THE current pandemic continues to have a debilitating effect on the entertainment industry in Jamaica and renowned choral group, University Singers is not immune.

For the second year running, the choir, which is based at The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona campus, will not be able to present its annual concert season, which is traditionally staged in June.

Artistic director of University Singers, Franklin Halliburton shared that after a long, hard look at the situation it was cocluded that the season would not be possible.

“Our complement is scattered across the island and the region. As you are aware, the membership of the University Singers is comprised on past and present students at UWI, so with the university on lockdown and classes online, we are not able to meet and be together continuously for rehearsals. We also have to operate within the confines of the university, and there is a strict zero-assembly policy at the Philip Sherlock Centre, which is our home on the campus. So, all of these factors have crippled our life as we had come to know it,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

However, all is not lost for the strong fan base of the popular choir. Halliburton revealed that plans are being put in place at this time for a virtual concert series featuring recordings of performances from the most recent to the past.

“We are going through the material that we have to see what exactly we can present for our faithful audience. The thing is that, in this review process we are finding material which is visually stunning but the audio is warbled, or vice versa. We are also determining how many episodes and the duration. Ideally, we would like them to be one hour but we will have to see what we have. That will also determine how many performances will be in the series,” he said.

The series will be made available on the University Singers’ social media platforms, including Facebook and YouTube, in the lead-up to the Christmas season.

“We would love for it to start before the end of June but realistically, it is looking like July. The executive body and the music committee is currently bunkered down to arrive at the details. We hope that by Christmas the vaccination roll-out will be sufficiently advanced that we can record a full show, live, and present it relatively safely, both on TV and on social media,” he added.

Halliburton further said this period has also given the choir time to improve and streamline its operations.

The choir recently received a grant totalling $2 million from the CHASE (Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education) Fund which is being invested in the administrative side of the University Singers.

“We are using this time to get our operations in order so that we can function more efficiently, and the recent endowment from the CHASE Fund has really come in handy. Among the things we are investing in is audio equipment, including speakers and amplifiers. We are also bolstering the administrative side of the choir and looking into data storage and archiving. All of this is being done so we can be prepared for when we can all meet again, face to face,” he added.