Mezzo soprano Danielle Brown is steadily positioning herself to be one of the leading voices in classical music here in Jamaica.

The student at Northern Caribbean University pleased her virtual audience last Tuesday as she delivered her senior recital, in partial fulfilment of her course of study towards a Bachelor of Music in Music Education which she is pursuing at the Manchester-based institution.

No stranger to the classical music audience as she is a featured soloist with the Jamaica Youth Chorale as well as the Jamaica Choral Scholars, Brown’s programme featured some impressive works and highlighted her growth and development since her junior recital back in January of 2019.

For openers she chose Laudamus te from Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor. Her smooth, rich tones caressed the work and brought it to life. The same can be said for Die nacht and Allerseelen, the two movements from Richard Strauss’s Gedichte aus letzte blätter.

Brown’s selections then moved to the work of Gioacchino Rossini, where she performed a cycle of three movements from La regatta veneziana. Anzoleta Avanti la regata, Anzoleta co passa la regata and Anzoleta dopa la regae were each handled professionally. Despite the language barrier, the meanings behind the works were clearly articulated and communicated by Brown, powerful yet controlled.

The mood switched to solemn and sombre as she drew from the Baroque period with Henry Purcell’s When I am laid in Earth. Here again Brown’s interpretation was of such that she drew in her audience for this lament.

Two popular American spirituals would showcase her versatility: He Never Said a Mumbalin Word and the popular He’s Got The Whole World, as arranged by Moses Hogan.

Brown would round out her recital with the aria Sequidilla from Georges Bizet’s renowned work Carmen.

Brown is clearly one to watch for the future. Her amazing talent should serve her well, whether she chooses performance or education, her audiences are in for a treat in the years to come.

Tuesday’s recital was made even more enjoyable thanks to the agile fingers of pianist Stephen Shaw-Naar, who accompanied Brown.