Musical production to honour Janine Charles-Farray

Chandelier Productions, together with conductor and composer Michael Hudlin, will host its tenth production, Rest, at All Saints’ Anglican Church, Port of Spain on April 1.

Rest will feature choral and solo performances of classical and spiritual music in a programme that will model a requiem – a mass in memorial for those who have died.

The production will pay homage to arts advocate and marketing specialist Janine Charles-Farray, who died in October 2022.

Charles-Farray was known as a champion of the local creative and performing arts industries, primarily music, theatre, film, animation, fashion, and dance. One of the ways she helped propel the industry was through public relations and marketing support to several up-and-coming brands and businesses via her firm Black Collar Creative.

One such brand is production company Chandelier Productions, where she had been marketing strategist and performer since 2020 and had been instrumental in the successes of many of its events, such as The Pursuit of Greatness, For Faith and Music, and its signature production, Theatre Night Out.

Chandelier Productions’ founder Tiana Chandler said Rest was the final concept that they worked on with Charles-Farray before her death, so the production will carry on in her honour.

Rest is also intended to be a representation of an artist’s creative journey. Hudlin said: “This production’s concept grew from an artist’s feeling of intense burnout. Although we (artists) do what we love, it takes a significant toll on us every time we put our work on stage. That is why there is a need for ‘rest’ along our journey.”

Hudlin hand-picked musical pieces specially designed to convey a feeling of "rest." The programme will include Bach’s 20-minute composition Gottes Zeit ist die Allerbeste Zeit, which translates to "God’s time is the best time," as well as an original composition written for Charles-Farray which Chandler will perform.

The cast of Rest includes some of Trinidad’s finest singers: sopranos Adafih Padmore and Samantha Stanislaus; altos Diahann White and Gabrielle Tull; tenors Edward Cumberbatch and Carl-Anthony Hines; and basses Isaiah Alexander and Christopher Thomas, with musical accompaniment by Jessel Murray (keyboard) and Martina Chow and Kayla Persad (flute).

Tickets are available via Chandelier Productions’ website, https://chandelierproductionstt.com/, calling or sending a message via WhatsApp to 868-710-9436 (Tiana Chandler) / 868-295-7435 (Michael Hudlin) or visiting the All Saints parish office on weekdays between 9 am and 2 pm.

For more information visit Facebook and Instagram pages (@productionschandelier).