Caribbean Beat — November/December 2018 (#154)

five years. Don’t quit yet. You have to put your all
into this.” And then the Scottish Opera happened,
the Salzburg Festival . . . And the BBC Proms came
because they saw a viral video of me on Facebook.
Those things that I did last year are meaningful
in a different way than people think. I was overwhelmed
and proud to be at the Salzburg Festival
and the BBC Proms. But it was only while I was
there and things were happening to me on a racial
level, a social level, that it became way more important
to be there. So when I look at those things, I
“I don’t want to be a
specialist in any one period
or composer — I want to
sing everything”
remember St John’s Road. And I remember my
grandfather always wanting to see me perform in
England, and he didn’t get the chance. There’s so
much strife and tribulation around people who are
otherwise discriminated against because of who
they are, what they love, what they look like, and
no one is really addressing those issues.
When the Chineke! Orchestra went up to perform
at the BBC Proms, we did not know each other.
I met that group two days prior. And when you got
into that room, you felt like you were home. This
whole thing took place in, like, seventy-two hours.
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