Renée’s ‘Fusion’ with famed US pianist

Famous concert pianist and professor of music at the Howard University of Washington DC, Dr Raymond Jackson will be the guest performer at the concert titled "Fusion."

With ‘Fusion’ Ren?e celebrates the coming together of the talents of the US and TT: the concert pianist and the soprano; the youthful aspiring performer and the experienced mature artiste as well as the different genres of music.

Ren?e, who is back home until the end of January is embracing this opportunity to be a cultural ambassador, hence her invitation to Dr Jackson as she recognises the importance of nurturing international contacts and of creating a network overseas.

Dr Jackson, graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston Ma and from the Juillard School of Music in New York is her accompanist and guest performer. He is a gracious benefactor and mentor to young music enthusiasts and has expressed his great delight at being a part of Ren?e’s concert series, as she continues to mature and humbly strive for excellence.

Dr Jackson has mastered the keyboard and studies of the organ, along with the piano, helped inspire a major career as concert pianist and recording artist, scholar, researcher, teacher, and coach, church organist and choral conductor, lecturer, clinician and adjudicator.

Together, Ren?e and Raymond promise a wonderful evening of music featuring piano and voice and an opportunity to create once more that special magical bond with the audience.

The Marionettes Chorale will be guest performers at the show, as they continue their support of Ren?e, a past member of their chorale. The show starts promptly at 6 pm.

It is quite a feat for Ren?e that an artiste of Dr Jackson’s stature would agree to share a concert stage with a young aspirant in the music world. Dr Jackson, a winner of numerous awards for his performing talent, is the youngest and first African-American musician to be inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame.

"Fusion" will be the fourth in Ren?e’s concert series ‘Wheels of a Dream.’

In October 2003, with her debut solo recital, ‘Wheels of a Dream’, a three-night recital at the Venezuelan Embassy, Ren?e began her concert series. This was a huge success and tickets were sold out one month in advance of the shows. She was then able to attend auditions at the nine top USA music schools in 2004.

Ren?e was accepted into eight of the schools and given partial scholarships by four of these prestigious schools. In June 2004 she hosted the second in her concert series with a three-night recital entitled ‘Dreams Come True.’ It was her farewell to her fans and supporters who were sending her off with their blessings to pursue her dream.

In August 2005, Marina A Valere, Trinidad and Tobago’s ambassador in Washington DC, invited Ren?e to start the consulate’s week of celebrations for the 43rd anniversary of Independence with her first "solo" international concert ‘On Wings of Song,’ the third in her concert series. Ren?e presented a floral tribute at the end of her recital in Washington to the world-famous cultural icon Mattiewilda Dobbs, the first Black American to perform a lead role at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.

"This is ‘winter term," says Ren?e, "the time when we have to do a project in any part of the world, so I am taking this opportunity to do my project and ‘one-day’ concert, catch up on some good ‘Trini’ food and sunshine, and bond with my friends and family here in Trinidad."

She is pursuing a Bachelor of Music Degree at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio, her final choice of a college and has chosen as her major, ‘Performance,’ while her instrument is ‘Voice.’ Each year, both at the Conservatory and at venues at home and abroad, Ren?e will continue to create and accept opportunities for ‘Performance,’ as she follows her career path and presents her repertoire to audiences.

Ren?e has matured over the last two years, fine tuning her skills at the Conservatory. Last year she started performing in operas, while attending an ‘Oberlin in Italy’ extensive summer school programme in Europe at the Centro Studi Italiani in Urbania, Italy, and also last semester in Oberlin, Ohio.

Ren?e has been a cultural ambassador since age 15, winning an international scholarship and the 1999 Ms Hal Jackson Talented Teen International in the US. She hopes to inspire the youths to "dare to follow their dreams" as she is in fact doing with her concert series, ‘Wheels of a Dream.’

The concert series is her way of funding her career-oriented projects, in Europe and America.

Ren?e has been extremely grateful for the support she has received over the years. She thanks everyone who has contributed to her long list of benefactors, headed by the Minister of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs, Senator Joan Yuille-Williams, who will be patron of her concert once again. Thank you also goes out to the Prime Minister’s Sport and Culture Fund, the Republic Bank of Trinidad and Tobago and British Petroleum of Trinidad and Tobago LLC and many other corporate sponsors.