Up Front
JOY comes and goes Local MusicGroups Support
The Jamaica Orchestra for Youth (JOY) werein Cayman from November 15 - 19, at the invitation of the GeorgeHicks High School Music Camp Committee. The visit was an extensionof the Summer Music Camp, which has been organised by the schoolfor the past four years.
The Camp draws in excess of 100 young people each summer to workfor a week with experienced visiting musicians. Accompanying theJOY orchestra was their musical director, Dr Olive Lewin, theeminent musicologist and musician whose new book has just beenpublished by the University of the West Indies.
Dr. Lewin is no stranger to these shores, as she has visited beforewith the orchestra and has been an adjudicator at the NationalChildren's Festival of the Arts. During their visit, JOY performedat West Bay Primary Schoo; St Ignatius School; at the South SoundCommunity Centre for invited guests from the Lighthouse School,Sunrise Centre and the Pines; and at the Harquail Theatre forstudents from schools across the island.
The culmination of the week's activities was a public concertat the Harquail Theatre on the evening of Saturday, November 18,when the orchestra was joined by soloist Phil Shapiro, principalclarinetist in the Miami Symphony Orchestra.
The National Youth Swing Band, Cayman Strings, and the NationalChoir, came together with the JOY orchestra to give a concertwith a little of something for everyone from folk songs to classicalto renditions of some Beatles classics.
Fred Hass, a visiting saxophonist who is on the island to runa series of jazz workshops, joined the Swing Band for their setand delighted the audience with a solo item. The Hallelujah Choruswas a fitting end to a sold-out concert and a busy schedule forour visiting musicians.
The Ministry of Culture, Department of Tourism and the CaymanNational Cultural Foundation made a substantial commitment toensure that the week's activities were both educational and enjoyableand that the arranged programme went smoothly.