Monica Yunus enchants Lebanon

At the Zouk Mikael Festival, soprano Monica Yunus enchanted the people side by side with US jazz musical talent and singer Jonathan Batiste and his band, Stay Human.

Dressed in a sublime pale rose dress, adorned with diamantes, she made her entrance with grace and people started applauding soon as she sang the opening strains of Nat King Cole’s “Embraceable You”.

The Zouk Mikael International Festival continues Aug 5 with a performance by Otis Grand.

The first notes of Batiste’s melodica (an instrument combining piano and harmonica) could be heard at the opening with the music emanating from within the rows of spectators.

The audience could feel a true spirit of teamwork was throughout the show. The musicians and singers were continuously smiling at each other and listened to one another with great respect.

During the performance, the musicians got down from the stage to get closer to the public. Monica Yunus came back to join others in the venue rows, helping to change the whole amphitheater into a stage.

Another of Nat King Cole’s hits, “LOVE”, was sung magnificently by Yunus, along with Doris Day’s “You are My Sunshine,” which was chorused by everyone in the venue.

For two hours, the amphitheater was transformed into a jazz microcosm, where Yunus’s voice infused the groovy tunes with grace and power. Who would have thought that jazz and opera would go so well together. Daughter of Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, Monica was born in 1979 in Chittagong. She grew up in the US with her mother Vera Forostenko. At 13, she got admitted into the prestigious Tanglewood Music Center in Massachusetts. In 1997, after attending the prestigious Lawrenceville School, Monica Yunus entered the Juilliard School from which she graduated four years later with a Bachelors in Vocal Performance. She finally met her father in 2004, whom she had not seen since early childhood, and travelled to Bangladesh in the following year. Monica Yunus is married to another opera singer, tenor Brandon McReynolds.