The Accel String Quartet was founded in January 2019 and seeks to become

the premiere classical quartet in Jamaica presenting the genre to a wider and
engaged audience. The group performs regularly at concerts, weddings and
functions throughout the island. Repertoire ranges from Tchaikovsky to Ed
Sheeran and even includes arrangements and compositions from its members.

Previous members and special guests include Devoy Ellis, Jovielle Hayden and
Kester Reid

Find out more at our website

www.accelstringquartet.bookmark.com

Contact Us!
bookings.accelsq@gmail.com

Check out our content

IG @Accel_stringquartet_ja
Facebook and YouTube Accel String Quartet

Special thanks to
Mona Church of the Ascension
KaDon Music Academy
National Youth Orchestra of Jamaica
Music Mart
Steven Woodham
Laurice Barnaby
Paulette Bellamy
Audley Davidson
Ann McNamee
Michelle Roberts
Seymone Young
And most importantly our wonderful audience!
 PROGRAMME ALEX LAWSON - VIOLA
Alex Lawson is a 19 year old violist from Kingston, Jamaica. Unlike most
Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805) classical musicians, his journey began relatively late at the age of 14 with the
Piano Quintet No. 12 in C major Op. 57, no. 6, G.418 piano, before he switched to violin before deciding on the viola. He credits his
love of classical music to a performance of the third movement of Beethoven's
(i) A llegretto Lento Moonlight Sonata by Daniel Barenboim. He was immediately transfixed and
(ii) Presto adopted the motto that if he [Barenboim] could do it then so could Alex. From
ASQ, Ann McNamee then on music became a part of who he was.
He is a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Jamaica as well as the Phil-
Cesar Franck (1822-1890) harmonic Orchestra of Jamaica, and an honorary member of the Immaculate
Conception High School Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed abroad,
Piano Quintet in F minor, M.7 taking part in the Luzerne Summer Music Festival held in New York for two
(ii) Lento con molto sentimento years.
ASQ, Ann McNamee His teachers include Steven Woodham, Paulette Bellamy, Peter Ashbourne and
Darren Young. He has had masterclasses with Sovon Kim, and CJ Chang,
Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904) Principal Violist with the Philadelphia Orchestra.
String Quartet No. 12 "American" in F major, Op. 96 JOEL WRIGHT - CELLO
(i) A llegro ma non troppo Joel W. Wright developed a love for music, growing up in a musical family. At
(ii) Lento age 11, he learned the saxophone under the tutelage of Ian Hird. As a young
(iii) Molto V ivace teenager he won numerous gold medals in the JCDC’s music festival, and in-
(iv) Finale : V ivace ma non troppo cluding the title of “Best Male Vocal Soloist” in 2005, at the age of 12. This
award, granted him a scholarship that year to the Edna Manley School of Mu-
ASQ sic to study music theory and voice.
Since then, he has represented Jamaica at the World Championships of Per-
INTERMISSION forming Arts, securing many gold medals for the country.
A great love for classical music inspired him to join the Jamaica Symphony
Orchestra, with which he was the principal saxophonist. At age 18, he decided
Karl Jenkins (1944-) to learn the cello, being taught by accomplished cellists - Alejandro Gonzalez
Palladio Concerto Grosso, Allegretto and Alistair Petrie, and has since played with the Philharmonic Orchestra of
ASQ Jamaica and UWI’s Classical and Jazz Ensemble. He’s also been avidly in-
volved in his church’s music ministry, as well as teaching music there.
Joel currently specialises in Internal Medicine at the University Hospital of the
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) West Indies, with hopes to later do a fellowship in Rheumatology.
Hungarian Dance No. 5
ASQ ANN MCNAMEE - PIANO
Ann McNamee received her Bachelor of Music from the University of Ottawa
in Organ Performance and Keyboard Education and also has her FTCL in Col-
About Accel - Kamoy Gordon laborative Piano. She conducted the Bytown Voices, was a Music Minister,
taught piano and violin privately and accompanied voice and string students in
Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992) Ottawa.
Oblivion for Piano trio In Jamaica she was the Head of the String and Piano Department at Edna Man-
Ann McNamee (Piano), Gabriel Walters (Violin), Joel Wright ley College of the Visual and Performing Arts and was the first Music Director
for the National Youth Orchestra of Jamaica. Ann has retired and is now
(Cello) teaching part-time at Edna Manley College.
 BIOGRAPHIES
NYOJ - Andrae Woolcock
GABRIEL WALTERS - VIOLIN
Gabriel has been playing the violin since the age of 7. Since then, he has
achieved many accomplishments on the instrument, such as an ATCL perfor- Paulette Bellamy (1941-)
mance Diploma from the Trinity College London, the concertmaster of the Dip an Fall Back
University of the West Indies Classical and Jazz Ensemble (UWI CAJE) and Coconut Woman
the Associate Concertmaster of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Jamaica. He has ASQ
toured internationally to countries such as the Dominican Republic, the United
States, UK and Canada, as part of orchestras such as the Orchestra of the
Americas, L' Orchestre de la Francophonie, and also as a soloist. Gabriel Walters (1996-)
He studied with and has had master classes with the likes of Steven Woodham, Jamaican Folk Song Medley No. 1
Paulette Bellamy, Peter Ashbourne, Alexandre da Costa, as well as members ASQ
of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Lynn Conservatory.

KAMOY GORDON - VIOLIN Gabriel Walters (1996-)

Kamoy Gordon (born on June 19, 1998 in Kingston) is a Jamaica classical, pop Movie medley No. 1
and reggae violinist. Gordon started off in music after he became a member With themes from
and lead singer of the junior choir at his church when he was 8 years old. At My fair lady
age 12 after playing the drum set for 3 years, Gordon then developed an inter- Chronicles of Narnia
est in the keyboard and began working with Jehu Billet.
In 2012 while attending Kingston College, Gordon became a member of the
Sound of music
National Youth Orchestra of Jamaica after receiving an invitation from a class- Pocahontas
mate. Gordon became interested in the violin after seeing it for the first time. Pirates of the Caribbean
Through the NYOJ program Gordon received lessons from the greatest violin- ASQ
ists in Jamaica; Paulette Bellamy, Peter Ashbourne and Darren Young.
In 2014 Gordon received training from The Youth Orchestra of the Americas
during a visit by its members. In August of 2014 He was 1 of 25 members of
Vote of Thanks - Joel Wright
The National Youth Orchestra of Jamaica who were selected to tour Toronto,
Montreal and Ottawa in Canada. After returning from that tour Gordon became Encore
member of the Edna Manley String Ensemble which is currently the Edna
Manley Community Orchestra.
 NOTES
Boccherini Piano Quintet
Luigi Boccherini was born in the town of Lucca in Northern Italy. He studied
cello and became a virtuoso eventually moving to Spain where he took
employment with the Spanish royal family for the rest of his life.
Boccherini wrote 12 piano quintets during 1797. The last was his piano quintet
in C major Op. 57 No. 6, G. 418. The theme is taken from a previously
composed quartet which he chose not to publish, entitled "Musica notturna
della strade di Madrid". It was a very popular work in Spain and
Boccherini made an arrangement of it for string quartet and guitar
Franck Piano Quintet
Born in Liege, Belgium, Cesar Franck was a composer, pianist and an organist
who worked in Paris during his adult life.
Franck composed his piano quintet in F minor in 1879 and it has been de-
scribed as one of his greatest works. It premiered with Camille Saint-Saëns
playing the piano part. the work has been described as having a "torrid emo-
tional power". It has been described as the forgotten quartet, I need conjures up
an uncomfortable world of passion and melancholy that goes much beyond the
emotional range of similar works of that era
The second movement is cast in Sonata form, and has an unstable harmonic
language, due to its rapid shifts from major to minor without warning. It em-
phasizes the music's persistent mood of unfulfilled longing.
Dvorak American Quartet
Dvorak’s 12th String Quartet was written in 1893, during his time in the Unit-
ed States, and is thus nicknamed ‘The American Quartet’. It was written dur-
ing his summer vacation as director of the National Conservatory in New
York. While spending his holiday in Spillville, Iowa he was surrounded by
beautiful nature and felt at ease, themes of which can definitely be heard in the
work. It was written shortly after his popular New World Symphony, sketched
in 3 days and completed in 13 more days, and was his second attempt in 12
years to write a quartet in F major, with the first attempt producing a solitary
movement. For his symphony Dvořák gave the subtitle himself: "From the
New World". To the quartet he gave no subtitle himself, but there is the com-
ment "The second composition written in America."
Karl Jenkins – Palladio
Palladio is a composition for string orchestra by Karl Jenkins, written in 1995.
Motifs of its first movement, Allegretto were used in a TV commercial for De
Beers, “A Diamond is forever” in 1993. In the words of the composer,
“Palladio was inspired by the sixteenth-century Italian architect Andrea Palla-
dio, whose work embodies the Renaissance celebration of harmony and order.
Two of Palladio's hallmarks are mathematical harmony and architectural ele-
ments borrowed from classical antiquity, a philosophy which I feel reflects my
own approach to composition.”
Brahms - Hungaian Dance
Hungarian Dances is a set of 21 dances arranged by Johannes Brahms from
Hungarian folk sources and originally scored for piano four hands (two pia-
nists, one piano) and later orchestrated by Brahms and a few friends, including
Antonin Dvorak.
Astor Piazolla - Oblivion
Born in Argentina, raised in the musical melting pot New York City before
returning to his native country Astor Piazzolla revolutionize as a compositional
form incorporating Jazz and classical idioms into what he called Nuevo Tango.
In 1984 who composed Oblivion as music for a film by Mario Bellocchio enti-
tled Enrico IV. It is written in the style of a milonga, a song form that predates
the tango. It has become one of Piazzolla's most popular works and has been
adapted for performance by a variety of solo instruments
Paulette Bellamy
Paulette Bellamy began piano studies at the age of 4 with her mother who was
a renowned music teacher. She gave her first performances at age 7 before also
taking up the violin at 10. Two of her famous works include Dip an' Fall Back,
and Coconut woman, both based on Jamaican folk melodies, the latter of
which "Under the Coconut Tree" can be heard in its slow lyrical section. Both
works are characterized by their syncopated rhythms.
Gabriel Walters
Gabriel Walters is an in-house arranger and composure for the Accel string
quartet. His folk song medley text themes passed around the ensemble from
Jamaican folk songs and spirituals such as the Rivers of Babylon, Linstead
market and day-o
The movie medley takes the themes of popular films of varying genres
throughout the ages such as Pirates of the Caribbean, The sound of mu-
sic, Pocahontas and my fair lady with Melodies from Narnia interspersed
throughout.