News Releases

UWI Singers' Caribbean Tour comes to Trinidad

For Release Upon Receipt - April 9, 2008

Mona


The University Singers of the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona Campus in Jamaica will perform at Queens Hall, St Ann’s, Trinidad on Friday 11th and Saturday 12th April. The performance is the final stop on the University Singers’ hugely successful 50th Anniversary Caribbean Tour.

The University Singers, a 40-member ensemble, comprises undergraduate and graduate students of the University and comes complete with its own band. They maintain a reputation for delivering performances of the highest calibre and have filled concert halls across the Caribbean, the UK and North America. Among their many achievements are national awards, including the prestigious (Jamaica) Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in 2003, the UWI Vice Chancellor’s Award for sterling contribution to the University and a (Jamaican) National Gold Musgrave Medal from the Institute of Jamaica.

During their two-day stay in Trinidad, the UWI Singers will also conduct workshops. The Friday workshop will target choirs from the North and Tobago and will take place at Queen’s Hall. Workshops will continue on Saturday at the auditorium of the UWI School of Continuing Studies, Gordon Street, St. Augustine. Both workshops will start at 10:00 a.m. and run for about two hours. Themed "The University Singers of the UWI, Mona Campus—Ambassadors for Caribbean Regional Integration through Choral Theatre", the workshops will cover repertoire building, experimentation with arranging, and vocal techniques for different types of music, staging and 'interweaving' technical support to attain excellence in choral theatre.

Their anniversary tour is generously support by the UWI Mona campus, which has long regarded The University Singers as cultural ambassadors for the Mona Campus and Jamaica. The highly acclaimed artistes have performed in the presence of notable world figures including Nelson Mandela, Kofi Anan, Desmond Tutu; Queen Elizabeth II and former president of Botswana, Dr. Quett Masire. Corporate support for the venture has also come from Queen’s Hall, Caribbean Airlines and Republic Bank Limited.

Some have said that it is the combination of the group’s musical director, Noel Dexter and artistic director Professor Rex Nettleford, Vice Chancellor Emeritus of The University of the West Indies that has carried the group to its present glory. Noel Dexter, a distinguished musician and composer has directed the choir for over twenty-seven years and, Professor the Honourable Rex Nettleford, utilises an avant-garde approach referred to as ‘Choral Theatre’ to stage movements for the group.

Tickets cost $100.00 with a 10% discount for patrons of Queen's Hall and will be available at the Queen’s Hall box office from April 1st, 2008. For ticket information, please contact Queen’s Hall at (868) 621 2911, 621 5103, 624 128. For more information on The University Singers, please visit the official website at http://theuniversitysingers.mona.uwi.edu

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