October 16, 2020T
From Helga Hampton
Dear Amigos,
Kind autumnal greetings and some surprises, too !
How beautiful is this damaged world !?
- damaged because of complacency and carelessness
How damaged is this beautiful world ???
- beautiful because we, each and every individual one of us, feel responsible and considerately look after and take care of each other in these difficult times, while science and government are looking to defeat our communal foe.
It is this sharing of responsibility and caring for each other that has rewarded our courage to start into our 2020/21 concert season with live music in September with such sensational success.
The combined determination of our hosts in Os Agostos and your Committee brought about this Marquee experiment in the hope of bringing back live music with which to celebrate our life here in the Algarve. We also were aware that our musicians were more than ready to play play play….
As you know, tough COVID restrictions variously tested our planning flexibility when Lucy Parham and Dame Harriet Walter could not defy English travel and quarantine rules, and so the German Alexander Schimpf jumped to our rescue and came a month earlier than originally planned. And what a success his two recitals were ! From both these full-house events it became more than clear just how much we all are ready to have live music performances again. So, all our efforts gained more momentum. Very necessary, as a short-term replacement musician had to be found for the October slot. As luck would have it – and I am repeating myself here as we have every reason to be proud – Mikhail Shumov, principal cellist of the Orquestra Classica do Sul, was not only free for our dates, he was very willing to come and play for us, AND, lo and behold, he asked: “Can I bring a colleague?”
Zachary Spontak, the new Concert Master of the local SO, will come to us and thus begin his musical career in the Algarve with the two duo performances for the Amigos de Musica next week!!!
Both these evenings are fully booked and you will be sent their full programme. You will also get our updated Os Agostos Guidelines – please heed these newly enforced safety and hygiene requirements as a prerequisite to and condition for further live music at Os Agostos.
Please also note that as of yesterday, restrictions were tightened once more and we had to alter our table seating plan that limits the number of people at one table.
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Before I go into our November and December concert plans, let me say a few words about the Amigo
Extra Event at the Teatro Lethes this coming Sunday, when Tiago Roasario, our current sponsoree will play a programme of a Beethoven Sonata and 12 Chopin Etudes.
If you still want to come, please be there at 18:00 for the Recital at 19:00. Just send a quick email to reservasconcertos@gmail.com – Cristina will try to accommodate you. You can also bring guests at no cost. This should be a very lovely evening.
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November: Revised Plans
The 2 October concerts will be the last of this autumn in the Marquee due to weather conditions. So instead of cancelling all other planned concerts, we came up with the idea of moving back into our “old” auditorium where the piano is in constant residence. As a consequence of having to follow ever stricter social distancing rules, we will be limited to seating no more than 45 – 50 people there. Our hosts, in their never-ending generosity, are offering us the additional space in the upper room adjacent to the auditorium, called “celeiro”, where there are seating possibilities for another 10 – 12 people.
We think that concert performances for an audience of ca. 60 people are acceptable, and for economic reasons we are going to offer 2 performances per concert day.
That is to say, we are going to have a Matinée performance from 11:00 to 12:00, and an evening performance from 19:00 to 20:20 on both concert days. The Matinée programme will be the same as in the evening, albeit somewhat abbreviated. And there will be no intervals.
There will be limited catering – coffee, tea and biscuits in the morning, wine, juices and petiscos in the evening. All to be collected at the entrance and taken to the seats.
Our November pianist, Hélène Tysman, has to come from Paris for her appearances on Tuesday, November 10th and Thursday, November 12th. She is in full agreement with our revised plans, she is even enthusiastic to play more often and to smaller crowds.
This wonderful French pianist chose a splendid programme for us with works by Chopin, Bach, Ravel and Debussy spread over the 2 concert days – Matinées and evening performances.
For details see our website.
Let’s just hope that she will be able to make it. Air travel is ever more problematical. Stay tuned !!
Reservations are absolutely necessary. Please send your email reservations to Cristina as usual:
She is prepared to accept your reservations to either Matinée or Evening performances, please specify – for guests the usual contribution of Euro 25.00 will be expected as prepayment. Bank details will be given at reservation.
December:
Please, do not make reservations for the December concerts at this stage.
Our Christmas concerts on Tuesday, December 8th and Thursday, December 10th, with the pianist,
Anne Kaasa and the cellist, Maria José Falcão, are not threatened by air travel problems, as both ladies will be coming from Lisbon. Their response to our revised plans was also very positive, so I do not foresee any problems. Let’s just hope that the corona restrictions don’t get any worse.
Please, do not make reservations for the December concerts at this stage.
And, forgive me, here one personal matter important to me: PLEASE change my email address to:
helga.hampton@gmail.com. You will have to manually erase the old one from your online address list
for it to disappear completely – it seems that I have been hacked again on it. Sorry for the trouble.
Stay safe, stay in touch. See you in Os Agostos.
Best regards,
Helga Hampton
President
ASSOCIAҪÃO DE AMIGOS DE MUSICA at Os Agostos
E-mail: helga.hampton@gmail.com
www: http://www.amigos-de-musica.org