French concert comes to St Lucia

For the first time in Saint Lucia, within the framework of La Fête de la Musique (World Music Day), a lyrical concert and chamber ensemble will be held on June 21 from 6 pm to 8 pm at the Cathedral in Castries.

Alliance Francaise in collaboration with the French Embassy, the Brazilian Embassy, and the School of Music of St Lucia is organizing a free concert open to members of the public, with the kind permission of the church.

Isabelle Sabrié a French soprano, Enrique Bravo a Chillan tenor from Brazil, Natalie McAllister a Georgian pianist from St Lucia, St Lucian violinist  Yannick James and members of the St Lucia School of Music will be performing at the prestigious event which is designed to celebrate the links between Brazil, France and St Lucia. This concert devoted to cultural diversity will focus especially on voices and will feature a classical Brazilian musical repertoire.

Launched in 1982 by the French Ministry for Culture, “La Fête de la Musique” is held in more than one hundred countries in Europe and over the world. It takes place annually on the 21st of June. The Music Day allows the expression of all styles of music in a cheerful atmosphere. It aims at a large audience, working to popularize musical practice for people of all ages, from various social backgrounds. It gives an opportunity to communicate and share a very special moment through music.

Over the years, the Festival has displayed its constant capacity to reinvent itself. Ingenious and vivacious, built on institutions yet choosing – like music itself – to live its life in the streets, the Festival is carried along by the people who bring it to life.

Isabelle Sabrie started with medieval and baroque music. She studied writing in musicology at the Sorbonne, and, as the president of the Music Center of Maghreb,
she was self-initiated into European music. She received a grant for an audio-visual production for her composition (electro-modal music) around the theme of slavery. She did an oratorio in memoriam on December 26, 2004, which was dedicated to the memory of the tsunami victims.

Born in Santiago, Chile, Enrique Bravo moved to Brazil in 1978. He began his musical studies with maestro Falleiros Roberval. In Manaus, Brazil where he has lived since 2000, he received guidance from maestro Michael Pronsky, and participated in almost every edition of Amazonas Opera Festival. As a tenor soloist, he has also developed symphonic repertoire and oratorio: Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, “Misa Criolla” by Ariel Ramirez and more.

Natalie McAllister-Chakhalashvili is a native of the Republic of Georgia former Soviet Union. An accomplished pianist, she possesses a wealth of experience as a music educator. In 1980, she passed three graduation exams as a solo pianist, chamber pianist and accompanist. She has worked extensively around the world including South Africa where, in 2010 she was invited as a guest teacher to share American, Georgian and Russian piano teaching methods. She currently heads the Department of Piano studies at the St Lucia School of Music.