Jeanine De Bique & Island Chamber Orchestra

Our featured artist Jeanine De Bique grew up in Trinidad and Tobago, where Bach and Handel were ever-present in Anglican church services. At the same time, she learned at school about the beauty of folk music traditions: Caribbean songs that capture everyday life and serve as a history in their own right. In an age of increasing individualization, the mezzo-soprano wishes to use her voice to preserve these ancestral stories, because they shape who we are today. “We must continue to recognize how closely our worlds are connected, even if they seem far apart,” says De Bique. A selection of some fifteen Caribbean folk songs is paired with a Baroque aria expressing the same emotion or evoking a similar character. The Island Chamber Orchestra accompanies De Bique.