The annual Bermuda Heritage concert, directed by Mrs. Marjorie Pettit, takes place on this weekend at St. John's Church in Pembroke. The main work will be Mozart's ‘Requiem in D minor', with Luann Wainwright (lyric soprano), Jane Farge (contralto), Dr. Gary Burgess (tenor) and Peter Nash (bass) as soloists.

Miss Wainwright began singing at a very early age and has studied extensively in the US. She completed her degree in Vocal Performance at Kean University, and has sung at the Kennedy Centre as well as touring with various groups in the US and Europe. Upon returning to Bermuda she studied with Mr. Daniel Hill in the early 1990s and is currently studying with Dr. Gary Burgess.

She has been a soloist with the Bermuda Philharmonic Society, the Bermuda Regiment Band, and also a featured artist for the Hamilton Seventh-Day Adventist Church and St. Paul's AME Church's annual Christmas concert. She is the artistic director for the a cappella sextet, Proclaim, and is a presenter on the Music, a Tool for Effective Praise and Worship.

Dr. Gary Burgess has enjoyed a highly successful career as a singer and musician for 40 years in most of the world's major opera houses. He was professor of voice and opera at the State University of New York at Buffalo for 23 years, and performed for many seasons with the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont.

He has taught master classes at the State Opera House in Prague and Sao Paulo, Brazil. Returning to Bermuda in 1998, he is currently programme coordinator at the Department of Cultural Affairs, and director of the Bermuda Philharmonic Society's orchestra and chorus. This year received the National Opera Association's Legacy Award for his contribution to music and opera.

Jane Farge studied at the Royal College of Music from the age of 13, where she won several prestigious prizes and also sang for The Queen. She holds the Associate of the Royal College of Music (ARCM) diploma, and also its Diploma for Performance. In Bermuda, she has performed with almost all of the Island's musical organisations, and was the soprano soloist in a 1998 Bermuda Festival performance. She has been studying with Dr. Burgess since 1999, and in 2001 gave a recital at City Hall. The following year she was guest soloist with the Westshore Symphony Orchestra in Pennsylvania, and also the Bermuda Philharmonic Society's Opera Gala.

Peter Nash has been a leading soloist with the Bermuda Philharmonic Society for many years and is well known here for his choral singing. He has been featured frequently as a soloist under Mrs. Pettit's baton in Heritage concerts as well as the Bermuda Festival. He is studying voice production with John York Skinner at the Bermuda School of Music.

Marjorie Pettit is a graduate of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Following her arrival here in 1966 she worked as a teacher at Prospect Primary and Saltus Junior School, and also as musical director of the Bermuda Musical & Dramatic Society and the Gilbert & Sullivan Society. Now teaching privately, she established the St. John's Youth Choir four years ago, in keeping with her passion of educating children.

The performance of the ‘Requiem' will be dedicated to the memory of former The Royal Gazette and Mid-Ocean News reporter, arts critic and author Patricia Calnan.

“Because of Patricia's great interest in the arts, and also because she was encouraging in my working with children, I wanted to dedicate this performance to her memory,” Mrs. Pettit says. “Anything to do with the children she supported. She commented with great intelligence on all performances, and was also a personal friend.

“Everyone misses her very much, and this was the least I felt I could do. Patricia loved the Mozart ‘Requiem'.”

The nearly 60-strong adult choir will be backed by more than 30 musicians, led by Kerry Haslam. The second half of the Heritage Concert will feature the 47-voice St. John's Youth Choir performing a mixed programme of works from various lands and including spirituals, folk songs, show tunes and popular music, as well as classical pieces.

Soloists in this section will be Madison Mello, Eileen Walsh, Vikki Colville, Francesca Dill, Laura Fasulo, and Kelsey Bacon.

Performances are on Saturday and Sunday, beginning at 7.30 p.m. Tickets students $15, others $25) are available from the Visitors' Service Bureau from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. until Friday, and thereafter at the door.

The concert is being jointly presented under the auspices of the Bermuda Arts Council and the Department of Cultural Affairs.