The COVID-19 pandemic brought the curtain down hard on the performing arts. But with 2020 marking two decades since the founding of The UWI Arts Chorale (UAC), the choir has been commemorating the milestone via social media, most recently hosting an online panel discussion entitled “Twenty Years, One Voice - the Legacy of the UAC”, on June 9.
The choir’s repertoire of major choral classic works, stage musicals and regional folk songs has made them a stand-out in the local landscape, and brought them ovations on international tours. Known for their stirring performances, the unit is made up of some 50 singers, drawn from current and past students of The UWI, as well as members of the public who audition for places.
The online discussion brought together former presidents and the current leader of the UAC, to share insights into their collective journey.
The first president was the charismatic Jessel Murray, Deputy Dean for Distance and Outreach at the Department of Creative and Festival Arts (DCFA). Murray has been the director and conductor for the last 20 years.
Back in 2000, he had just returned to Trinidad and Tobago from the US, taking the reins of Head of the DCFA from Lecturer in Music Satanand Sharma.
An ad-hoc version of the choir had existed under the late voice teacher, Nariman Hosein, performing festive selections around Christmas. It was established on paper as a choral ensemble in 2000 by the late Dr Anne Osbourne (coordinator of the DCFA and creator of its Music Unit), whom Murray called “our guru, our hero”, recalling “her wit and wisdom”.
With regard to the choir’s outlook in the wake of COVID-19, Murray said, “The arts are in grave danger.” He said it was necessary to evolve “to remain valuable and relevant”.
He and the other presidents used the opportunity to look back and tell their history, with each panellist speaking on his or her initiatives while in office.
They started out with 25 people and with Murray as accompanist for the first year, rehearsing in a chilly computer lab they nicknamed “Siberia”. They now practice at DCFA’s Studio Four, and have been accompanied by musician and teacher Jerome Dinchong since year two.
Dressed in striking costumes, often in bright jewel tones, they performed first on campus, moving on to appear at concerts around Trinidad. They branched out into producing musical theatre in 2005, and have won several Cacique awards. When they added movement to their folk pieces, they drafted dancer and choreographer Adele Bynoe — and subsequently others — for their performances.
They started doing international performances in 2008, and have taken their music to foreign lands like Mexico, Panama and Belize.
Over the last 17 years the UAC has performed 11 full- length musicals, including Crazy for You, West Side Story, Beauty and the Beast and Oliver.
Murray said while the UAC is not as well-known in T&T as some other community choirs, “we have carved out standards of excellence and productivity”, with students trained in music and “a level of professionalism that must be sustained”.
He said “a choir at the university level must have a standard set of classical masterworks, done in the original language”. The chorale has presented such challenging pieces as Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Requiem, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms in Hebrew, Latin Masses, and Schubert’s works.
Murray expressed gratitude to the other presidents who have shared the journey, and all the choir members “who have lived the dream”.
Longest-serving president Evette Graham, who is the acting Curriculum Coordinator for Visual and Performing Arts at the Ministry of Education, was only 21 when she joined the choir.
She recounted some of the thrills and challenges of their first tour to Massachusetts, including a dramatic transport mix-up and an emotional reception for their rendition of the unofficial African American anthem, Lift Every Voice and Sing.
She said, through her role, she had “learned a lot about management”, and about having the strength to overcome and deal with problems as they arise.
Music teacher and member of the Trinbago Woodwind and Brass Orchestra Sheldon McShine led UAC from 2013 to 2015. He had presided over sister company Must Come See Productions, and also served as librarian, among other roles. He said his term gave him insight into the intricacies of dealing with people of all ages and dispositions, and augured well for his teaching career.
McShine focused on raising funds to offset their major expenses, like photocopying music and costuming for performance. “People think everything we do is covered because we are affiliated with the university,” he said, “but we have to raise funds ourselves.”
Pannist and music teacher at Preysal Secondary School Andre Frederick was president from 2015 to 2017. He saw “all this talent, yet even on campus people didn’t know about us”. He decided to broaden the UAC’s social media presence, working alongside the gifted young actor Chris Smith, who died in 2019.
“We made fun little videos, memes, etc, showing the type of music we performed, upcoming shows, and short interviews with members,” he recounted.
The initiative bore fruit, he said: “People on campus especially started showing more interest.”
Past president and Linguistics PhD candidate Ronald Francis was first captivated when he heard the chorale perform accompanied by UWI Arts Steel, its partner ensemble. He compared the UAC to his other choral experiences, both in his native Saint Lucia and in T&T, concluding that the difference was “university level, professional training for the real world”.
“Every rehearsal is a lesson,” Francis said.
Music Teacher at St James Secondary School Renelle Grant (2018 -2019) chose to focus on team-building, realising members were mainly acquainted with others in their sections:
“I wanted members to see each other’s strengths and values.”
She initiated activities like fundraising fun days, birthday celebrations and Christmas dinners.
Grant is returning to the choir after a hiatus, having recently given birth to a son.
UAC’s current president is music teacher at the University School Latisha McSween Griffith. She said her experience had been “bittersweet” so far, lamenting that their 20th anniversary plans, such as performing on a celebratory ocean cruise, had been postponed.
She thanked Murray for his influence, and commended the elder members — “the ‘mummies’ who foster love and keep us in check” — for their guidance.
While studying music at UWI, she served as UAC librarian and secretary. She said, through the group, she had learned music and languages, but also found love when she met her future husband, a young man in the tenor section.
“The UWI Chorale brought us together!”
Murray joked that they had seen several births and the blossoming of at least four couples, “but don’t join for that reason, I can’t make guarantees”.
Information on joining The UWI Arts Chorale is available on their Facebook page or by emailing uwi.arts.chorale@gmail.com.
