Winston Ewart, conductor and founding member of The National Chorale of Jamaica, was pleased with the execution of Jamaican-Austrian Felsted Celebration Concert on Tuesday.

“Well, I thought it was a wonderful effort. Kudos to the people in Austria, and indeed Jamaica for making all this possible. It was a very dynamic event,” he told the Jamaica Observer shortly after the event.

The hybrid event — held at the Kingston Parish Church in downtown Kingston and live stream from Mariahilferkirche Graz in Austria — commemorated the 220th anniversary of the passing of Jamaican composer Samuel Felsted. It also signalled 60 years of diplomatic relations between Jamaica and Austria.

The local line-up included: The National Chorale of Jamaica featuring mezzo-soprano Christine MacDonald-Nevers, tenor John McFarlane, and accompanied by organist for Kingston Parish Church, Dwight McBean.

Peter Ashbourne and soprano Oscar Kremer also graced the stage.

Meanwhile, Austrian acts comprised of Franz Zebinger on organist, Kornelia Pilz on recorder, Alvis Reid (bass player), Luke Dixon (pianist) and Rosina Christina Moder on recorder.

Austrian acts performed virtually.

Ewart said guests were treated to what he described as a fresh sound, which enhanced the experience.

“We were experiencing for the first time new music; music that had never really had the public interest before or even not performed in public. So, this was something that was really unique about it. You know, you had music by Samuel Felsted, the organ pieces and the chorus by Jonah. Then, the other pieces were written by our own Peter Ashbourne. I dare say that some of the Ashbourne pieces were not performed nor heard in Jamaica before because we didn’t have the musical forces here to deal with it,” he added.

During his tenure as organist at St Andrew Parish Church, Samuel Felsted published his oratorio Jonah in 1775 in London, with illustrations by Benjamin West and Francesco Bartolozzi. His peers held him in high regard, as evidenced when 243 subscribers financed Jonah before its public release. The work was the first complete oratorio written in the Americas, and performed in Jamaica, New York, and Boston, including for George Washington’s 1789 inaugural tour in Boston.

For Ewart, the highlight of Tuesday’s “historic event” was the organ pieces by Franz Zebinger.

“The organ pieces, for me as a musician, were very interesting. People think that an organ is just an organ, but we must remember that this is a baroque organ, and it does not have as many stops as even say the Kingston Parish Church organ [in Austria] so that is making it unique. You could hear the sound, even though we weren’t listening live…the type of sound that you would get on a modern type organ is not available to that organ. At that time, the baroque organ was not even developed as it is now, and I think it is remarkable that you could hear what I call a period instrument,” he explained.

Ewart, who has been the conductor of the National Chorale since 1996, was equally delighted with its performance, particularly Oscar Kremer.

“I thought he is just unique. The purity, the quality of the sound that he produces. For instance, if you heard a soprano singing that — what he did, you would have a lot of vibrato in the voice and so to hear a pure voice, a treble voice, singing that without the vibrato, it says a lot,” he added.