St. Lucia Times
By
Tony Nicholas
An intensive ten-day singing and choir workshop concluded on Thursday with a concert at the National Cultural Center.
The workshop began on September 26, attracting students from elementary, middle, and high school.
It is the result of a collaboration between the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the Ministry of Tourism, Investment, Creative Industries, Culture, and Information, the Simon Bolivar Foundation’s Music Foundation, El Sistema, and the National Choir of Mixed Schools.
The workshop leaders were Rafael Espinoza and Genaro Andres Quintana, Venezuelan masters specializing in vocal technique and singing, and vocal coach and choir director Robert Rene of Saint Lucia.
Parents, students, and several dignitaries attended Thursday's concert.
Audience at the student concert
Among them were the Ambassador-designate of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Her Excellency Leiff Liubliana Escalona Barrueta; the Ambassador of Mexico, His Excellency Luis Manuel López Moreno; and the Governor General Emerita, Her Excellency Dame Pearlette Louisy.
Ferdinand Guibion, Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Tourism, was among the government representatives in attendance and praised the initiative’s fruitful collaboration.
«This is truly a testament to the power of creative expression,» said Mr. Ferdinand. «This is a very special way for us to showcase our talent and connect with the world,» he added.
He attributed this uniqueness to Saint Lucia’s cultural exchanges with Latin America to the south and to our close relationship with the French territories to the north.
The evening's performances reflected some of these cultural nuances.
The elementary school choir was the first to enthusiastically sing a Congolese folk song and a traditional South African song.
They ended with a rousing medley of Caribbean folk songs.
The voices of the high school choir were angelic as they performed «Gloria – Athos Palma» and Wolfgang Kelbers’s spiritual, «Good News.».
The evening ended on a high note with the Combined National Schools Choir, which had the audience on their feet with medleys of praise songs and calypso.
Robert Rene, full of energy, thanked the parents not only for coming that evening, but also for allowing their children to participate in the training.
He also thanked Archdeacon Glasgow of Holy Trinity Anglican Church for allowing the church’s annex to be used for the training.
The Anglican Annex, Mr. Rene revealed, has also hosted the National Schools Choir since its founding in 2021.
He said that the choir had attracted students from Dennery to Gros Islet, and he assured them that a call for students from the southern part of the island would be issued soon.
