"
A near three -hour fiesta of romance, bacchanal, mistaken identity, revenge, ole talk and reconciliation; sumptuous singing and costuming- which rarely flagged, maintaining farcical momentum and the requisite light touch of humour and subversive mockery till the finale.
A night at the operetta not only
BROUGHT
MAJOR TALENT
BACK HOME
and showed us all how good we can be, given dedication and discipline in addition to raw talent, but it reminded us of what we have here in the voices of all the principal singers, who deserve some of (Ronald) Samm's international opportunities."
Simon Lee, Guardian
Conductor June Nathaniel kept pianists and singers in sync throughout. Indeed, the Classical Music Development Foundation of Trinidad and Tobago is to be complimented on a truly excellent performance of this tuneful, lighthearted Strauss operetta. It was indeed and in fact a delight, a positive tonic to send the audience home humming the waltz tunes and smiling at the jokes and ridiculous situations in the piece.
“Die Fledermaus” proved that there is a
WEALTH OF
MUSICAL
TALENT
in TT, that good music isn’t dead or dying – perhaps thanks to the UTT music programme and without doubt due to the Classical Music Development Foundation of TT. We look forward to their next production.
Anne Hilton, Newsday
"
PICOPLAT
Music
Development
Foundation
Picoplat Music Development Foundation is a Non-Profit organization, incorporated under the Companies Act, 1995 of Trinidad & Tobago, with the stated mission of encouraging musical growth in our local artistes and create opportunities for Trinidadian audiences to experience the operatic artform.
In 2011 we founded the Young Artist Collective (YAC), a training initiative for classically oriented singers to explore the world of full length operatic performance, with vocal and acting training offered at no charge. This initiative has proven so successful that in the last five years we have produced six critically acclaimed operas.
In 2015 we held the first ever T&T Opera Festival at the Queens Hall, a grand celebration from June 19-28 featuring a fully costumed and staged production of Mozart's 'Cosi fan tutte', a recital featuring Trinidad's celebrated heldentenor Ronald Samm, our Third Annual Music Competition with a grand prize of TT$30,000, as well as Masterclasses with visiting musical professionals and a free Opera Outreach performance for schoolchildren.
T&T Opera Festival 2016 was held from July 1-10, with an all new production of Offenbach's most popular opera 'Tales of Hoffmann' along with the debut of a newly commissioned Caribbean songbook by UK based Trinidadian composer Dominique LeGendre 'Songs of the Islands', our Fourth Annual Music Competition and many Opera Outreach initiatives.
We headed into the brand new performance space at the Government Plaza in 2017 with a full length production of Mozart's "Magic Flute" from June 30-July 9, and reached out to young developing singers with our Singer Showcase Masterclass and Showcase.
We look forward to maintaining the high standard of musical production as we broaden the cultural landscape of Trinidad and Tobago.