Strachan
The Sunday Gleaner will be publishing a series of articles on classically-trained youngsters in Jamaica. This week we kick things off with Ana Strachan, who has made a step towards a career in classical music.
Tanya Batson-Savage, Staff Reporter
ANA STRACHAN has one of those voices that is destined to resound in great halls and cathedrals. The 19-year-old is a student at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, St. Andrew in the Department of Literatures in English. However, what she hopes to do is take to the opera stage.
Last year Ana had one of the biggest coups in her career so far when she and her 12-year-old sister Samantha were named grand champions of the World Performing Arts Championships. Since then, the two have wowed Jamaican audiences with the rendition of Celine Dion and Barbara Streisand's Tell Him that brought them the win.
"We always thought we could win, but winning was so great," Ana says. Along with the boost in confidence, the US$5,000 cash prize helped, especially to pay off some of the expenses that the trip had incurred.
Ana speaks quite fondly of her younger sibling and says that she is destined to be a pop diva. "I'm all for it. She's incredible and I'm just waiting for the day when the rest of the world knows what we at home know," she says. "You can't help but to want the best for Sam."
Despite her current dreams of becoming a trained classical singer, Ana was reluctant to take the stage the first time. When she did so it was for a talent concert at her church, Grace Missionary, in 2001. For the concert she performed The Lord's Prayer.
"I was so terrified," she says of her first time on the stage. "I don't remember it clearly now, but I was so terrified. That was the worst thing that could happen to me and it turned out to be the best."
After her success at church Ana was allowed to take voice training. She started with Georgia Schliefer and then later also started training with Pauline Forrest-Watson. Her teachers have much to be proud of, as along with the performing arts championship, Ana has also won the 2002 Hal Jackson talented teens competition and earned a National Youth Award for excellence her work in the arts in 2003. Last year also brought Ana her first recital where she was accompanied by Paulette Bellamy, whom she considers an invaluable acquaintance.
Ana hopes to be accepted by an opera school, though she has not yet decided on which one. She notes that most of the schools she has researched prefer students 21 years and older. Until then, she bides her time at the university.
Academics do not absorb all her time at UWI, as Ana is now a member of the University Singers, participating in the group's 2004 concert season. Ana notes that the experience in the University Singers is helping to broaden her perspective, especially on dancehall music.
The University Singers perform a cross-section of genres, including popular music. Ana explained that before her work with University Singers she had not paid much attention to the genre. "I think it widens my whole perspective on dancehall," she says, "and dancehall has a lot of good messages." She points in particular to Sizzla's Simplicity, which had been arranged by Djenne Greaves for the concert season.
Even so, Ana has not been distracted from her dreams of the aria by dancehall's drum and bass. She explains that the her goal keeps her focused even when she gets very tired.
At normal times, she trains three times per week in two hour sessions. However, when training for a big event, the training sessions can be doubled. The main hurdle, however is not the stamina to undergo training, but to afford it. "It's extremely expensive and I know that it will get even more expensive," Ana says.
Ana has also had a taste of other aspects of the stage, having starred in The Jamaica Junior Theatre's Schehezerade's Tale (2002). Indeed, she notes that in preparation to take up any good offers that may come her way she is training in dance and acting, as well as voice.
Although she regrets not having started training younger, Ana says she does not think about it too much. She keeps her biggest fear (failure) at bay as well.
"We have put so much in already," she says. "This has become me and it would be devastating if I did not make it to a level where I am satisfied that I've done justice to this gift that I've waited so long to use."
