for White, Kevorkian, NCOJ at UWI Chapel

Last Sunday evening, the University Chapel, UWI, Mona, came alive with the sound of music as the National Chorale of Jamaica (NCOJ) presented its Golden Gala Concert, in celebrations of its milestone 50th anniversary.

Guest performers for the August occasion were Jamaica-born British operatic bass baritone Willard White, who was knighted in the Queen Elizabeth’s Birthday Honours in 2004 and bears the title ‘Sir’, and mezzo-soprano Sylvia Kevorkian, who is White’s wife.

As soloists, together and sometimes with the NCOJ, they rocked the chapel, though not in a rock ‘n’ roll kinda way. It was more classic. They masterfully presented pieces from some of the most frequently performed opera composers, such as Mozart, Rossini, Puccini and Verdi, as well as French composer and pianist Francis Poulenc; George Gershwin; Austrian master Franz Schubert; Kurt Weill, Richard Genee and Aaron Copland to an audience comprising a charming – though unbalanced – mix of hoary heads and those with colour.

Resplendent in their finery, the full house sat with faces full frontal, gazing intently at the performers, bodies immovable but somehow interconnected as they studiously engaged in the intense musicality of the pieces. When the performances came to a stop, that was the signal for hands to join together enthusiastically in explosive applause, and sometimes even for vocal expressions of delight.

White, expertly accompanied by pianist Dr Richard Beckford, opened the programme a few minutes after 6 p.m. with Schubert’s Der Wanderer, Das Fischer Madchen and – in a rather cute move – Who is Sylvia, bringing his first set to a close with Mozart’s Madamina. An expressive performer whose powerful bass baritone is the stuff of which dreams are made, White’s hand gestures also make a solid point. He injected his own jocular interactions with the audience, which they obviously loved, indicated by their relaxed laughter.

Interestingly, it was when Kevorkian made her entry to centre stage that phone cameras were whisked out of handbags and pockets to record the moment she joined White. Dazzling in full black complemented with bright red lipstick, her first song on which she was accompanied by White, quite appropriately, was La ci Darem, a duet sung by Don Giovanni and Zerlina in the first act of Mozart’s popular opera, Don Giovanni.

Next up was the NCOJ, who served up quite a musical frolic with Genee’s Italian Salad, for which they received a hearty applause. Afterwards, the male voices of the chorale accompanied Kevorkian on Verdi’s La Vergine Degli Angeli.

Closing out part one of the evening was White with a delightful trio of American folk songs from Aaron Copland – The Boatman’s Dance, Long Time Ago and the nursery rhyme sounding, I Bought Me A Cat, which elicited spurts of laughter.

Post-interval, it was Kevorkian’s well-controlled mezzo-soprano that thrilled the audience as she returned with Poulenc’s Hotel and Kurt Weill’s Speak Low. White chose the Rodgers and Hammerstein favourite Some Enchanted Evening, which aptly described the feelings of many inside the chapel, and the happily wishful If I Were a Rich Man, an attention-grabbing show tune from the 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof.

Excerpts from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess were the final act of the evening and these included Summertime from Kevorkian; I Got Plenty of Nuttin from White; Bess You is my Woman, with White and Kevorkian; and Oh Lawd I’m on my Way, with White, Kevorkian and the chorale.

The audience, which demanded and received an encore, gifted the performers with the highest tribute - a standing ovation.

yasmine.peru@gleanerjm.com