Themes String Quartet
"I had just about given up on hearing anything musical while in SVG, when my hopes were renewed -- in the most unlikely place -- The Botanical Gardens. Brilliant arrangement of the national anthem by Ruth-Ann[Lewis]...I'd love to meet with the members,...although for me, a meeting is not a prerequisite to our making music. I know what I heard at the gardens. That's enough."--Frankie McIntosh. (Get current news on our performances and other exploits here)
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I am thrilled to tell you about the Themes String Quartet.
We are the first and only string quartet in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and we are comprised of locally based members. Currently we have 4 senior members: Caran Gordon, Shanis Cato, on violins, Samuel Toka, first violin , and me, Ruth-Ann Lewis, the director on cello. We look forward to adding new members to the Themes Chamber Strings every year. We launched our quartet in March of 2017, and immediately began and concluded our first tour of local churches from Mother's Day to Father's day and completed an October to November tour that year. We played at Kingstown Baptist, Faith Temple, the New International Church Arnos Vale, Glen Christian Church, Harvest Bible Chapel, Arnos Vale Methodist Church, Calliaqua Methodist Church, Kingstown Methodist Church, Anglican Church Sion Hill, and St. Mary's Catholic Church Kingstown. Our first tour was a great success and we were well received; especially, our exclusive arrangement of the Christian calypso Mighty Healer by Positive. We play classical, modern, popular, and other genres, and as a result we were pursued to perform on the Logos Hope Ship and did so November 2017. We opened for Fête de la Musique St. Vincent on the first day of Summer June 21 2018. We were invited to accompany the award winning Cantemus Ladies Choir under the baton of Mrs. Donna Clarke at the St. Vincent's Best of SVG Award Ceremony May 27 2018. We appeared on NBC Radio playing live on air in 2017, and we had an interview and a short performance appearances on SVGTV early 2018. We also did splash street performances in April 2018 at the Post Office, the Main Market, and Heritage Square. People were absolutely thrilled, including AMP: the Association of Music Professionals SVG, and Ms. Gloridene Hoyte, photographer and reporter for Searchlight--who just happened to be passing by, was happy to take a picture and interview for the midweek Searchlight newspaper as well as record a live video that featured the quartet on Searchlight's social media, to which the SVG diaspora went practically wild. (Get current news on our performances and other exploits here) As the director, I am really proud of the group. They are working at being professional and have been enjoying playing together. We have had distinguished acclaim: The Honorable Rene Baptiste,CMG, AClarb who declared to the entire congregation at the Anglican Church Sion Hill how happy and relieved it was to see this happen with young people who live and study in St. Vincent. Frankie McIntosh, the long time established and innovative musician/composer and arranger who has worked with the famous calypsonians the Mighty Sparrow and Alston Becket, stated ever so frankly: "I had just about given up on hearing anything musical while in SVG, when my hopes were renewed -- in the most unlikely place -- The Botanical Gardens. Brilliant arrangement of the national anthem by Ruth-Ann[Lewis]...I'd love to meet with the members,...although for me, a meeting is not a prerequisite to our making music. I know what I heard at the gardens. That's enough."--Frankie McIntosh. One of the goals is to have auditions for new string members every year so that we can start to build an orchestra in SVG. Once the string section is set and strong we can begin to include wind, percussion, brass, and ethnic instruments. The goal is to find an outlet for those who wish to seriously perform on their instruments. I have high hopes for the group. (if you wish to audition please click here for more information). This project started when the Governor General of St. Vincent, Sir Frederick Ballantyne, contacted me. He stated succinctly that he strongly believed in having an orchestra or string quartet started in SVG. "I have been informed that you have had quartets and string ensembles, would you start an orchestra?" I said yes. The Themes String Quartet is the precursor to a full orchestra in St. Vincent and already the quartet itself is a new and marvelous achievement. Many musicians in SVG would like to see this happen. So from here I have started to found, organize, teach, compose, arrange for, and direct the beginnings of an orchestra. We are still looking for sponsors and would love to see local string musicians in concert and collaborative orchestral concerts with musicians of other West Indian islands right here in SVG. From SVG and Barbados to Canada, there are wonderful people and musicians already willing to jump on board in building the musical experience in SVG. Working in ensemble builds musicianship, gives musicians team building skills, gives opportunities to interact with up and coming musicians, provides opportunities to perform and be known, develops a culture and love for rich and complex music, and gives a platform to begin a musical career. No matter what age, as long as a musician is dedicated and surrounded with support, they can achieve. Sincerely, Ms. Ruth-Ann Lewis, MMUS |