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Teatime at the Convent is the St. Joseph’s Convent Choir latest effort in raising funds for their upcoming trip to perform at Disney’s Epcot Centre. The event takes place on June 8 and 9 at the Abercrombie Tea House, Abercrombie Street, Port-of-Spain.

Choir director and operatic tenor John Thomas said while the choir has a history of travelling abroad for competitions, this will be one of the first times it will be travelling for performance and learning. “When I took up the position a year ago, the students asked me where I would be taking them because they travel all the time, and I said I didn’t want to duplicate what you’ve done before, so let’s go abroad but not compete and we’ll perform and do something they’ll learn from, like a workshop, which they said they hadn’t done before. I think it’s good for developing young minds.  Disney has a fantastic programme, they sent me the syllabus and we went through their 27 workshops and chose two that would be most beneficial to the choir. They’ll be doing musical theatre and they’ll be doing chorus work as well, understanding the choir, its function and structure, how different choirs manage their structure, that kind of thing. So I thought it would be a fantastic experience for them. The group will also be performing at two concerts being organised by Disney. To keep the choir attractive, travel is part of it and as well they get etiquette classes, protocol and makeup classes, so we do a lot of development training, it’s really about developing the girls and letting them understand what a full spectrum of showbiz is.”

Students Clarice Beeput and Gabrielle Pounder said being part of the choir is enlightening and gives them experience as to what goes on in show business. Pounder said “The workshops will be teaching you how to perform, so it’s like teaching choirs like Broadway and musicals, like having stage presence and it’s going to be enlightening for the choir, especially as we perform so frequently, so it’s supposed to help us develop and become better performers and will just amplify our presence.”

Beeput added, “We have shows and performances almost every weekend. There’s a lot of hustle and bustle that you wouldn’t expect to have going on in a school, but there is that aspect and it’s very exciting. We’ve been notorious for having no stage presence, we just stand on the stage, but now we’re adding a new element. The trip and the workshops are at Epcot Centre. The songs are from our repertoire, including some solo performances from Mr. Thomas, Chelsea Fenton and myself. Disney is putting on the show, which is a combination of different choirs and we’re the only school choir. There was a previous workshop for school choirs that we weren’t able to go to because of the time, so they’re making an exception for us. The songs are from our repertoire, including some solo performances from John, Chelsea Fenton and myself.”

Chef Christoff Bertrand of Chef Bertrand’s Catering Services said there will be four courses served during the event. “For the tea, the courses are very simple, effective, and classy. Going to offer a variety of textures, colours and shapes with some traditional Trinidadian dishes. We’ll be having a sandwich, savoury and pastry course, and our scones course with clotted cream and jam and butter and sour cream, and our third course is our dessert course so they’ll get something flaky, something sweet, something dry, something moist and it will be completed with champagne or sherry. It’s meaningful because I’m able to show off my abilities in a different way in this setting and I love the response. “

Thomas said entertainment will be provided by himself, the choir, Beeput, Chelsea Fenton on the cello, and “some SJC alumni from the operatic circle, so it’s a wonderful evening of fine dining and exquisite elegance. We’ll be having two seatings each day, one at 1 pm and the second at 4 pm. We also have a CD called Melange, which is on sale at the school for $100. If you purchase the CD with a ticket, you get a $20 discount, the tickets cost $200 for the tea and entertainment and the CD is $100 and they come together as a package for $280.”

Tickets can be obtained at the Abercrombie Tea House and at the St. Joseph’s Convent School office.