Classical Best of Youth Concert
(Barbados National Youth Symphony Orchestra Director Joy Knight, GCM)
The Classical Best of Youth annual concert represents a decade long collaboration between the Rotary Club of Barbados South and the Barbados National Youth Symphony Orchestra (BNYSO). The concert series has afforded a generation of talented young musicians and vocalists an opportunity to showcase their musical gifts in a concert hall setting and has enhanced the public's appreciation of classical music. In the process we have raised significant sums of money in support of charitable causes, and made an annual contribution to the summer workshops of the BNYSO that are vital to the development of musicians from ages as young as 4 years old.
(Barbados National Youth Symphony Orchestra in concert at Frank Collymore Hall, Barbados)
(The Classical Best of Youth: 8 years of artwork by Blueprint Creative Inc.)
History
In an attempt to broaden the appeal of classical music in Barbados, annual themes and unique titles were conceptualized along with creative artwork from a perennial sponsor, Blueprint Creative Inc..
However, the first concert in December 2011 was simply titled The Classical Best of Youth and was inspired by a desire to have two examples of excellence in youth, the BNYSO and the St. Leonards’ Boys’ Choir perform on a concert hall stage together for the first time. It was fitting that the cause for their coming together was itself a youth-related charity, the Inclusive Play project.
Thereafter, though the Boys’ Choir made subsequent guest appearances, the concert was anchored by the BNYSO, led by their stellar director, Joy Knight, GCM.
In year two, The Classical Best of Youth (“CBOY”) II was titled The Gift of Alanna and featured a then five-year-old prodigy, Alanna Crouch, daughter of a former BNYSO member. CBOY IV saw the return of Alanna, now seven, to share the stage with gifted soprano, Amanda Fields for the Magnificent Seven concert, with the feature orchestral performance being the theme song from the famous western film of the same name. CBOY V celebrated the five-year milestone of the series with headlining performances of the renowned World Doctors’ Orchestra and acclaimed Trinidadian soprano, Jeanine De Bique. The event was co-sponsored by the National Cultural Foundation.
After a one-year hiatus the concert returned for its sixth installment titled Pan & A Minor, showcasing the integration of classical music with calypso and the steelpan, with the signature performance being a Roger Gittens’ arranged rendition of Lord Kitchener’s Pan in A Minor. The concert marked its and the Orchestra’s maturity with CBOY VIII titled, Caribbean Seasoning, as it introduced an even more generous dose of Caribbean music arranged specially for symphony orchestra by the acclaimed Roger Gittens, among others.
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We Persevere
The COVID 19 pandemic caused a temporary cessation of the concert series with the 2020 and 2021 events having to be deferred. However, the impact of the concert survived as the BNYSO continued to hold its workshops and rehearsals for young musicians, albeit online, and the charitable causes funded by the event reaped the benefits.