Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer
THE VOICES of the members of the large Diocesan Festival Choir filled the Church of the Transfiguration, Meadowbrook, St. Andrew, on Sunday afternoon.
It was the first leg of a two-concert season under the baton of a relatively new conductor, Michael Sutherland.
The Gleaner joined the small audience scattered among the pews and facing the double stained glass depiction of a dark-hued Jesus, when the choir was into the North American Spirituals segment, ending Done Made My Vow en masse.
With the women flanking the fewer men and all in lockstep to piano accompaniment, the choir moved into a somewhat stately Deep River, before upping the tempo with The Battle of Jericho. With many shoulders bouncing, the choir members climaxed into a controlled "shout!" as required, the men intoning "and the walls came tumbling down".
They held a long 'tumbling down' to bring up the break, filing in to resume without fanfare, variations of pace preceding an ending refrain of "never let me be confused", delivered in various voices and styles before a slow end.
Different styles were also employed to end the Mozart quintet of Dixit (Psalm 110), Confitebor (Psalm 111), Beatus Vir (Psalm 112), Laudate Pueri (Psalm 113) and Laudate Dominum (Psalm 116), all of which ended with variations of the refrain 'Amen'.
SOLO WORK
And beginning with the second one, they featured the solo work of contralto Christine McDonald, Charles-Anthony Moore, baritone Vince Henry and mezzo-soprano Marilyn Brice-MacDonald, the order in which they sang on Beatus Vir. The men led off Laudate Pueri and Christine MacDonald's voice rang through Transfiguration as she started Laudate Dominum with an extended solo.
The soloists took a break for the next song and returned for the sung benediction The Lord Bless and Keep You, which should have been the closing song.
However, an encore was requested and the Diocesan Festival Choir consented, the natural evening light fading behind the pair of stained glass windows as they ended and exited to a standing ovation.
The season continues and concludes on Sunday at the University Chapel, University of the West Indies, Mona campus.
