ICHS Symphony Orchestra concert enthusiastically received
Published:Sunday | November 13, 2022 | 12:06 AMMichael Reckord - Sunday Gleaner Writer
There was loud applause and cheering as the Immaculate Conception High School Symphony Orchestra (ICHS SO) ended the first of its two concerts at Jamaica College last Sunday. The audience loved the show, and one comment to The Sunday Gleaner was in the superlative:
“It couldn’t have been better.” The problem was that it came from Steven Woodham.
True, his musical expertise might have been unsurpassed in the Karl Hendrickson auditorium, the concert’s venue, at the time, and in other circumstances, he would have been the go-to consultant. But then he was the orchestra’s trainer and conductor and was probably biased.
However, his follow-up observations were insightful. “They (the Immaculate girls) are wonderful students, very talented. We Jamaicans need to have higher expectations of ourselves. We do it with our athletes. Why not do it in every other area of our lives?”
Similar sentiments were shared by Althea Byll-Cataria, the chair of the fundraising committee of the concert’s organisers, the ICHS class of ’72. Speaking of the teamwork that went into mounting the concert, she said:“By working together, we can make a profound impression on the world. We want this (development) for Jamaica, and in this hall, I have a glimpse of Jamaica’s future. It’s brilliant.”
Her remarks had been preceded by video-recorded remarks from the concert’s patron, Professor Shirley Thompson, a world-renowned London-based musician of Jamaican parentage. She had observed and even assisted in the ICHS SO’s rehearsals when she visited Jamaica recently.
Following the chair’s remarks, the Immaculate Chamber Ensemble went on stage for the start of the musical part of the evening. The ensemble, which was quite large and filled the stage, played five pieces, two of them locally written.
The first Jamaican item was Dr Mikhail Johnson’s Misereatur for String Orchestra, a solemn composition filled with dramatic sounds based on a Latin prayer starting, “May the Lord have mercy on you.” In contrast, the mood of the second, Paulette Bellamy’s arrangement of Daylight at Solas Market — a combination of two traditional mento pieces, Solas Market and Day-O — was bright and bouncy.
From Allison Wallace, who, throughout the evening, was an effervescent MC, we got the tit-bit that the original Solas Market was replaced by the present Coronation Market in downtown Kingston. Wallace is a lecturer at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts and the director of the ICHS Glee Club.
The earlier compositions were Brendan McBrien’s Three Outdoor Sketches, a work in three atmospheric movements; Work Song, Twilight, and Men and Machines. Camille Saint-Saens’ The Elephant for Double Bass and Strings featured Hailey Cunningham as the double bass soloist, while the third composition, Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins and Orchestra, saw Woodham and Samantha Stines on the violins.
Judging by the decibel level of the audience’s response to the Bach concerto, and later in the second half, the Allegro con brio movement from Beethoven’s even more popular Symphony No. 5 in C minor, those two classic compositions were the highlights of the concert.
Which probably surprises no one. You don’t get better music than Bach and Beethoven when their works are played well. And the orchestra, overall, played very well.
Cleverly, Woodham grouped the concert’s last four compositions under the heading “Nature”, and the orchestra treated the audience to music that evoked various moods. The names suggest them: Drought for Strings (Alison Harbottle), Soundscape (an ICHS SO improvisation), In Gentle Rain (Robert W. Smith), and Wildwood Overture (Aaron David Miller). Soundscape was particularly engaging as the performers used their instruments and bodies to make music.
From Dr Christine Hammond Gabbadon, secretary of the event’s planning committee, who gave the vote of thanks, we learnt of the concert being streamed. That meant that another audience somewhere in the world was treated to an excellent show.
A lot of energy went into the playing, and the members of the ICHS SO must have been exhausted after the 1:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. show.