Joy and fear from UWI Sinfonia

The 30-strong orchestra was directed by Sameer Alladin before a packed auditorium of enthusiastic concert-goers.

The sinfonia also played Symphonic Dances (Opus 64) by Edvard Grieg (1843 to 1907) and Farandole (from L’Arlesiene Suite No 2) by Georges Bizet (1838 to 1875).

The Department of Creative and Festival Arts (DFCA) head Jessel Murray told the audience that the sinfonia represents a summation of all the musical instruments of the department. The sinfonia is one of several performing groups at the DFCA including a steel orchestra, Indian classical, percussion, jazz and wind ensembles, even as he noted the DFCA was originally founded to support steelband.

Murray said the sinfonia is comprised of past and present students, members of the community and people wishing to perform music at the highest level. He said conductor Sameer Alladin has both a first-class bachelors degree in psychology and masters degree in music theory.

Alladin said any musical community needs three orchestras: youth, professional and community. The youth orchestra feeds the others, while the professional body gives guidance to the youth body, he explained.

In the performance of Night on Bald Mountain, the tale of a gathering of witches was portrayed the sinfonia’s violins edgily depicting the chill of fear, all underlined by the gravitas of the kettledrums and the scary punctuation of the trombone, truly a wild and scary night. However, relief came by the sounding of heroic horns and the flightiness of flutes both signalling a new dawn that sends the witches scampering.