Michele Dowrich celebrates rhythm of her life with concert on December 7

AS many approach retirement or the milestone age of 60, their thoughts often drift toward slowing down, scaling back or stepping aside. For singer, longtime music educator, and decorated Music Festival performer Michele Dowrich, turning 60 is not a cue for a rocking chair. Rather, it’s a cue for the stage lights to rise.

Dowrich is ringing in her retirement with a jubilant celebration of her life, music and renewal. She is marking this chapter with 60-licious Live!, a full-scale concert experience that reflects both her vibrant spirit and her unwavering love for the arts.

For her, 60-licious Live! is more than a concert. It is Dowrich’s radiant salute to resilience, reinvention and the rhythm of a life beautifully lived.

In celebration of this milestone, she has specially chosen long-time friends and accomplished singers the likes of the incomparable Brenda Butler, the versatile singer, composer, music teacher and arranger and founder of Jeunes Agape Choir, Lois Lewis, the prolific soprano singer Turon Nicholas, gospel/jazz vocalist Quinton Neckles and another jazz and soul legend, Sharon Phillips who is also known as Anubia Phoenix of Tobago.

EFX the Band and Jessel Murray will provide accompanying music in what Dowrich promises to be an unforgettable evening. She is also promising a special surprise performance.

Dowrich is no stranger to the concert circuit, especially in south Trinidad. She has spent decades shaping musical excellence. She served as assistant musical director of the Southernaires Choir – first with the late Joy Caesar CMT and now under Peter Lockhart.

She taught both primary and secondary students at San Fernando Girls’ Anglican School and St Joseph’s Convent, San Fernando. Under her guidance, school choirs repeatedly claimed top honours at the biennial Music Festival. “The music room was always my happy and safe space,” she recalls.

Her own musical journey began with strong encouragement at home and in primary school, where teachers fostered all forms of artistic expression – from choral speaking and choir to poetry and modelling.

By age 18, Dowrich had earned third place in her first solo competition at the Music Festival. As part of the Prescon (Presentation College and St Joseph’s Convent) choir in the 1980s, she landed her first lead role as Mary in Follow the Star, when the production suddenly needed a new star performer.

Most recently, Dowrich served six fulfilling years as a curriculum officer in the Ministry of Education’s Visual and Performing Arts Unit, supporting teachers and strengthening the CSEC music and CAPE performing arts programmes.

Now entering retirement, Dowrich embraces the opportunity to rest, reset and savour more family time with her sons and grandchildren. Her gratitude is especially deep after undergoing double hip replacement surgeries two years ago – an experience that challenged, but did not dim, her joy for life.

So, she celebrates the way she knows best, with music, community, and flair. 60-licious Live! takes place December 7 at 6 pm at the Naparima Bowl, followed by an after-party.

Tickets are available at the Naparima Bowl box office on December 6, from 12–6 pm and December 7, from 2.30 pm.