10th July, 2023

PRESS RELEASE

Sunday 9th July 2023

The Antigua and Barbuda Youth Symphony Orchestra (ABYSO) is pleased to welcome a 23 strong delegation of musicians from one of its partner organizations, The Commonwealth Resounds (TCR), for its second visit to Antigua and Barbuda. The TCR will facilitate a series of workshops and performances from 8th to 19th July 2023. With a special focus on music education and composition, the TCR is an officially accredited Commonwealth musical organization with a mission to connect musical cultures and to promote initiatives and partnerships in Commonwealth countries.

The TCR first visited Antigua and Barbuda in 2019. Future trips were delayed until this year because of the pandemic. On their first visit, the TCR made a special visit to Barbuda and donated a consort of recorders to support music education on Barbuda. We are excited to share that the TCR delegation and 45 musicians from the ABYSO will again visit Barbuda on Sunday 16th July for the first ever ABYSO concert on the sister Island. The visit will also mark the official launch of the ABYSO’s expansion of its music programme to Barbuda.

The workshops will include a special focus on composition. These daily composition sessions will equip students and music educators with new skills on how to write their own music. The ABYSO is delighted to share this unique opportunity not only with all its members but also with music teachers and 5th form music students from a across Antigua and Barbuda in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Sports and the Creative Industries. Composition is a key part of the CSEC syllabus for music students. The workshops will cover composing for solo instrument, ensemble composition, film music and jazz composition.

Friends of the ABYSO can look forward to four amazing performances as part of this visit. The first concert will showcase the talent of the ABYSO Juniors and students from the ABYSO Potters Primary School programme on Tuesday 11th July at the Dean William Lake Cultural Centre at 6:30pm. The next two performances, called Summertime, will be on Saturday 15th July on the lawns of the Weatherills Estate at 6:30pm and then on Sunday 16th July for a historic first performance on Barbuda at the Fisheries Complex at 1:00pm. The final performance will be Go Compose Antigua!, an evening featuring the compositions of local musicians at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium on Monday 17th July from 7:00pm.

Alison Cox OBE, Founder and Musical Director of the TCR stated, Our musicians warmly welcome opportunities to collaborate with musical partners in the 56 member countries of The Commonwealth. We are especially excited to be returning after 3 years to Antigua and Barbuda, where we shall continue our ongoing mentoring partnership with ABYSO and run an innovative composition teaching programme for young people. Musical initiatives and developments in Antigua and Barbuda are unique in the Caribbean, and we are proud to be associated with them.

The ABYSO-TCR partnership will continue to engage in music practice and theory knowledge transfer to local tutors and musicians and support the development of young composers on Antigua and Barbuda. The TCR delegation will also have the opportunity to visit historical sites, will be guests of the Hellsgate Steel Orchestra and participate in a steelpan workshop while on Island.