November 17
Sunday Guardian WOW Magazine
October 24
Great start to rehearsals for the World Premiere of Jab Molassie
Rehearsals for the World Premiere of Jab Molassie got underway at the National Academy for the Performing Arts in Port of Spain, Trinidad earlier this week. Dominique Le Gendre - Composer (TT) Patricia Cumper - Director (Jamaica) and Ian Shaw - Musical Director (UK) arrived from their London base to join the rest of the Creative Team of Caitlyn Kamminga - Librettist, Dave Williams - Movement Director, Kathryn Chan - Set & Costume Designer, and Benny Gomes - Lighting Designer.
The World Premiere takes place at the Little Carib Theatre, Port of Spain, from November 6-9, 2014.
The World Premiere takes place at the Little Carib Theatre, Port of Spain, from November 6-9, 2014.
Photos by Maria Nunes
June 17, 2013
Jab Molassie storms town
Feature by Simon Lee in Trinidad Guardian
Read full article here
June 8, 2013
Second workshop of Jab Molassie impresses guest audience
The second workshop of Jab Molassie took place in Trinidad from May 27 to June 8, 2013. After two weeks of intense work a performance was staged at the Little Carib theatre for an audience of 200 invited guests.
Click on the image above to be directed to an album of images from the performance.
Click on the image above to be directed to an album of images from the performance.
Roger Roberts and Natalia Dopwell led an all star cast for Jab Molassie workshop
June 5, 2013
Etienne Charles and Ismail Lumanovski among musicians for Jab Molassie workshop
Internationally acclaimed jazz trumpeter Etienne Charles was part of the 9 musician band for the second workshop of Jab Molassie. Along with Charles, renowned Macedonian clarinetist Ismail Lumanovski and top steel pannist Mia Gormandy came to Trinidad from their bases in the United States specially to participate in the workshop. They joined UTT faculty musicians Jonathan Storer-violin, Anthony Woodroffe-saxophone, Aidan Chamberlain-trombone, Brian Kushmaul-percussion, Deborah Moore Kushmaul-percussion and librettist Caitlyn Kamminga-double bass.
February 22, 2013
Le Gendre features Jab Molassie in presentation at International Symposim
Composer of Jab Molassie, Dominique Le Gendre, is one of the featured presenters at the Festival of Afro Caribbean Composers currently underway in Nassau, Bahamas. This groundbreaking festival, hosted by the College of the Bahamas and the Nassau Music Society, features a series of five concerts by New York based chamber orchestra Ensemble du Monde and included an international symposium entitled Caribbean Art Music: An Unexplored Tradition.
Le Gendre was one of the guest speakers at the symposium in the segment "Perspectives On Composers And Performers Of African Descent In Classical Music" during which she featured her work on Jab Molassie as part of her presentation.
A major focus throughout the February 20-24 Festival is the music of the legendary "Black Mozart" from Guadeloupe, Le Chevalier de Saint-George. (Read more about Saint-George here)
Of note is that Le Gendre was commissioned by Ensemble du Monde to write a new work specially for the Festival. It's a string quartet entitled "Le Génie Humain", which will be premiered along with a new version of her "Riff for Strings and Percussion" at a gala concert on February 23 to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Bahamas Independence. The programme includes works of Le Chevalier de Saint-George, William Grant Still, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Charles Adderley. There will be a special pre-concert presentation by Le Gendre entitled: “Exploring Composers of Caribbean & African Ancestry”.
Full details of the Festival can be found here
Le Gendre was one of the guest speakers at the symposium in the segment "Perspectives On Composers And Performers Of African Descent In Classical Music" during which she featured her work on Jab Molassie as part of her presentation.
A major focus throughout the February 20-24 Festival is the music of the legendary "Black Mozart" from Guadeloupe, Le Chevalier de Saint-George. (Read more about Saint-George here)
Of note is that Le Gendre was commissioned by Ensemble du Monde to write a new work specially for the Festival. It's a string quartet entitled "Le Génie Humain", which will be premiered along with a new version of her "Riff for Strings and Percussion" at a gala concert on February 23 to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Bahamas Independence. The programme includes works of Le Chevalier de Saint-George, William Grant Still, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Charles Adderley. There will be a special pre-concert presentation by Le Gendre entitled: “Exploring Composers of Caribbean & African Ancestry”.
Full details of the Festival can be found here
February 20, 2013
Trinidad Guardian in-depth feature on Dominique Le Gendre
Read full article by Simon Lee here
Sunday Guardian, January 27, 2013
Read the full article here
Sunday Express, January 13, 2013
Read the full article here
Jab Molassie first workshop gets underway
Port of Spain, Trinidad, 2013-01-14: The images below show Dominique Le Gendre and Caitlyn Kamninga in the first workshop session at UTT with vocal performers Muhammad Muwakil - Starboy, Natalia Dopwell - Jab Molassie, Rhian Guerrero - Jab Molassie, Kendel Haynes - Corporal and Germaine Wilson - Corporal. The repetiteur for the workshop is Enrique Ali.
The script for Jab Molassie was written by Caitlyn Kamminga, Section Leader, Double Bass, UTT. Under the patronage of First Citizens Bank Dominique Le Gendre has been commissioned by Calabash Foundation for the Arts to set the script to music. The workshop of Act 1 has been made possible through the generous support of the Neal and Massy Foundation.