THIS evening’s final concert in the Orrett Rhoden International Music Festival series will be an emotional one for its headliner and conceptualiser.

Missing from the audience at the University Chapel in St Andrew will be Rhoden’s greatest fan, confidante, and first musical tutor: his mother.

Norma Lindo-Levy-Rhoden died at her home on Friday from a rare blood disorder. She was 76.

“She never missed any of my concerts,” Rhoden, 52, told the Sunday Observer. “Sunday’s concert will be special, as it will be a celebration of her life.”

The four-concert series, entitled “Come Bach to Jamaica”, is billed as a “one-of-a-kind music festival”.

The series — which started at the University Chapel on November 24 and had two lunch-hour concerts at the Mountambrin Theatre Gallery in Westmoreland — boasts both international and local artistes.

They include: Louis Orphanos, Greek-American pianist; Swedish pianist Oskar Ekberg; Canadian violinist Preston Hawes; American trio Deoro; and the Third World band’s guitarist Stephen ‘Cat’ Coore.

“It’ll be an avant-garde programme. We’re bridging the different genres. It’s revolutionary. I’m also accompanying my brother [tenor] Marcel Rhoden on the grand piano with a new wave of music called classi-reggae. It’s a fabulous idea and concept,” he said.

“It’s a higher form of reggae with an aesthetic ambition for excellence … it is uncompromising.”

According to Rhoden, the merging of genres is a way of introducing classical music to a wider audience.

“It is not readily accessible to the masses. So by merging it, we hope they will tap in, tune in and appreciate,” he said.

The musician commended the Jamaica Tourist Board for coming on board. With their assistance, the previous concerts were streamed to Turkey, Russia, England and the United States.

Rhoden hopes the festival will attract tourists to Jamaica.

“We intend to use the festival and build a new destination for tourists who like reggae and other forms of music,” he said.

Rhoden has expressed concern about the lack of support for classical music in Jamaica. In October, he was awarded the Order of Distinction (commander class) for his contribution to the development of classical music in Jamaica.

A past student of Calabar High School, Rhoden has six albums to his name. They include Orrett Rhoden Plays Brahms and Chopin and Orrett Rhoden Performs.