The Mar­i­onettes Chorale con­clud­ed their sea­son­al con­cert with an un­for­get­table se­ries of per­for­mances at Queen’s Hall’s Winifred Atwell Au­di­to­ri­um. For many, “Christ­mas be­gins with the Mar­i­onettes,” a sen­ti­ment that re­flects the deep con­nec­tion and en­dur­ing tra­di­tion the en­sem­ble holds with­in Trinidad and To­ba­go. Au­di­ences were treat­ed to a mas­ter­ful blend of mu­sic, sto­ry­telling and dance, cel­e­brat­ing an­oth­er mile­stone in the chorale’s 60-plus year lega­cy, show­cas­ing the depth of tal­ent with­in this icon­ic en­sem­ble.

One of the stand­out per­form­ers of the evening was Her­mi­na Charles, whose in­ter­pre­ta­tion of I Want Je­sus to Walk with Me was noth­ing short of tran­scen­dent. Her pro­found so­pra­no voice brought un­par­al­leled emo­tion­al depth to the tra­di­tion­al spir­i­tu­al, bal­anc­ing mo­ments of del­i­cate in­ti­ma­cy with soar­ing crescen­dos that filled the au­di­to­ri­um with raw, spir­i­tu­al en­er­gy. Every note car­ried the weight of heart­felt yearn­ing and qui­et strength, leav­ing the au­di­ence in rapt si­lence be­fore erupt­ing in­to thun­der­ous ap­plause.

Charles re­turned for the beloved Oh Holy Night, joined by the full chorale un­der Gret­ta Tay­lor’s di­rec­tion. The horns and drums in­tro­duc­tion set an an­tic­i­pa­to­ry tone and as Charles be­gan, her vel­vety tones cap­ti­vat­ed the au­di­ence once more. The chorale’s cli­mac­tic crescen­do in the cho­rus brought the per­for­mance to an elec­tri­fy­ing fin­ish.

One pa­tron, Joeanne Gar­cia, ex­pressed her ad­mi­ra­tion: “Wow, Per­fect! Not even a note out of tune!”

The Mar­i­onettes Youth Chorale in­ject­ed en­er­gy and charm with their cheeky per­for­mances of It’s the Hard Knock Life (An­nie) and Re­volt­ing Chil­dren (Matil­da), con­duct­ed by Joshua Joseph. Among the young per­form­ers, Amelia Em­manuel’s pres­ence lit up the stage with her bound­less en­er­gy and vi­brant spir­it.

The Ladies Choir’s live­ly ren­di­tion of Ba­by Born in Beth­le­hem added an ex­tra lay­er of fes­tiv­i­ty, beau­ti­ful­ly ac­com­pa­nied by dancers El­isha Efua Bar­tels, Bakitha John­ston and Louan­na Mar­tin. Their vi­brant move­ments com­ple­ment­ed the joy­ous har­monies, cre­at­ing a per­for­mance filled with light and warmth.

Jacque­line John­son’s con­tral­to ren­di­tion of With a Christ­mas Heart was both in­ti­mate and evoca­tive. Ac­com­pa­nied by Bakitha John­ston’s grace­ful danc­ing, the per­for­mance was el­e­vat­ed by a lush arrange­ment fea­tur­ing keys, pan, drums with sub­tle hints of chimes and flute. John­son’s rich, emo­tive voice wove seam­less­ly through the arrange­ment, adding lay­ers of depth to the song’s poignant mes­sage.

Dr Mae­gan Pol­lon­ais Mc­Grane’s breath­tak­ing per­for­mance of O Thou That Tellest Good Tid­ings to Zion from Han­del’s Mes­si­ah was an­oth­er stand­out. Her voice dis­played ex­tra­or­di­nary con­trol and skill, glid­ing ef­fort­less­ly through the in­tri­cate pas­sages of the piece. Her dy­nam­ic in­ter­pre­ta­tion and pre­ci­sion cap­tured the majesty of Han­del’s mas­ter­piece, leav­ing the au­di­ence awestruck.

The chorale’s rous­ing per­for­mance of Prayer of the Chil­dren stilled the au­di­ence, evok­ing deep emo­tion and re­flec­tion. Con­duct­ed by Tay­lor, the piece qui­et­ed the spir­it and drew mean­ing from every phrase, leav­ing the hall in rev­er­ent si­lence be­fore a wave of ap­plause swept through.

The joint choirs brought a spir­it­ed and dis­tinct­ly lo­cal flair to the penul­ti­mate per­for­mance of the night, de­liv­er­ing a med­ley of beloved Tri­ni Christ­mas songs: Christ­mas is Yours (Re­la­tor), Come Go (Baron) and Mer­ry Christ­mas (Scrunter). This live­ly set brought cheers from the au­di­ence, cel­e­brat­ing the fes­tive en­er­gy of the sea­son.

Adding to the charm of the mo­ment was Gret­ta Tay­lor’s gen­tle re­minder to the choir to “Smile” as she con­duct­ed. It was a sim­ple, yet heart­warm­ing touch that re­flect­ed the spir­it of the per­for­mance.

The out­ro, Hur­ray Hur­rah (Singing Francine), closed the med­ley on a ju­bi­lant note, en­cap­su­lat­ing the joy of a tru­ly Trin­ba­go Christ­mas.

At the close of Sun­day’s fi­nal per­for­mance, long­time pa­tron Hay­den Ed­wards summed up the au­di­ence’s sen­ti­ments: “I come every year and I en­joy it every year. This is how I start my Christ­mas.”

The Mar­i­onettes Chorale left the stage to re­sound­ing ap­plause, their joy­ful med­leys and heart-stir­ring so­los lin­ger­ing in the hearts of all who at­tend­ed. The en­sem­ble daz­zled with their im­pres­sive reper­toire, vi­brant cos­tumes and mag­net­ic pres­ence, leav­ing an in­deli­ble mark on every­one present.

As they con­clude an­oth­er Christ­mas con­cert se­ries, the Mar­i­onettes Chorale con­tin­ues to hold a spe­cial place in the hearts of their beloved fans. Un­der the guid­ing hand of Gret­ta Tay­lor, the Mar­i­onettes’ artistry, com­mit­ment and pas­sion con­tin­ue to make them an es­sen­tial part of our cul­tur­al land­scape – a tra­di­tion that grows rich­er with every per­for­mance.