Newsletter, July 2020

Published: July 27, 2020

30 Years of Great Music

From Helga Hampton                          

Dear Amigos,                                                                                  July 24, 2020

Are you ready ???

Are you ready for a restart of live music at Os Agostos ????

Will you accompany us into our 2020/2021 season in September????

You are cordially invited…..

…..to take the plunge with us – your Committee -, with our musicians, with our Os Agostos hosts and with our Sponsors to bring live music again to the Algarve.

In order to comply with hygiene and distancing regulations, the following adaptations will be made at our venue:  We will move our piano from the Adega Auditorium to the Marquee, the tent-like structure next to the parking that is used for weddings. 

The Marquee can accommodate 300 people so there is plenty of space for up to 100 Amigos and guests with proper social distancing seated around the generously sized tables.  It is proposed that there should be a maximum of 5 people to each table. However, if there are family groups or groups of friends who are comfortable sitting next to each other then 6-8 places can be arranged.

There will be separate entrance and exit doors and the  side panels of the Marquee can be raised for the open air effect. The Yamaha will be positioned in the centre of the long side of this rectangular space to allow the best view for everyone.

Masks will be worn until people are seated and whenever they get up from the table.

Drinks and other refreshments – not designed for hungry stomachs –  will be served the tables, and there will be no interval during the music programme in order to avoid as much mingling as possible.  For that reason our hosts insist that social distancing rules be observed AT ALL TIMES, including for the use of the Restrooms !  Please avoid queues.

Thank you for bearing with me on these physical modifications – the Amigos are usually looked to for artistic reasons, let’s also prove that we are able to deal with the health situation responsibly.  Although we will not be first in coming out, we will be in the forefront. The Teatro das Figuras already has had a concert with musicians of the Orquestra do Sul, albeit open air on the terraces. It was very welcome and well attended.

Programming:  Other modifications, mainly conditioned by UK travel restrictions, have affected our programming. Our original schedule, with Lucy Parham in September, has been moved to October 20 and 22, when, hopefully the 2 week quarantine rule upon return to London, will have been lifted.  Fortuitously, Alexander Schimpf, our October pianist coming from Germany, was able to change his dates to September. So we start with Alexander on Tuesday, September 15th and Thursday, September 17th.

Alexander Schimpf, pianist

Reservation procedure:

RESERVATIONS HAVE TO BE MADE !!!

Please send an email to:  reservasconcertos@gmail.com as soon as possible. Cristina will confirm your booking, and with your booking you can tell her with whom you would like to sit, if you so wish. Cristina will try to accommodate this. 

Upon arrival at the Os Agostos Marquee entrance there is no need to check-in. Please avoid queuing.  Enter and you will find a seating plan with your name and  table number. Go straight to your allocated seat, where refreshments will be waiting. Avoid queues !

Reservation procedure for our guests.

Prepayment will be required to avoid the need for check-in. Bookings should be made by email as usual.  We will need names of all guests for the seating plan. Assuming space is available (we have a maximum capacity of 100 each night) Cristina will have payment details, either bank transfer or multibanco. The guest donation is still EURO 25.00 p.p. This prepayment avoids the need to check in on the concert night, and guests can go straight to their allocated seats.

So, please note:

Prepayment by guests is compulsory…..no cash transactions will be allowed.

CANCELLATION:   Please,  remember to cancel your reservation if you find even at the last moment that you will not be able to attend.  Send another email.

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Membership matters: In the May  Newsletter our Treasurer reminded us –

“In view of the cancellation of the last four concerts of the 2019/20 season, and the uncertain situation regarding when we can actually restart, your committee has decided to defer inviting renewal of subscriptions for 2020/2021, and to instead extend the validity of your current subscriptions until at least the end of 2020.   Once concerts have recommenced we will review the situation and then invite renewal at an appropriately reduced rate for the balance of the 2020/2021 season.”

Please note the last sentence.  Accordingly you are all active members until the end of calendar year 2020.  We shall come back to you with an update before the New Year.

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Concert Schedule 2020/21:  

please note the exchange of the September and October artists and the altered  October dates.

CONCERTS PLANNED FOR 2020/21

(updated 21 July, 2020)

2020

September  15 and 17                                    Alexander Schimpf, piano, confirmed

  •   Sunday, October 18th, 2020  Amigo Extra:   Tiago Rosario at Teatro Lethes in Faro  –

October 20 and 22                                    Lucy Parham, piano plus actor (to be announced)

November 10 and 12                                    Helene Tysman. confirmed

December 8 and 10                                    Anne Kaasa, piano M. Jose Falcão, cello, confirmed

2021

Feb 23 and 25                                                Constantin Sandu, piano, confirmed

March            23 and 25                                    Dudana Mazmanishvili, piano confirmed

April 27 and 29                                                Katya Apekisheva, piano and Charles Owen, piano, confirmed

May 11 and 13                                                Leonardo Pierdomenico, piano. confirmed

June  22 and 24                                                Giulio Potenza, piano confirmed

Reservations are absolutely necessary: send an email to reservasconcertos@gmail.com

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Amigo Extra event:  We have been able to organise the promised event at the Teatro Lethes in Faro.  This will give our protégé, Tiago Rosario, the chance to present himself and the progress he has been making in his piano studies in Germany. While all details will be sent to you in my next Newsletter, please reserve the date of Sunday, October 18th, 2020 with concert start at 19:00.  Cristina will accept early notifications.

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I am elated about being able to write this Newsletter to you.  We have not made the decision to restart our activities at Os Agostos lightly – a lot of discussion has gone on intra-Committee and it now remains to be seen

how you will react and respond and cooperate. After all, you are the audience for whom our artists come and perform and you are the people who make the decision to venture out after months of isolation. We have followed closely the development of this scourge that has befallen us, and we hope that experience is now showing that hygiene – sanitising and masks,  distancing –  no kissy kissy, embraces or close encounters with other than family – are the way to go. And GO we all want after stopping and sitting and hiding for four months and more. And don’t we all want to see to it that this year 2020 will not be called the “Covid-19” year, but will remain

The Ludwig-van-Beethoven Year ?!

Lets go for it !  Alexander Schimpf’s programme, which I shall soon email to you, is doing justice to this plan.

Please print it out as soon as you have it and bring it with you to the concerts.  We will dispense with the distribution of printed programmes on the night.

I look forward to seeing you at Os Agostos and to sharing with you the great moment of experiencing live music once again.

My usual “Hugs” come to you virtually, but none-the-less very cordially.

Helga

Helga Hampton
President
ASSOCIAҪÃO DE AMIGOS DE MUSICA at Os Agostos
E-mail: helga.hampton@gmail.com
www: http://www.amigos-de-musica.org

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