January 12th, 2016
Dear Amigos,
Bem vindo no Ano Novo
I hope your arrival in the New Year was smooth and you are full of energy and optimism so that 2016 will be a year of growth and peace for you and your family.
We, all of us long-lived and experienced, know that our individual contributions count in making our own world as worthy a place to live in as possible. So let us Amigos do what we do best in the way of life-enhancement – make music !
Without further ado, let me tell you what to expect and firmly include in your agendas. Our regular monthly concert evenings are as follows:
February 16 and 18, 2016 Paul Silverthorne, viola, Aglaia Tarantino, piano
Marc h 9 and 10*, 2016 Constantin Sandu, piano
April 12 and 13*, 2016 Sa Chen, piano
May 17 and 19, 2016 Alexander Schimpf, piano
June 21 and 23, 2016 Daria Tchaikowskaja, piano
* PLEASE NOTE: The starred dates denotate the two occasions when our concert evenings fall out of the established norm (Tuesday and Thursday). In March our venue, Os Agostos, requested this alteration, and in April Sa Chen’s active schedule fitted us in on these consecutive days only.
And here I am today, very happy to add at this point two additional Amigo events during the rest of our membership year of 2015/16.
- GALA DINNER on Saturday, March 19th, 2016 at Os Agostos
This pre-Easter get-together will be in aid of our Young Musicians’ Sponsorship endeavours, and our dear protégée, the pianist Ana Beatriz Ferreira, will entertain us with a wonderful concert of her choice. She has been sponsored by us during her five years of study at the Royal College of Music in London and will be graduated this year with a well-earned Master’s degree. This will be her last appearance as a Sponsoree and a token of her gratefulness. It will also show us how she intends to step up on the ladder of her professional progress.
- 25th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION on Thursday, April 28th at Os Agostos
It may come as a surprise to our new members to learn that the Amigos de Musica have existed a quarter of a century! In fact, this is our 26th year – we were founded in 1990 in the Centro Cultural de Sao Lourenco but I am discounting the one year (2013) when we were looking for our new venue and had suspended membership in the process.
So, a very happy and special occasion which, of course, calls for a very special artist to adorn our celebration. It is a great honour for me to be able to announce that
Maestro Paul Crossley, CBE
will come to us and give us an evening of some of his favourite piano pieces.
You may remember that he chose our venue for his fare-well concert just a while ago, and it makes me extremely happy that he was amenable to our invitation and even offered this programme as an anniversary present to the Amigos.
A very special occasion, indeed.
*****
A few details about the February concerts which promise to be a marvellous start
o 2016 for us. Paul Silverthorne, viola and Aglaia Tarantino, piano have chosen a
glorious programme; as Paul says: “Dear Helga, here are the two programmes for our visit in February, I do hope you like them, there are some standards from the classical and romantic period and some colourful and dramatic works from the early 20th century. Lots of variety!”
Among them are Beethoven’s Sonata op 17, arranged for viola by Paul, Schubert’s Arpeggione (my favourite), Britten’s Reflections on Dowland, Brahms and Tartini, and Prokofiev ‘s Romeo and Juliet movements, and Stravinsky’s Suite Italienne arr. Silverthorne. Oh what raisins to look forward to.!
I take this letter as an occasion to welcome 13 new members which brings our membership to a total of 94 active Amigos. WELCOME !
Let me also express here thanks to our main sponsors, the real estate company of “Quinta Properties”, whose generous contribution again opens programming opportunities and makes the invitation of duos and perhaps trios a future possibility. THANK YOU, LADIES !
Now the usual house-keeping remarks:
– PLEASE make reservations by sending an email to: reservasconcertos@gmail.com as soon as you know that you are attending. Also, PLEASE, cancel a reservation as soon as you become aware that you will NOT be able to attend. Call Cristina on: Tel. 914797980. We seem to be fully booked regularly now, so I advise booking well in advance to avoid being “shut out”.
– Please also note: All our concerts start at 19:00, doors at Os Agostos open at 18:00, and I’d like to advise you not to come earlier as you may be standing in front of locked gates! Drinks are served at 18:30. And, by the way, there really aren’t any “bad” seats in the auditorium making the scramble for seats unnecessary.
Helga Hampton
www.amigos-de-musica.org