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The Musical Society
of Nigeria (MUSON), in collaboration with the Consulate General of
Italy, staged a Christmas concert on December 5, 2010 at the Agip
Recital Hall of the MUSON Centre, Lagos.

The event was
tagged ‘Christmas Concert with the Italian Artistes of BelCanto
Ensemble’. BelCanto Ensemble is Italian for ‘a little group’. However,
it was not just an Italian affair as it also featured some of the
MUSON’s finest acts: Tenor, Joseph Oparamanuike, and Contralto, Fatima
Anyekema.

Soprano singer,
Rosaria Buscemi, was the lead performer while the BelCanto Ensemble, a
group of four men playing the piano, clarinet, violin, and horn played
some pieces. Alessandro Vuono was on the piano; Antonio Arcuri, the
Clarinet; Francesco Clemente played the Violin; while Massimo Celiberte
played the horn.

Oparamanuike is
well established at the MUSON as a tenor and is a member of the
organisation’s choir. Anyekema is also a rising act at the MUSON where
she studied music for two years on MTN scholarship.

First half

The ensemble began
the show with a performance that saw each instrument contributing its
own peculiar sound. They were later joined by the petite but buxom
Rosaria Buscemi, who had an energy and presence that belied her frame.

She performed with
humorous, bold, and brash gestures that elicited chuckles from the
audience. There were operatic pieces from Giacomo Puccini, who composed
the famous Madam Butterfly aria, Gioacchino Rossini and Nigerian
Kehinde Oretimehin, among others.

Anyekema and
Buscemi did a hilarious piece by Rossini titled ‘Humorous Duet For
Cats’, while Ayekema did a solo performance in contralto.
Oparamanuike’s solo act, another Puccini number, was short and
melancholy.

Buscemi engendered
the mood of Christmas in Adolphe Adam’s ‘Cantique de Noel’. She came
back on stage with Anyekema and Oparamanuike. All three were spotting
comic-looking Santa caps. They performed ‘Stille Nacht’ (‘Silent
Night’).

Second half

After a 15-minute
interval, the ensemble came back on stage. This time, they did a lively
tune which could cause even the most unenthusiastic watcher to tap a
foot. It reached a crescendo, then stopped abruptly.

The next piece was
somewhat experimental. They moved from fast to slow, then lively to
melancholy. It was like the highs and lows of life; the dramatic, the
sad, the angry, the cheerful, and then the skip in one’s walk. The
performance could be termed ‘The rhythm of life.

Oparamanuike and
Buscemi’s duet ‘O Soave Fanciulla’ by Puccini seemed like a
conversation between two lovers. The woman was coy and resisted the
man’s touch. Finally, they came together in an embrace.

Oparamanuike and
Anyekema did a beautiful duet of ‘Meri L’Omo Aguntan’, a Yoruba Opera
version of the nursery rhyme, ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ – a piece was
written by Oretimehin.

Buscemi became the
petulant little Miss in Leonard Bernstein’s ‘Glitter and be Gay’, which
ended the concert, although the three performers did one last piece as
a show of appreciation towards the audience.

The Italian
Consulate was gracious enough to make the show free and the turnout was
fair. There were secondary school students who had come in their school
bus accompanied by their teacher to see the concert. If they were
students of music, then the show would have been an eye-opener for
them.

In a conversation
with NEXT after the show, Anyekema talked about her passion for
singing. “I started singing as a child and I had been singing in
church, but I began pursuing singing professionally in 2004 when I came
to Lagos,” she disclosed.

She was discovered
by Emeka Nwokedi, one of MUSON’s finest music teachers, who had heard
her sing. She is a member of the MUSON choir. For Anyekema, who had
been a contralto for four years, this would be the first time she would
be performing with international acts.

“The contralto is just a little lower than the alto. It’s a chest range voice,” she explained.

About Oretimehin

Kehinde Oretimehin,
who composed the Yoruba Opera, revealed to NEXT that he has a lot of
works, both solo and orchestra types. He blamed lack of sponsorship for
his not having many of the pieces performed.

“The problem is
sponsors. You need to pay for the orchestra, the hall, and other
things,” he said. He further revealed that some of his pieces have been
taken abroad by some foreign performers who have taken interest in
them.

You hear the names of great composers whose eternal pieces are still
being performed all over the world today and you are in awe. So when we
find one of our own who is also doing a great job, he should be
appreciated. The MUSON is a storehouse of amazing talent and potential
that should not be ignored.