Tomorrow, Sunday, June 9, 2024, at 9:00 pm, Public Broadcasting Corporation of Jamaica (PBCJ) Television will launch the concert video Jamaican Composers Salute Ludwig van Beethoven — another culturally eye-opening documentary produced by the Music Unites Jamaica Foundation (MUJF).

The concert video presentation was created based on the originally held MUJF December 2020 virtual concert in honour of Beethoven’s 250th anniversary, which was a worldwide celebration.

Due to complications with the live recording and a desire to showcase and properly document Jamaican composers and musical heritage it was redone.

The MUJF team, though faced with multiple challenges, both logistic and financial, was determined to complete the video presentation in honour of the diverse and vibrant music of Jamaica and its talented composers.

This nonprofit organisation is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2024, and this video launch will be the first celebratory event offered to the public.

The Music Unites team, led by Austrian-born musician Rosina Christina Moder and Jamaican singer/songwriter Janine “Jkuhl” Coombs, aims to showcase to Jamaica and the world the great musical value of works created by composers from this island, which is globally recognised as the Reggae Nation.

While Jamaican audiences are already familiar with works by Jamaican composers residing on the island, such as those featured in recent concerts by the Philharmonic Orchestra of Jamaica, MUJF focused this video on exposing world-renowned Jamaican composers residing overseas. Among them are works by Eleanor Alberga, who resides in the UK; Sharon Calcraft, who resides in Australia; composer and conductor Ted Runcie, who lives between Taiwan and Canada; outstanding pianist and composer Dr Paul Shaw, residing in the USA; and composers Andrew Marshall and Michael Sean Harris who also reside in the USA.

This concert offers a deeply moving and entertaining mixture of works. It includes Aquifer, a mesmerising piece for electro-acoustic harp by Sharon Calcraft; an avant-garde string quartet by Eleanor Alberga that challenges and delights the senses; a heartfelt performance by Michael Sean Harris, accompanied by the dancer Neila Ebanks, interpreting his work Dis Long Time Gyal, based on the poignant Jamaican folk song. Paul Shaw pays heartfelt tribute to Jamaican folk music with his soulful piano piece based on the song Come Back Liza. Ted Runcie’s Winter Evening features a rare and evocative combination of a duo for cello and tuba, transporting the listener to a serene landscape.

The finale, We Are One, from Andrew Marshall’s Chamber Opera Hard Talk, performed by the Jamaica Choral Scholars, resonates deeply with its universal yearning for unity and peace, now timelier than ever. Peter Ashbourne’s piano composition Colon Man at Linstead Market is premièred by Stephen Shaw-Naar, and violinist Steven Woodham passionately performs Ashbourne’s Variations on the Jamaican love song Fi Mi Love Have Lion Heart at Hope Botanical Gardens. His soprano composition based on this folk song closes the concert, beautifully sung by Carline Waugh, leaving a lasting nostalgic emotional impact.

Finally, this production includes two short piano pieces by the great German composer Ludwig van Beethoven. His famous Bagatelle Für Elise, which is delicately performed by Angela Elliott’s student Alain Barrant at the elegant Ballroom at King’s House, and child prodigy Kaleb Young, who opens the video with a heart-warming segment of the Moonlight Sonata at the picturesque Round Hill Hotel in Montego Bay, St James.

This project was made possible with the generous assistance of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Kingston; the Jamaica National Foundation (JN); Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport; Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Eduction (CHASE) Fund; Bridget Sandals, JMMB Joan Duncan Foundation, Round Hill Hotel, Austrojam, S Hotel Jamaica Montego Bay, Couples Resort Jamaica, UNESCO Creative City of Music Kingston, GEON Group of Companies, Public Broadcasting Corporation of Jamaica, Jamrock-Jingles, Rising Sun Plant Nursery, TTN Media Services, Whatz Up NY, Filmaica, Hope Gardens, King’s House Jamaica, Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts; The ASHE Company; Jacobs Agro LLC in Seattle, Washington;, and Form and Motive.