The Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity will host a concert called The Voice of the Cello, featuring American cellist Sarah Hoskins, accompanied by local artists Tiffany Fox and Jonathan McBeath.

The event will take place next Saturday, October 26, at 7pm. The Cathedral launched its first concert last year and hopes to host more, according to Canon Jerry Smith, who said: “This is the second in what we hope will be many concerts in the Cathedral Concert Series, featuring local and visiting musicians.

“I believe the artist knows their craft and should be allowed creative control. I also believe that the featured artists will respect the sacred space used for these events, and until proven otherwise, I am comfortable surrendering this to them.”

Mr Smith added: “Our hope is that these might be even more frequent than once annually, but there are many moving parts, and we can only manage one at a time presently.”

Having spoken with Sarah Hoskins, she shared how she accepted the invitation to bring her gift to Bermuda. Ms Hoskins said: “My husband is also an Anglican priest, and when we were in seminary almost 25 years ago, Canon Jerry Smith, who is now the Canon of the Cathedral, was my husband’s mentor. And so 25 years later, he found out that I have been doing a lot more playing and concertising, and he said we would love to have you come to Bermuda because that is now where he is located. So it was like a voice from the past. Very exciting.”

The cello has been a part of her life since infancy. “Both of my parents are professional musicians, and they were a part of something called the Suzuki movement, which is a way of teaching young children,” she said. “When I was 18 months old, basically a baby, they had me starting to learn how to play the cello. It's remarkable. I wasn't playing, but you started learning the music, and before I could speak words, I played the cello. So that is a part of my inspiration for the concert being called ‘The Voice of the Cello’, because that has been my voice longer than I could speak.”

Mrs. Hoskins added: “My inspiration is my mum; she passed away in 2020. The more I think about it, the more I realise I was so young and have played the cello for so long. She practised with me every day, and what a sacrifice for her because she wanted me to have this gift.

“So, I didn't choose the cello; they chose it, and then the cello chose me because I think it is the best instrument. I am grateful that it is my voice; I think they chose well for me; I am incredibly grateful to both of my parents for the music legacy they gave me.”

In Ms Hoskins’s life, faith and music go hand in hand. She said: “I am the kind of person who does not want to compartmentalise my life, even though of course it is easy to do. So, I see them pretty intertwined, and my faith and music are such a deep part of my life that they are all mixed together; they influence each other.

“Music can be a very solitary pursuit, because you have to spend a lot of hours in the practice room by yourself, and it can be very self-aggrandising that I'm the one on the stage, you know, so I think my faith helps me remember that ultimately this music is a gift to be given.

“It is not just for me to sit and improve myself. I want to give this gift away, and in the same way, it helps me remember that I am just the host of this gift and can offer this music. I try to respect the composer, the instrument, and the venue; all of those things come together as me just saying this is my small gift to offer, and I think my faith helps keep me humble and helps remind me who ultimately gave me this gift in the first place.”

Asked about the concert she is putting together for the Cathedral, Ms Hoskins said: “Canon Jerry said to play the cello, but to collaborate with Bermudian musicians, which I love because collaborating is my favourite part of being a musician. I am a very people-oriented person anyway.

“I was given free rein, so when I thought about the fact that the previous concert was a Nashville musician who’s a fiddler and a singer, that is a different vibe than classical music. So I wanted this to be super accessible, so I chose a lot of music.

“Some are very well-known pieces because I think people like that when they go to a concert. I'm trying to pick some pieces of music that people would recognise, and then also some new things that I did during my research for the programme, which I thought was so beautiful I have to share.

“So, the idea is to give people just a bit of beauty because the world is full of hatred, war, and division. Many people are not kind or loving, but music, I think, can draw our souls higher.

“Because there are no words, I believe classical music can speak differently to different people, it can say different things, and it can be a true place to go when you don't even know what to say. It can express things that words can't express.

“That’s the theme of my concert, which is that music can express things that we don't even know how to express sometimes, but we hear it and it speaks to us, and I want to share that with others. My inspiration for the concert is the cello's voice and how that voice can speak to us.”

With all the passion and preparation for creating and bringing this classical concert to life, Ms Hoskins shared what she hopes the audience takes away from it.

“First, the fact is that it is the Cathedral. Just the idea that some place so holy can be such a place of beauty and solace if you need it. So that some people, no matter their faith, can think, ‘This is a place that’s holy and beautiful, peaceful, and restful.’

“I hope people genuinely experience all of those things at the Cathedral. To draw their minds to God and encourage people in whatever their faith is. Also, as I mentioned, I'd love for people to fall in love a little more with classical music, with the idea that Taylor Swift is cool, but maybe the cello is too.”

As she anticipates her arrival and the opportunity to share her gift, Ms Hoskins had words of encouragement for the audience and the Bermuda community. “I think the idea is that we all have an offering to give. Every person has something beautiful that God created them to do, and maybe you don't even know what it is yet, but to be inspired to find that and to then give it away to make the world a more beautiful place,” she said.