Dear Amigos,
Firstly I would like to thank over half of all the Amigos who so helpfully renewed their membership ahead of time during June. It is good to have so many of friends willing to renew their subscription before the old one expires. It was like a vote of confidence, trust and encouragement. Thank you; it was a very heartening gesture. On the other hand, that is not to say that those who are still to renew are being naughty. After all, the first concert of our 2008/09 will not take place until the 6th September, so there is still time to send in your cheques and renewal forms but I must mention that as usual we have a waiting list of potential new Amigos and they are anxious to know where they stand. So for those who wish to renew their subscriptions and have not already done so, please pop them in the post to Margaret Jackson as soon you can.
As long standing members will know, we tend not to sponsor concerts at São Lourenço during the hotter months of July and August and this year is no exception. But there is to be one concert at the Cultural Centre which Marie has organised in collaboration with Faro Camera and to which the Amigos have made donation as a gesture of good will. On Wednesday 6th of August at 8.00 p.m. four Cellists from St. Petersburg will play a concert of lighter classical on the terrace. You will receive notification shortly and tickets should be reserved in advance in the usual way. The tickets will be 25 Euros per person and include refreshments and canapés before the concert and during the interval as usual. Faro Camera will stage an identical concert on the 5th in the courtyard of
the Museu Municipal de Faro. The concert there will begin later at 9.30 and the cost will be 15 Euros but this will not include any form of refreshment. We Amigos all know where our loyalties lie and I sincerely hope that those who are here in the Algarve will give the Cultural Centre event their full support.
And now for advance notice of something a little different. Liverpool is the City of Culture 2008. On Thursday December 4th Kathryn Stott will celebrate her 50th Birthday in a very unusual way. Kathy has taken over the entire Liverpool Philharmonic Hall where she has arranged a remarkable charity concert with a quite amazing line up of musical friends. Here are some of the people who will play: The Assad Brothers. The Katona Twins. Valeriy Sokolov. Yo-Yo Ma. Piers Lane – the names just go on. To give you some idea, if I mention that the second half begins with no less than Ten Cellos on the platform and ends with Eight Pianos, you may begin to get the picture. EasyJet have direct flights to Liverpool and are now accepting reservations. We are not proposing to organise an Amigos trip, but five of us have already booked concert. Please call me if you would like any further information