NEWSLETTER April 22nd, 2017
Dear Amigos,
I cannot resist sending you another April Newsletter – there is so much to report and to share with you !
Chronologically speaking, I want to whet your appetite for the next two concert performances
on May 16th and 18th at Os Agostos. Our pianist, Bernd Glemser, (google him and be impressed),
comes from Germany with a programme that leaves little to be desired: Bach-Busoni, Beethoven, Brahms and Chopin the first evening, and Haydn, Debussy and Chopin the second. Listening to his interpretations of these favourite composers will be a sheer delight.
And then we shall be in the run-up to the Grand Finale of the 2016/17 season: On June 20th and 22nd Alissa Firsova, piano, Tim Hugh, cello and Andrew Marriner, clarinet are here direct from the London Symphony Orchestra to really fill our platform. Should be fun !
The two April evenings with Lucy Parham and Robert Glenister were not only unique events as far as the usual Amigo programming is concerned, they were also full-house events, even though they
presented the same programme on both evenings. The good word is spreading, and the echo I received was more than encouraging.
Please consider this gloating on my part as invitation for you to make your reservations early – we do not want to send away Amigos who phone in late. All it takes is an email to:
More good news: We have a new protégé ! Our Sponsorship Project of Young Portuguese Musicians, which concentrated on our lovely Ana Beatriz Ferreira, ended when she finished her 5 years of studies at the Royal College of Music in London. We have now found a new recipient of our purse. Tiago Rosário, a young pianist from Beja, now studying at the Escola Superior de Música in Oporto, was recommended by both Anne Kaasa and Constantin Sandu as a worthy candidate. I met with Tiago recently and was most impressed. He will present himself in recital to the Amigo membership at the occasion of the next AGM in September. More details to follow.
I am also able to tell you that the concert programme for the Amigos Season of 2017/18 is
complete and finalised, and I am very proud to present some new artists as well as some of our favourites – some foreign, some Portuguese, as is my goal.
CONCERTS PLANNED FOR 2017-18
(updated April 20, 2017)
2017
September 19 and 20*, 2017 The Haga Duo / guitar and flute from Norway
October 17 and 19, 2017 Joana Gama, piano
November 21 and 23, 2017 Nicolas Koeckert, violin, Katerina Muller, piano
December 12 and 14, 2017 Anne Kaasa, piano and M. Jose Falcao, cello
*PLEASE NOTE: these are 2 consecutive evenings.
2018
March 13 and 15, 2018 Piers Lane, piano
April 17 and 19, 2018 Helene Tysman, piano
May 8 and10, 2018 Kiril Timofeev, cello and Evgeny Sinaiski, piano
June 12 and 14, 2018 Andrey Gugnin, piano
Make these dates part of your agendas and tell your friends about us. Remember, all these artists are active in the international concert halls and you can consult their websites for individual information.
Our hosts in Os Agostos are very busy this year in their “main” business: great weddings with hundreds of people, and yet they are always still generously available to receive the Amigos on two evenings per month and to lavish their attention and welcome on us. Aren´t those pre-concert receptions on their Grand Terrace very special? I´d like to take this opportunity to thank Maria and Antonio Farrajota for their hospitality and friendship in all our names.
More thanks are in order for the team at ValVerde apartments. They were in no small way responsible for making the recent visit of Lucy Parham and Robert Glenister with his wife Celia a most agreeable and memorable stay. They offered two lovely apartments to us free of charge.
Thank you Carla and thank you Loes and Henk Vooijs!
And last, but never least, our thanks to “QP” (that is the way Quinta Properties are now calling themselves) for their unstinting generous sponsorship, which includes advertising the Amigos de Música in some of their printed material as well as verbally among their many clients. Ladies, you are always welcome guests of the Amigos.
Hugs, see you at Os Agostos,
Helga Hampton
PS: I am always available for all questions or suggestions: helga.hampton@btinternet.com