ASSOCIAÇÃO DE AMIGOS DE MUSICA
at Os Agostos
Dear Amigos,
We started the second part of the 2018/19 concert season with a bang !
Steven Vanhauwaert more than lived up to promises of pyrotechnics, tense expectations of contemporary works and accolades of his monster technique. The full-house audiences on both evenings were rapt listeners to the great tenderness of the Schubert Sonata at the beginning, before
Steven, true to his passion, took us to less familiar works. The seldom performed three Saint-Saens mazurkas were presented to us as real bijoux, and then he launched himself into a precipitous Mephisto Waltz. WOW!
Liszt was also to be the focus of the second evening. But before we
became privileged to hear his much coveted rendition of Six Transcendental Etudes, Steven taught us about the influence of the two world wars on music by performing and thus making works by Olivier
Messiaen and Ferrucio Busoni more than palatable to us. What a great presenter he is! He brought the breathless crowd back to more familiar musical territory by mollifying us with a sweet rendition of the first movement of Schumann`s “Kinderszenen” as encore. I am quite sure that there was hardly a music friend who went home not enrichedWELCOME: The Amigos de Musica membership also was enriched by 4 new members who I would like to welcome here: Cornelia and Philippe Castan from Quinta das Raposeiras joined in January, and Marijke and Matthijs Venker are brand-new amongst us since Tuesday. WELCOME !
March 10 to 16, 2019:
Allow me, for chronologys sake, to repeat here from my January Newsletter one of my personal favourite Amigo projects, with a view of exciting your interest, enthusiasm and hopefully your support too. MUSIC PATRONAGE: What began as a personal pursuit of mine, has meanwhile been endorsed by the Amigo Executive Committee, and herewith I would like to invite you to see whether this could be of constructive interest to you, too, as it would benefit from your support in one form or another. Various of our international artists have asked to return after falling in love with the Amigos de Musica, our extraordinary venue and our home, THE ALGARVE. Among them very passionately and repeatedly has been Alissa Firsova. Alissa is one of the young generations most promising and already very successful concert pianists and composers (visit her website). She has offered to compose, for the Amigos (for a fee, of
course) an original piece of music that would illuminate the contribution to culture in general and music in particular that our Circle of Music Friends has been making in the Algarve. This piece will have its world
premier in June, when Alissa will be our featured artist.
We gave her this commission enthusiastically and have successfully found main funding from like-minded music lovers. Alissa will be in Os Agostos for one week between March 10th and 16th to work on this
project. If you want to accompany her together with us in this creative process, you can do so by offering totake her out to a coffee or meal and telling her about your Algarve life, or by showing her one of your
favourite corners of the Algarve, or by contributing financially to defray some of the inevitable expenses.
While she is here with her fiancé, Matthias, you can always get in touch with her via me. Call me or send me an email and I shall put you in direct touch with the lovely lady. They have a car and are thus mobile.
I wish I could inspire you with some of my enthusiasm for this patronage.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION.
March, Tuesday 19th and Thursday, 21, 2019:
Our two March concerts feature the Dutch violinist, Jeroen de Groot and pianist Bart van de Roer, who will first play works by Arvo Paert, Ravel, Sarasate and Franck and then by Beethoven, Isaye, Chopin and
Brahms. Full programme is on our website. As a special feature, these concert evenings will be a celebration of the life of a very special Amigo who passed away in 2016. Joop Carp, in his life-time love of music was a very committed member of the Amigos de Musica. He was indeed a real friend on whom I personally was able to depend over all the years.
He and his wife, Dorris, actively and generously supported our aims, and I invite you, in the presence of hisdaughters, to join me in giving a special t hought to this lovely man.
CONCERT AGENDA
Please note these dates in your agendas – they are fixed. All details will be given later, and will also appear on our website.
April 2019: Tuesday, April 16th and Thursday, April 18th, brings back the wonderful pianist Katya Apekisheva
May 2019: Tuesday, May 14th and Thursday, May 16th, we welcome the German pianist, Holger Groschopp with the cellist Adele Bitter
June 2019: Tuesday, June 11th and Thursday, June 13th, we conclude the 2018/19 concert season with performances by Alissa Firsova, piano and Daniel Rowland, violin.
PLEASE NOTE: In a bit of housekeeping, I am compelled to repeat the following rules:Reservations are absolutely necessary, even for all active members
Make your email reservations as soon as you plan to attend certain concerts. Make them even
months in advance if you want, but remember to cancel as soon as you are unable to attend.
Cancellations are also absolutely necessary as the liberated seats can then be sold to the public.
During the last concerts we could not accept 7 paying guests because according to our reservation list the
house was full. But it transpired that 5 reserved Amigo seats remained empty due no cancellations.
Newest Rule: Please turn your phones off during the concert !
We have had complaints about the bother of brightly lit screens.
Always make your reservations by email to: http:// reservasconcertos@gmail.com
You will receive confirmation, but please cancel as soon as you know you cannot attend.
AMIGO EXTRAS
“Extras” means Amigos events organised alongside the 18 annual concert performances spread over one membership year, but only for the benefit of members. All events are, of course, music related and social at
the same time, i.e. not public, albeit membersfamily and friends are cordially invited to participate. Mark the dates !! Details will be given closer to the individual dates and reservations are necessary.
ASSOCIAÇÃO DE AMIGOS DE MUSICA at Os Agostos
1.A very special Extra Event will be the Celebration of Paul Crossley's 75th Birthday with a Party on Tuesday, May 21st, 2019 at O s Agostos !!!
2. The Amigo Mid-Summer Night Party !! Have you been waiting to see this announcement in one of myNewsletters?? Well, here it is. We shall end the 2018/19 season with a party to take place at Os Agostos in cool early evening on Saturday, June 22nd, 2019. Again I reserve giving details for a later date, suffice it to say: There will be music !!! Our sponsoree, Tiago Rosario, now a piano student at the Music Hoch-Schule in Munster, Germany, will be giving us a demonstration of his progress and I can already promise you a good
surprise. This young man is going places !!!
For any and all questions and also good suggestions you might have, please contact me anytime via email.
Helga Hampton
President
ASSOCIAҪÃO DE AMIGOS DE MUSICA at Os Agostos
E-mail: helga.hampton@btinternet.com
http://www.amigos-de-musica.org