Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 22/Jul 04:20

Classical singer Clarice Beeput entertains with classics, hymns

A chance hearing of Italian composer Giacomo Puccini’s soprano aria O Mio Babbino Caro (Oh, My Dear Papa) led singer Clarice Beeput down a classical path. Many achievements later, Beeput will host An Evening of Sacred Classics, Hymns and Spirituals at the Church of Scotland, corner Oxford and Charlotte Streets, Port of Spain, on July 27. While one of her aims is to raise funds to continue her undergraduate studies at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, she also hopes it helps show more people the beauty of the classics. [caption id="attachment_1097654" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Clarice Beeput has won various categories at the biennial Music Festival in 2018, 2020 and 2022.-[/caption] In a phone interview with Newsday, Beeput said she gave her first recitals in 2019 and 2023. The first was to raise funds for her alma mater, St Joseph’s Convent, Port of Spain, and the other to raise funds for her studies. The 22-year-old has just completed her first year at university. She expects to finish her degree in May 2027 and hopes to complete graduate studies in voice in 2029. She has been singing since she was seven. She started after hearing a schoolmate sing Beyonce’s 2008 song Halo, and wanted to do that too. At the time she was attending Blackman’s Private School, Maraval, and the school would host "talent time" on Fridays. “I had some dance moves up my alley that I thought about too. Then my principal, Mrs Blackman, came to school that day and she happened to hear me singing and asked, ‘Who’s that?’And then she said, ‘You can sing.’ "I kept singing as a side thing, but it kind of really hit when I started to sing classical repertoire,” Beeput said. She was unsure what she wanted to make her life’s work, and would sing popular songs like We Are the World and Halo. [caption id="attachment_1097655" align="alignnone" width="689"] Clarice Beeput is raising funds to continue her undergraduate studies at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. -[/caption] However, hearing Puccini’s soprano aria turned Beeput on to the classics. She heard it on the hit British sitcom Mr Bean and thought, “I used to say I was allergic to opera, but this is really good. I want to learn this.’ “Then I learned it, I sang it, it felt wonderful and that is when it started to occur to me, ‘Maybe this is what I want to do.’” Initially, while studying sciences at school, she considered being an orthodontist or a doctor. But music was becoming a growing part of her life. She defied both her parents and school to sit the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) in music and placed first in the region in 2019. She has a growing body of accolades such as winning the biennial Music Festival in 2018, 2020 and 2022 in various categories; the intermediate opera aria category at the 2018 American Protégé International Vocal Competition and the 2017 scholarship Competition of Talented Teenagers. [caption id="attachment_1097656" align="alignnone" width="1009"] Clarice Beeput -[/caption] Beeput has been receiving classical training for the past seven years and has performed in multiple languages, including English, Latin, Italian, French, Spanish, German and Czech.At the July 27 show, she wants to raise $40,000 and fulfil her promise to do something yearly to help herself and her family. The event is being produced by the John Thomas-led Liberty Chorale, which will feature heavily in it. It is not the first Evening of Sacred Classic Hymns and Spirituals: the series began in 2020/2021, she said, and usually took place at Easter. “It was initially something John (Thomas) would produce and we would have a group of singers who are classically trained come together and sing various hymns etc.” The chorale – composed of about 20 singers – will perform Italian composer Lucio Vivaldi’s Gloria. “It made a lot of sense to put together my love of sacred music with the Vivaldi’s Gloria and spirituals as well.” Beeput wants to introduce more Trinidadians to classical music through her work. “I always come across a lot of people who say they did not know there were classical singers in the country. But the country is so versatile and everybody has something to offer, there is something to get out of everything." Some people are averse to classical music, but the genre has a lot more depth than people realise, she added. “All over the world there are people who are like, ‘Classical music is dead. It is old music. Move on.’ But you have to appreciate everything that there is and classical music is so beautiful… “I am saying all of that to say I want to introduce more people to classical music so they could see what I see and appreciate it the way that I do, hopefully.” Asked if there were opportunities for hybridisation with Trinidad and Tobago’s local forms and classical music, Beeput said she already heard things like that happening in local spaces like Dimanche Gras. She also does her own, as she plays the African djembe drum and sings classical songs. Her ultimate objective is to uplift her audience, to make the people around her feel happier and make people want to go on and enjoy life. She wants to master her own craft and be the best singer she could be.   The post Classical singer Clarice Beeput entertains with classics, hymns appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.