Ealing Symphony Orchestra to Honour Local Opera Singer
Keel Watson
The Ealing Symphony Orchestra has announced that it will dedicate its concert on 18 May 2024 to Keel Watson, a locally educated opera singer who died suddenly at the age of 59 in November last year.
Keel Watson was born in 1964 in Greenford, the only child of Jamaican parents Calda and Frank Watson, who had arrived in Britain in the 1950s as part of the Windrush generation.
Educated at Ealing Junior School, Keel also attended the Caribbean School at Oaklands Primary School in Hanwell on Saturday mornings, as his parents were keen that he should explore his Jamaican heritage. There he learnt to sing Caribbean folk songs. One day in the school assembly when the music teacher was absent, Keel volunteered to sing ‘A Chi Chi Bud Oh’, a song about the birds of Jamaica. The applause and adulation that followed this first ever public performance had him hooked. As Keel described it “There were perks: no more being bullied, no more being punched, the girls actually talking to me like I was someone. There are people who do not know my name but after over 40 years still remember the name of the song I sang and call me by that name.”
In 1975 he moved to Hounslow Manor School and started attending the Boys’ Brigade in Northfields where he continued to sing, but also learnt trumpet and music theory. A few years later he moved onto trombone, joining the Hounslow Wind Band and subsequently the Ealing Youth Orchestra. By this time, he was receiving trombone tuition from Leon Taylor, the principal trombonist with the English National Opera, who helped him achieve distinction in his Grade 8 exam. He went on to study Voice and Trombone at the Trinity College of Music where he came to the realisation that he should pursue a singing career.
He made his debut with the Royal Opera in Billy Budd in 2000 and has appeared with the ENO, Scottish Opera, Welsh National Opera and Opera Holland Park, as well as numerous performances abroad.
Keel first performed with the ESO as a soloist in 2016 in a performance of excerpts from Puccini’s operas. His thundering appearance as the menacing Scarpia, walking from the back of St Barnabas to the stage, is one of those spine-tingling musical moments that, once heard, is never forgotten. He returned a couple of years later to perform the role of Porgy in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, which is also a treasured memory for all those involved.
Keel was a cherished member of the ESO family, having also performed with the Orchestra on several occasions in the trombone section.
Keel Watson as Porgy alongside Gweneth Ann Rand as Bess in the ESO performance of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, February 2018.
Following the announcement of his untimely death, tributes poured in from around the classical music world and beyond, showing both enormous affection for his warm and generous character as well as tremendous admiration for his operatic talents.
ESO Music Director, John Gibbons, who worked with Keel many times over thirty years said: “Along with members of the ESO, I was shocked and extremely saddened to learn of Keel’s sudden death. We worked together many times, starting early in our careers with Opera Lirica at Holland Park. He was a much-loved member of our trombone section, playing with us whenever his professional schedule permitted. The music world has lost an amazing talent, a larger-than-life personality, and a true friend.
“Members of the Orchestra were really keen to pay a tribute to him, and it is fitting that we are remembering him with a programme of repertoire that features the trombones so prominently.”
Keel Watson rehearses his role as Porgy for ESO’s perfomance of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess in February 2018.
The concert will take place on Saturday, 18 May at 7pm in St Barnabas Church, Pitshanger Lane, London, W5 1QG.
All details, including how to buy tickets, are available on the Orchestra website.
