Georgina Wilcox

The Cayman Male Voice Choir was in top form last Sunday (6) at Elmslie Memorial Church when they presented their annual Christmas concert.

The main item was the Cantata “The Wonder of Christmas” that comprised well known Bible readings read most beautifully by Kenneth Melville, famous for his saw playing, and mostly familiar carols but arranged differently thus making them fresh. There were also plenty of fine solo performances and groups within the Cantata itself.

The first half of the concert included performances from McDorn Frederick on harmonica and the young (but now almost fully grown) Aiden Connolly who sang a beautiful song I was not familiar with “A Strange Way to Save the World”.

The “star” of that half had to be the stunning musical performance on keyboard by the talented Antonio Sanchez who even made the instrument sing with a voice – and I kid you not. He brought the “WOW” factor to the table after he had finished.

Of course Kenneth played his saw that to my ears wasn’t quite up to the standard he normally is able to obtain from this very strange “instrument”. He told me afterwards the extreme cold from the air-conditioning being turned way too low affected the resonance he could get from his bow sliding across the saw and affected the sound badly no matter how he bent the saw.

The choir received a standing and enthusiastic ovation from the audience that was well deserved and Master of Ceremonies John McMillan was quick to point out all the hours of practice that had gone into producing this one off performance.

I was disappointed for the choir in that the church was no where full when it should have been.

Most of you missed a real treat.

I hoped at least some of you listened to it courtesy of Radio Cayman. I know one person who did. They even phoned me to tell me so. And she thought it was wonderful.

Wonderful yes. The Wonders of Christmas never cease to amaze me.

The Choir Director was Ernest Bodden, accompanying the choir were pianist, Marjane Ebanks-Fellows, and organist, Denver Bloomfield.