School of Music hosts ceremony

On Saturday, June 29 the St Lucia School of Music staged its End of Term Concert and Awards Ceremony. The event took place in the performance hall on the school grounds in Tapion, Castries. Hosted by student MC’s Lestan Celestin and Grace Ramjeawan, the concert was meant to showcase a cross section  of the activities of the school for the year and featured select performers within the 400-plus student body— six departments and seven island wide locations where the Institution currently operates.

A rich and diverse repertoire of student performances  included excerpts from “The Sound of Music” and “Fiddler on the Roof, performed by the Piano and Voice Department, “The Muppet Show Theme” and “Calypso Bay” performed by the Concert Band, “Esp a Ca i” performed by The Chamber Ensemble and “Nous Sortie en Bitacyon” performed by the Manmay La Di Wai Choir and Drum Ensemble.

A highlight of the evening was “Baccanal” (From Sampson and Delilah) performed by The St Lucia School of Music Symphony Orchestra with members of The Royal St Lucia Police Band and conducted by Milan Miskovich; one of two visiting musicians from Chicago.  The performance received a standing ovation.

The Honourable Charles Cadet, “Classical folk Music Laureate” and Saint Lucian icon was the evening’s guest of honour and joined others in expressing his delight at the quality of musical performances.

Other guests included Maria Fowell, Senior Manager, Marketing and Corporate communications at ECFH who presented full scholarships for the year 2013 to ten awardees under the ECFH Young Mentors Scholarship Programme.  This capacity building programme provides opportunities for talented students with leadership abilities to receive further training at the school to prepare them for active participation as young mentors within the school’s community outreach programmes.

The School also continued its tradition of creditable performance at the recently concluded ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) practical examinations with the achievement of a 100 percent pass rate for the year 2013. The Executive Director of the School Richard Payne presented thirty students with their certificates followed by five ABRSM Awards to the top performers within each department.

Next were six Departmental Awards which recognized the most outstanding student within each department including the most outstanding community outreach centre. The awards were presented by President of the Council of the School of Music Diane Raveneau.

The recipient of the highly coveted Student of the Year Award was Melody Fevriere.  Fevriere, a young ECFH scholarship mentor was presented with her award by Charles Cadet followed by a bouquet of flowers from the President of the School Council, Diane Raveneau.

St Lucian artist Jallim Eudovique was commissioned to design and sculpt the awe inspiring Student of the Year and Departmental Awards. This was made possible through the kind support of corporate donors and friends of the school.

Student of the Year at the School’s Awards was Melody Fevriere. In the Departmental Awards Milani Payne was awarded for Piano Studies, Jayashri Nataraj; String Studies, Dylan Thomas; Percussion Studies, Denny Boodha; Wind Studies, Anezia Jules; Voice Studies, and Vide Bouteille’s Manmay La Di Wai.

In the Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music practical examinations the highest scores went to: SLSM Overall Top Scorer Merissa Henry, Violin; Merissa Henry (Grade 2- Distinction), Piano; Milani Payne (Grade 2- Distinction), Wind; Kasey Auguste (Grade 1 – Merit) and Voice; Shan Lucien (Grade 5- Distinction).

Manmay La Di Wai Awards: Vieux Fort Centre;  Kasey Auguste, Gros Islet Centre; Naiyim Etienne, Marchand Centre; Kayne Edwin and Vide Bouteille Centre; Cheic Alphonse.