The Marionettes Chorale

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The Marionettes Chorale of Trinidad and Tobago is one of the oldest performing arts organisations in the Caribbean. [1] Formed in 1963, the choir has toured the Caribbean; North and Central America; and Great Britain; has won prizes at music festivals both in Trinidad & Tobago and internationally; has recorded seven albums; and received local awards. Founded in 1963 by Jocelyn Pierre and June Williams-Thorne, [2] the choir has been led since 1974 by Gretta Taylor [3] (née Francis) as conductor and artistic director; and founder member Joanne Mendes as secretary and production manager. Susan Dore (née David) served as assistant musical director 1974-2011, and was succeeded by Dr. Roger Henry. The choir has been sponsored by BP Trinidad & Tobago (then Amoco) since 1972, [4] and formed a Youth Chorale in 1995 and a Children's Choir in 2012. The group was incorporated as a non-profit in 2005.

Trinidad and Tobago island country in the Caribbean Sea

Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is a twin island country that is the southernmost nation of the West Indies in the Caribbean. It is situated 130 kilometres south of Grenada off the northern edge of the South American mainland, 11 kilometres off the coast of northeastern Venezuela. It shares maritime boundaries with Barbados to the northeast, Grenada to the northwest, Guyana to the southeast, and Venezuela to the south and west.

Gretta Taylor is a musician and teacher from Trinidad and Tobago. She is the conductor and musical director of The Marionettes Chorale (1974–present). She received the Hummingbird Medal—Gold in 1990 for "outstanding services to music and culture in Trinidad and Tobago".

BP British multinational oil and gas company

BP plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. It is one of the world's seven oil and gas "supermajors", whose performance in 2012 made it the world's sixth-largest oil and gas company, the sixth-largest energy company by market capitalization and the company with the world's 12th-largest revenue (turnover). It is a vertically integrated company operating in all areas of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading. It also has renewable energy interests in biofuels and wind power.

Contents

History

The Marionettes was initially formed to compete in the 1964 Trinidad & Tobago Music Festival, and claims to be the first choir formed after the islands' independence in 1962. [5] The group competed intermittently in the local Music Festival until 1980, and retired unbeaten. [6] They were awarded the prize for the Most Outstanding Choir each time they competed, and other awards included the May Johnstone Commemorative Trophy for the Most Outstanding Performer of the Festival.

Between 1981 and 1992, the choir competed internationally at choral festivals in the United Kingdom: Llangollen, Wales (1981); Cork, Ireland (1984); and Middlesbrough, England (1992), winning four prizes. In addition to competitive tours, the Chorale also completed non-competitive tours in the Caribbean (Curaçao, Grenada, St Vincent, Barbados, Jamaica), and in North America and Central America (New York, Toronto, Montreal, Miami, Philadelphia [7] Washington DC, and Costa Rica). The Marionettes have performed at venues including St Martin-in-the-Fields in London, the York Assembly Rooms, and the Hall of the Americas in Washington; and for dignitaries including Lord Browne and Colin Powell, delegates from CARICOM, the Organization of American States and the British Commonwealth.

St Martin-in-the-Fields Church in London

St Martin-in-the-Fields is an English Anglican church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. It is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. There has been a church on the site since the medieval period. The present building was constructed in a Neoclassical design by James Gibbs in 1722–1726.

York Assembly Rooms Grade I listed building in York, United Kingdom

The York Assembly Rooms is an 18th-century assembly rooms building in York, England, originally used as a place for high class social gatherings in the city.

Colin Powell Former U.S. Secretary of State and retired four-star general

Colin Luther Powell is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. During his military career, Powell also served as National Security Advisor (1987–1989), as Commander of the U.S. Army Forces Command (1989) and as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989–1993), holding the latter position during the Persian Gulf War. Powell was the first, and so far the only, Jamaican American to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State, serving under U.S. President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005, the first black person to serve in that position.

In 1995, the choir founded a Youth Chorale for young singers aged 11-26, from over 30 local schools. The Youth Chorale is also supported by bpTT. In 2001, the Chorale began a fund-raising campaign to build its own rehearsal and performance hall, and formalised its status as a non-profit organisation in 2005.

The Chorale produces at least two major productions per year in Trinidad & Tobago, in the middle of the year and in December, usually at the Queen's Hall in Port of Spain. It also presents concerts in aid of local charities, [8] and guests [9] at local events. In 2008-09, it celebrated its 45th anniversary, and 35 years of leadership by Taylor, [10] Dore and Mendes.

Port of Spain City in City of Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

Port of Spain, officially the City of Port of Spain, is the capital city of Trinidad and Tobago and the country's second-largest city after San Fernando and the third largest municipality after Chaguanas and San Fernando. The city has a municipal population of 37,074, an urban population of 81,142 and a transient daily population of 250,000. It is located on the Gulf of Paria, on the northwest coast of the island of Trinidad and is part of a larger conurbation stretching from Chaguaramas in the west to Arima in the east with an estimated population of 600,000.

Repertoire

The Marionettes' repertoire [11] includes Western Classical music, opera, musical theatre, indigenous folk music, African-American spirituals, popular classics, and world music.

Classical music broad tradition of Western art music

Classical music is art music produced or rooted in the traditions of Western culture, including both liturgical (religious) and secular music. While a more precise term is also used to refer to the period from 1750 to 1820, this article is about the broad span of time from before the 6th century AD to the present day, which includes the Classical period and various other periods. The central norms of this tradition became codified between 1550 and 1900, which is known as the common-practice period. The major time divisions of Western art music are as follows:

Opera artform combining sung text and musical score in a theatrical setting

Opera is a form of theatre in which music has a leading role and the parts are taken by singers, but is distinct from musical theater. Such a "work" is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librettist and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, scenery, costume, and sometimes dance or ballet. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble, which since the early 19th century has been led by a conductor.

Musical theatre work that combines songs, music, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance

Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole. Although musical theatre overlaps with other theatrical forms like opera and dance, it may be distinguished by the equal importance given to the music as compared with the dialogue, movement and other elements. Since the early 20th century, musical theatre stage works have generally been called, simply, musicals.

Composers who have dedicated works to the choir include Dr. Havelock Nelson, Stewart Hylton Edwards [12] and Alma Pierre.

Havelock Nelson was an Irish composer and conductor.

The Chorale was among the first to blend voices with the steel pan (aka steel drum) in the 1960s, and have performed with the following steel orchestras: Pan Am North Stars, Trinidad All Stars, Renegades, Renegades Youth Orchestra, Desperadoes and Skiffle Bunch. They have premiered several choral works in the Caribbean, including: Carmina Burana (Orff); Fanshawe’s African Sanctus; Ralph Vaughan Williams' Five Mystical Songs, Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols; Francis Poulenc’s Gloria; Duke Ellington's Sacred Concerts and Leonard Bernstein’s Missa Brevis and Chichester Psalms.

Recordings

Tours

Prizes and awards

Awards

Trinidad & Tobago Music Festival

International prizes

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References

  1. ↑ "Profiles of Caribbean Artistry: Caribbean Chorale" by Rosa Hill, excerpted from Caribbean Beat magazine (July-August 1999)
  2. ↑ "Marionettes Chorale Marks 45 Years", in Trinidad Newsday, 30 October 2008
  3. ↑ "An enduring musical love affair", in the Trinidad Guardian WomanWise magazine, 27 November 2005
  4. ↑ BP Trinidad & Tobago website
  5. ↑ "The Marionettes Chorale Marks 45 Years", TriniBeat.com
  6. ↑ The Marionettes Chorale
  7. ↑ "Trinidad chorus brings island music to mainland, mainstream audience" in The Digital Collegian, Pennsylvania State University, 19 September 1997
  8. ↑ "Marionettes sing Noel for charity" by Patricia James in the Trinidad Guardian, 20 December 2006
  9. ↑ "Moving music from Signal Hill" by Angela Pidduck in the Trinidad Newsday, 23 June 2009
  10. ↑ "Celebrating the music of the Marionettes" in the Trinidad Newsday, 22 June 2009
  11. ↑ "Marionettes treat patrons to Sparrow, Blakie, King of Pop" by Sean Nero in the Trinidad Guardian, 12 July 2009
  12. ↑ "Stewart Hylton-Edwards: 1924-87" by Jeremy Taylor and Paul Conway, MusicWeb-International.com
  13. ↑ "Marionettes Honoured in US" in the Trinidad Guardian
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