A desire to make every school in San Fernando better by making great students one at a time through the power of singing is the purpose behind Michele Dowrich's latest Christmas concert, The Christmas Things We Do, on Friday, December 23.
Proceeds from the show will finance Dowrich's dream to start a children's choir in the country's second city.
At the concert, Dowrich will lift her voice in song with Christmas classics everyone loves. Performing alongside her will be acclaimed jazz trumpeter Etienne Charles, fresh off his successful and sold out staging of the Caribbean premiere of the San Jose Suite album at Queen's Hall last month.
Also performing will be South's sexiest male voice Dexter Theophile, Violinist Anselm Walters, Avion Crooks, a storyteller MC, three time medium band champions Pan Elders and the SJC Voix Riches chorale, which is a collection of past students from St Joseph's Convent who won the best adult ensemble under 20 singers at Music Festival. Parang side Los Ruisenores will serenade patrons as they enter the venue.
So why does Michele Dowrich want to start a choir? She explained:
"Skills and nurturing in performing arts are best done in one's early years. While I am happy teaching at the secondary school level, I believe it is at the primary level that proper foundations are set.
"They form the basis for better to be done when children get older," she said.
"In San Fernando there are very few children's choirs outside the school system, and even in most of them, the learning isn't enough," says Dowrich, a music teacher for 31 years.
Dowrich is currently a music teacher at St Joseph's Convent, San Fernando. Under her guidance, juggling two SJC choirs simultaneously, Dowrich has guided her young charges to winning several trophies and cups at the Music Festival, Sanfest and other events.
As a music teacher at the San Fernando Girls' Anglican School, where she started her teaching career, Dowrich led her choirs to top spot in several competitions, among them the 1991 Sanfest where they won Best Classical Choir, Best Folk Coir, and Best All Round Primary School.
An accomplished musician with a certificate in music with distinction and Bachelors of Arts degree in Music from the University of the West Indies, Dowrich has been singing for over 30 years.
She was a championship winner at the Biennial Music Festival for Best Lady's Voice and Female Ensemble (duet) and a finalist in several categories including Operatic Aria, Mezzo Soprano, Contralto and Folk Song.
Tickets for The Christmas Things We Do" are $200 and are available at the St Paul's Church Office, Harris Promenade, San Fernando, or call 771-1587 or 710-9436.