ABRSM High Scorers honoured at Concert

A variation of classical and folk, opera, reggae and cabaret were showcased at the Peace Memorial Hall on Thursday, May 12, as the Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) held its first High Scorers concert in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.{{more}}

The concert was staged to honour the students who gained high scores at the ABRSM examinations this year. The event gave the students an opportunity to display their many abilities.

The students’ performance on the piano and violin were outstanding. Performances were done by Delight Olliverre, a Grade One piano student and the only student with a distinction pass for her examination. She performed Kummer Gedike.

Performances were also done by Justin Robinson, Kevin Wooding, She-lesse Stewart, Tessa John, Chelsea Haslem, Richard John, Deirai Myers, Shanea Solomon, Deveney Jeffrery, Iana Ferguson, Amber Augustus, Shanice Cato, Jessica Prescott, David Browne and Caran Gordon.

Guest artists included Cuban Pianist, Denny Robinson, who entertained the audience with an exciting salsa piece called “Son De La Lome” as well as a soft piece dubbed “No Existen Palabras”. Robinson also sang and played the familiar track “A Whole New World” from the soundtrack of the Disney movie Aladdin.

Violin students opened the ceremony with a rendition of the National Anthem. They also performed “Fanfare M Corrette” and “Wonderous Love” during the concert, while members of the Questelles Evangelical Church Choir engaged the audience with “How Great is Our God”.

The St.Mary’s Roman Catholic School added a touch of folk and reggae music to the evening as their cuarto group performed a local song “Obeah Man” and the Bob Marley hit “Three Little Birds”.

Guest Artist Victor Job Jr. also joined the evening’s line up performing “La fille aux Cheveaux de Lin” (Girl with the flaxen hair) by Claude Debussy and “Magnetic Rag” by Scott Joplin.

Hisoya Tominaga, another guest artist on the evening’s card, brought an element of opera as she sang “Italian opera” as well as “You Raise Me Up”.

John Barr added humour to the event, while Jon Donavan, of the Harlequin Performing Arts Academy, entertained guests with a few cabaret songs which had members of the audience amused.

The ABRSM students were also given certificates of participation and badges of merit.

The first ABRSM High Scorers concert was held in 1989 as a part of the ABRSM’s centenary celebration. Since then, thousands of students have had the opportunity to have taken part in at least one. The organization holds up to 60 concerts each year all over the world.

The ABRSM is the leading authority on musical assessment and asses over 600,000 people in over 90 countries worldwide.