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The 2010 MUSON
Festival continued with the showcasing of a classical concert on
October 31 at the Agip Recital Hall of the MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos.
The concert, which was supported by the Consulate General of Italy,
began at 6pm.

This year’s MUSON
Festival is themed ‘Nigeria at 50’. Organisers said one of the
objectives of the festival is to promote inter-cultural relations with
other nationalities and this was exhibited at the concert as a decent
turnout of Nigerians and foreigners trooped in to see opera
performances in Italian, English, Yoruba and Igbo.

Billed to perform
were; Italian-born Anna Corvino, a Soprano, Maria Asseeva an excellent
Piano recitalist and accompanist, Joseph Oparamanuike also known as Mr.
Tenor and another Tenor, Guchi Egbunine. Both Corvino and Asseeva are
renowned international performers.

Asseeva, a resident
tutor at the MUSON Centre, has recorded a compact disc featuring works
of Frederic Chopin while Corvino has given concerts and performed as a
soloist at festivals in places like Rome, Naples and Israel.

Oparamanuike and
Egbunine have been trained by professionals and have also performed
locally and internationally. Oparamanuike is a voice teacher at the
MUSON School of music in addition to being a member of the MUSON choir.

Concerto

The stage was
draped in white, red, green and gold with a grand Piano at the centre.
The anchor walked in and introduced the Italian Consul to the audience.
Then the first performer and indeed the major performer in the concert,
Anna Corvino was introduced.

She sauntered in
dressed in a glittering black affair that was altogether melancholy and
stunning. Accompanied on the piano by Asseeva, Corvino’s performances
reflected emotion, along with gestures, and then that voice that
sometimes pierced and then soothed, even though we did not understand
what she was singing about.

Her only English
performance was done in the second act. This piece was ‘Memory ‘from
the popular Broadway musical ‘Cat’ Andrew Lloyd Webber; and it was not
too difficult to tell that this was a performance in English in spite
of Corvino’s Italian-accented voice.

Those unfamiliar
with opera but with a passable knowledge of what it is about, will
recognise some names like Frederic Chopin, Guiseppe Verdi, Wolfgang
Mozart and Charles Gounod. These are world famous composers who created
some of the pieces performed by Corvino and her fellow performers.

Corvino and Asseeva
ended the first act with Gounod’s ‘Je Veux Vivre’ From Romeo and
Juliette; but not before Asseeva rendered a solo recital on the piano.
The piece titled ‘Egun Variations’ by composer Ayo Bankole could also
be called ‘Romancing the Piano’. It revealed the performer’s bond with
the piano.

Diverse emotions
were on display here as she hit the notes, and then suspense as the
audience listened with bated breath for the conclusion. When it came
unexpectedly, they responded with resounding applause.

Oparamanuike and
Egbunine also gave brilliant performances and the audience responded to
them with cheers of approval and applause. It was not hard to see why.
Oparamanuike smartly dressed in a suit ensemble and a bow tie, gave a
rendition of Kenny Oretimehin’s ‘Omi’ (Water) in Yoruba. His rich and
steady tenor sang about the indispensability of water to human
existence.

Guchi Egbunine
whose performance was reserved for the second act, rendered an Igbo
piece by O’Ndubisi, ‘Anyi Ncha bu Ofunne’ – and the brief but melodious
‘La donna e Mobile’ from Guiseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto.

Integrating culture

Anna Corvino who
had changed into a black-grey strappy gown that set off the shimmer on
her skin, later came on stage on behalf of the Italian consul to give
the vote of thanks.

‘Sorry for my
English’, she said to the audience and then proceeded to read from the
sheet. ‘The essence of this concert is to impact the Italian culture to
music and to integrate different cultures together’, she read.

The trio then
performed a duet which was the last piece of the concert, another one
from Guiseppe Verdi titled ‘Libiam ne’ Lieti calici’. After which they
gave a toast and then invited the pianist, Maria Asseeva to the stage
for pictures and to bask in the audience’s applause.

As the programme
ended, guests trooped to the foyer of the Agip recital hall to mingle
and to get autographs or maybe a snapshot or two with the performers.
The performers made it easy for them by being accessible as they also
mingled with the guests and obliged every request. It was at this
moment that Next caught up with Joseph Oparamanuike.

When asked if he
had to learn Italian to be able to perform an Italian opera piece, he
replied to the affirmative saying, ‘Yes, I have a private tutor. It’s
important to get the proper pronunciation of the words and you cannot
achieve that if you do not learn the language.’

Oparamanuike graciously introduced Next to Kenny Oretimehin or S.K.
Ore; the composer of ‘Omi’, one of the pieces he performed. Oretimehin,
a composer with MUSON, says he writes and composes mostly indigenous
pieces especially in Yoruba. On the need to infuse more indigenous
content in the classical concert to attract a larger audience, he
promised that the Choral Concert coming up on November 7 would have
more local content.