Duets make magic

Yvonne Webb

Music Festival adjudicator Belinda Mikhail has from time to time urged participants to find that “performance magic” when on stage and first place winners in the Girls Vocal Duet (12 years and under) on Friday afternoon certainly found it.

The beautiful blend of the voices of Julianna Nelson, of St Gabriel’s Girls’ RC School, and Brie-Ann Mc Eachrane, of San Fernando Girls’ Government School, struck such a delightful chord with both the audience and the festival judge that the 87 points awarded and the securing of a place in the championship, came as no surprise.

The competition was close with one point separating each of the top duets. The second-place duet, Mackenzie Roberts, of San Fernando Girls Anglican School, and Arianna Reefer, a student of San Fernando Girls Government School, received 86 points. Two duets tied for third with 85 points each–Taylor Lee of Cedar Grove Private School and Saheli Ali of TML Primary School, as well as Michaela Walters and Lea-Marie Lendor of St Joseph’s Convent, San Fernando.

There were murmurings of “aww” as the two tiny seven-year-old girls, Roberts and Reefer, graced the stage at the southern leg of the competition taking place at Naparima Bowl, San Fernando.

At the end of their almost flawless rendition of One Candle Lights the Way, the “aww’s” were replaced by applause. It was the first time Roberts and Reefer, entered the competition, but their confidence, and “excellent signing” impressed Mikhail to award them second place.

She too commented on the size and age of the two competitors, who were almost overshadowed by the piano on the huge stage, acknowledging they were “the littlest competitors” but worked well together to hold out the long, sustained notes and overall deliver a solid performance.

Roberts’ achievement was also a proud and defining moment for her grandmother, musicologist Bernadette Roberts who trained and accompanied her and Reefer on the piano. Bernadette also trained the winners, Nelson and Mc Eachrane, and Lee and Ali, one of the joint third place duets.

“The first, second and third place winners all came from my private music school,” Bernadette gushed as she hugged her granddaughter and congratulated the winners outside the Naparima Bowl after the competition.

Lee and Ali were also first-time competitors. Mikhail complimented them for capturing the mood of the piece and their “expressive faces” and “very musical effort.”

Walters and Lendor, joint third place winners, were trained by their music teacher, Michele Dowrich.

There will be no session on Monday morning, but the festival continues on Monday afternoon and night with junior choirs, steel pan solo, recorder solo, Calypso Chorale with and without choreography, tenor and baritone solo, ladies’ quartet and contemporary religious solo. Finals at Naparima Bowl will end on March 8.