Hi – I’m Dwayne Curtis. I live in Nassau, Bahamas, and work for the Government of the Bahamas in Environmental Management; that’s my day job, which I am advised not to quit, as in my private (VERY private) life I am a musician. I have had some strong musical influences, from when my father, Exumian James Curtis would buy me harmonica after harmonica as I would continually lose them; listening to my Primary School teachers Althea Huyler and Naomi Pinder play the piano; sitting under a tree in the Summer of 1960, listening to those Cat Island men sing wake songs “Dicey Doh†style when my Grandmother died in 1960, as only Cat Island men can; listening to composer of the Bahamian National Anthem, Timothy Gibson, as my mother, former Primary School Principal Sadie Curtis, would host him as he taught us his songs; my first choral audition in 1963 as music teachers Agnes Archer and Clement Bethel were putting a choir together for the a Bahamas Music Festival; at that time Mr. Bethel said “It’s HIM!â€; Mrs. Archer said “YOU have got the voice! (GOD, what happened between then and now???) In 1963 heard a wonderful soprano named Kayla Lockhart sing ‘The Last Rose of Summer’ at a Bahamas Academy of Seventh Day Adventists Concert in 1963; Started piano lessons with Eric Russell on 1963; Entered the Bahamas Government High School in 1964; GHS did not have a strong music curriculum, but offered a nurturing environment for aspiring musicians, thanks to teachers such as Marian St. George, Keva Bethel, Melvin Rahming, and Tino Christofilis, who took our Music Club to Guzman Center in Miami to see our first opera, “Ernaniâ€. By 1969 I had passed my Grade 8 piano examinations with the Trinity College of Music, London , and stopped (my mistake) to concentrate on my General Certificate of Education Ordinary and Advanced level examinations. My musical involvement did not end there, as I became involved in choirs as a bass and occasional accompanist, and also accompanied several soloists. In 1973 I entered Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY as a Biology major, and immediately joined the Concert Choir; I joined the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity for men in music, and through this, got to meet some great musicians, the most notable being Marian Anderson, to whom we presented an award at our 1976 Philadelphia Convention; she was a sweet lady, and ever so humble and gracious! On returning home in 1977, I immediately latched on to that soprano Kayla Lockhart-Edwards, and joined her Chamber Singers, which had some FINE musicians! (Check out one of them, our President JoAnn Callender on my friends page - also check out one of our new young members, Craig Brown, also on my friends page). Subsequently joined the Nassau Renaissance Singers directed by Clement Bethel, and also the Dicey Doh Singers, formed in 1981 to represent the Bahamas at the Caribbean Festival of Arts (CARIFESTA) in Barbados. My next study break took me to London in 1989, at which time I joined the Philharmonia Chorus, and was privileged to perform under the baton of such notables as Sir Georg Solti, John Eliot Gardner and Carlo Maria Giulini.My group the Dicey Doh Singers now exists as an a capella male quartet who have been singing together since we met in the Kayla Edwards Chamber Singers in 1978.
