Mozart resurrects at MUSON with Cosi Fan Tutti

A well decorated Christmas tree stood proudly by the corner, with fine ornaments and a star, as guests walked in, taking in the ambience and the festive mood that was in the air. While soft music wafted through strategically positioned speakers, some of the performers could be heard testing and adjusting their musical instruments in preparation for the night’s show.
It was the annual Christmas concert, put together by the prestigious MUSON School of Music and performed by the talented MTNF/MUSON Scholars Choir, under the tutelage of great music minds like Emeka Nwokedi, Tunde Sosan, Marion Akpata, Joseph Oparamanuike, just to mention a few.

For lovers of classical sounds and good music, the night promised to be fun and entertaining. The stage was set with Violins, Violoncellos, Cellos, the Grande Piano, Organ, Drums, Trumpets, Clarinets and Flutes, and then the lights dimmed just as the first act took the stage. It was a 16-man orchestra which showed its dexterity with stringed instruments as it opened the night with Brandenburg, Concerto No.3, I” Movement by J.S. Bach.
A second performance began immediately after the applause died, with the Tasty Tango, by David Burndrett.
Nella Fantasia (In my Fantasy) was a rendition done with such passion and grace that it brought goose bumps to the skin. The words
were by Chiara Ferrau, and music by Ennio Morricone. Nella Fantasia is a song portraying the fantasies and desires of the singer
in a world of harsh reality. The silkiness of the blend of Soprano and Alto voices was as smooth and comparable to a combination of
the voice of the great Marie Callas, the Queen of La Scala aka La Divina and Andrea Bocelli, an Italian tenor singer and song-writer with
poor eye-sight, popular for the classic Con tepartiro (Time to say goodbye).
Yesterday, a song composed and made popular by John Lennon and Paul McCartney of the Beatles fame, has been, as it is said in local
music parlance, remixed by several great singers including R n B group, Boys-ii-Men. The excitement was infectious as instrumentals
for Yesterday began to play because everyone easily recognised the song. The audience was swaying and nodding to the evergreen hit as
the scholars brought it again to life again.
What is a concert without a few duets and solo renditions, as well as instrumentals?
March “The Southerner” by Russel Allexander and Ofuobi by our very own Lt Cdr Anthony Chiafor (rtd), are compositions meant to relax
the body and soul after a hard day’s work. For lovers of jazz and soul, the eight-man band made up of trumpeters, saxophonists, flutists
and cellists, was just what the doctor ordered.
This was evidenced in the standing ovation they received after the number ended.
MUSON is not new to world class performance. The stage was set in 1989, when the MUSON School of Music was established,
under the directorship of Mr. James Adekunle.
The school then offered part-time basic courses and training in the theory and practice of music. It gave practical lessons in Voice, Piano, Organ, Double Bass, Recorder and Trumpet and also conducted practical examinations twice a year.
Given the success it recorded and the high standards it maintained, a full-time Diploma course was introduced in 2006 for students who desired to attain international standards on a major instrument or on voice, and exposed to the rudiments of music and instrument. In addition, students were taught history courses to make them well-rounded musicians.
In 2008, the school graduated its first batch of 21 music scholars, sponsored by the MTN Foundation. The Foundation, as part of its
Corporate Social Investment initiative, signed on to sponsor 220 students in a five-year programme to obtain the Diploma in Music from
the prestigious school. With the huge success of the first five years, the Foundation decided to extend its sponsorship for another five
years. In the concert organized by the school preceding the graduation day, it was obvious that the standard of the school can indeed be
compared to any in the world, especially given the array of its highly professional music staff.
Performances by the students showed the quality of training they had been exposed to: from the sopranos, tenor singers, pianists,
duets, violin quartet and choir, conducted by Emeka Nwokedi.
The highlight of the nights’ performances was a world-class rendition of the four scenes from Cosi Fan Tutti, an Italian Opera by Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart. A two act, four scene opera, Cosi Fan Tutti is a story set in Naples, during the 18th century, about two sisters, Dorabella and Fiordiligi whose soldier lovers, Ferrando and Guglielmo wanted to know if the women were really faithful and true to the love they professed. With the assistance of Don Alfonso, a cynical old man, who wanted to prove that it would take only a day to make the women forget their lovers when they were out of sight, they hatched a plan to test the women.
With their maid Despina as an accomplice, the two lovers returned disguised as Albanians and tried to win the hearts of the women. Broken
hearted though they were, they spurned the love advances of the Albanian gentlemen and chased them out of their home.
Sang in fast-paced Italian, the scenes were performed with such passion and spirit reminiscent of the first time it was performed in 1790 at the Burgthearter in Vienna, after it was composed by Mozart. Cosi Fan Tutti, translated literarily to mean ‘Thus do they all,’ has been performed live around the world, including the King’s Theatre in London, 1811 and the Metropolitan Opera in the USA, 1922.
After it was performed in the United States of America, it got so much acclaim that Cosi Fan Tutti had been watched over and over again by opera lovers. It has made its debut on Broadway and was recently made into a movie. It may seem like only professional opera singers can pull off the singing while demonstrating the scenes, but the MUSON scholars have proven that they can hold their own on any stage.
Ave Maria was composed by Jacques Arcadelt, a Netherlander in the 15th century. Though popular for composing secular music,
Ave Maria became a worship song in the orthodox Catholic Church and till date, it is still being sang in the church. During its rendition
by the scholars, it moved like waves up and crashed down ever so softly and gently, it drew tears from a few eyes. It was like the
young scholars had been replaced by angels and we were in the heavenly courts singing to the heavenly host.
The concert did not end without renditions of popular Christmas carols like Joy to the World, Go tell it on the mountain, O come Emmnanuel and the Igbo hymn, Kpakpando N’elu by Sam Ojukwu, hymns in which the audience sang ecstatically, Christmas was
finally here.
Speaking later, Dennis Okoro, director, MTN Foundation, commended the cast for the brilliant performance. He said that the MUSON
scholars were a source of joy and pride to the Foundation and like their predecessors, they would be assets to their immediate families, to MUSON and to the entire country.
“Now we can boast of our own Pavarotti, Andrea Bocelli and other home-grown professional opera singers that can hold their own in any part of the world,” Okoro said.
Since the inception of the MTN Foundation sponsored scheme in 2006, about 162 students have graduated from the programme and have
either proceeded for further studies or gone into full-time music.