Music Festival to resume

The TT Music Festival Association (TTMFA) will be resuming and concluding the 2020 Music Festival, which had to be postponed due to the covid19 pandemic.

In a release, association chairman Jessel Murray said the decision was made after considering responses from a recent stakeholder survey and continuing guidance from the government.

He said TTMFA will offer a live version of the 2020 festival beginning in August for open classes and virtual sessions in October for junior classes.

“The North open classes will conclude at Queen’s Hall, St Ann's while the South open classes will be conducted at Naparima Bowl. The Tobago open classes had already been concluded. However, there will be no Championship round for any of the regions. Instead, the first-place winner of classes in the respective region will each receive commemorative plaques.”

Murray said once the festival resumes there will be adjustments in keeping with national guidelines disseminated by the Ministry of Health. These include the following: only solo, duets and small ensembles can be accommodated; adjudication will be conducted in the traditional manner by Dr Richard Tang Yuk; and all competitors, as well as audience members, will be subject to the venue protocols developed by the Ministry of Community Development, Culture, and the Arts.

The open classes to be held in the north are ladies operatic aria, gents musical theatre solo, gents folk song solo, piano recital, acoustic guitar solo, steelpan solo, and mixed instrumental duet or trio. The following ensemble categories were originally for four to 16 players but will have to be reduced to no more than ten players per ensemble: steelpan ensemble, orchestral string ensemble, orchestral brass ensemble, and orchestral woodwind ensemble.

The South open classes include gents’ vocal solo, ladies operatic aria, string solo for non-fretted instruments, gents operatic aria, gents spiritual solo, acoustic guitar solo, mixed vocal duet, ladies contemporary religious solo, gents contemporary religious solo, lieder/German art song, vocal recital, ladies musical theatre solo, gents musical theatre solo, world music instrumental ensemble for five to six players, ladies oratorio solo, gents oratorio solo, piano recital, ladies’ vocal duet, steelpan solo for tenor or double seconds, ladies folk song solo, gents folk song solo, steelpan ensemble for pans only, no percussion, for four to ten players, 4–16 players, non-vocal mixed instrumental duet or trio, ladies’ vocal solo, piano solo, vocal recital, improvisation on steelpan, gents’ vocal duet, and ladies spiritual solo.

Murray said Tobago has not been included as finals competitions had been completed in that region prior to discontinuation of the festival on March 13.