The Tribune

The Bahamas National Youth Choir has announced Garrad Rigby as its guest artist for the 2014 concert season.

Mr Rigby, the choir said, is a walking example of “unlimited potential” coupled with unwavering desire to achieve perfection. He has been singing for family and friends before he was able to speak full sentences. He sang his first public solo at the age of three, and ever since, he has been on a journey to fulfill his purpose and make an impact through music as a performer, conductor and educator.

Currently, Mr Rigby is employed with the Ministry of Education as a trained music teacher where he is posted at the H O Nash Junior High School.

He began his formal musical training in 1998 at the Northern Caribbean University in Mandeville, Jamaica.

It was there that his need for musical knowledge was first met as he enrolled in the vocal studies programme that was being offered at that time. While there, Mr Rigby began to study the art of singing and began to learn how to produce sound by employing a classical technique. At Northern Caribbean University, he became a stand-out vocalist and made a name for himself both as a soloist and as a music student.

In the fall of 2000, Mr Rigby entered the vocal performance and pedagogy programme in the School of Music at Oakwood University located in Huntsville, Alabama.

It was at Oakwood that Mr Rigby said he caught a glimpse of his greatness, the vastness of his potential, as he was greeted with all of the necessary elements to mold and shape him into the musician he wanted to become. While at Oakwood, he began to learn the bel canto style of singing which he began to perfect under the watchful eyes of professors who had given performances on some of the biggest stages in some of the most fabled cities around the world.

While at Oakwood, Mr Rigby grew as a classical performer and refined many of the musicianship skills that carry him to the top in his professional endeavours even to this day. He has sung many of the classical standards and a large portion of the standard tenor operatic and oratorical repertoires from composers such as Bellini, Donizetti, Puccini, Verdi, Mozart, Faure, Di Capua, Bizet, Handel and many others.

In addition, Mr Rigby has also performed stage renditions of Donizetti’s “Le’lisir d’amore” and Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” in their entirety or in stage acts. He completed his Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy (magna cum laude) in 2004 and has taught music and voice in schools both in the Bahamas and the United States. He has also taught private voice and piano for almost a decade and has participated in many musical productions in the Bahamas, the US, Canada and Europe.
Mr Rigby joined the Nassau City Opera Company (NCOC) in March of 2012 where he has worked to build awareness and increase appreciation within the Bahamian community for the arts, especially operatic, oratorical and other works of a classical nature. He continues to work toward perfection as a musician and as an individual.

Mr Rigby said he continues to be motivated to learn as much as he can and discover more efficient ways to demonstrate his craft with a level of excellence never before experienced. He plans to pursue a Master’s degree in vocal performance in 2014 and to demonstrate to the world the kind of proficiency and artistry that can be found in the Bahamas. Above all else, Mr Rigby said he desires to reflect the musical standard of heaven and cultivate in others a desire to do the same.