To: AAMSL membership
From: Helga Hampton, acting President
Dear Amigos,
Now that Algarveans here in the best-weather-corner of Europe switched to Summer Time as a reminder
of the arrival of Spring – was there ever a winter??? – we Amigos can again look forward to spreading
out
onto the spacious and beautiful terraces of Sao Lourenco for our monthly musical get-togethers. This
will be more than welcome for full-house events like our March concerts, when Paul Crossley, one of
our “regulars” – aren’t we lucky!? –
gave us two unforgettable evenings of mainly 19th century music,
his forte, and it seems that tout l’Algarve was keen not to miss these cultural raisins.
Many thanks to those committed and generous Amigos who offered hospitality to Paul Crossley and came
forward with invitations to taking him out to dinner during his
stay in the Algarve this time. Very much
appreciated – thankyou.
Let me take this opportunity to reassure you all once more that even though the gallery business of Centro
Cultural de Sao Lourenco (CCSL) is in the process of being wound down, we certainly will be continuing
our concert programme as planned for the present 2011/12 season right there. Season ends in June.
The big “Farewell Party” to which Marie Huber invited
on Saturday, April 7th, 2012 at 18:00 is a
celebration of 30 successfully active years and she certainly wants us all there for the occasion.
The world in which we live seems to be in
the process of remodelling itself and we all are called upon to
prove just how flexible and imaginative we are in order to overcome this pervasive austerity stretch that
some see as a great cleansing operation.
When the invitations to our new membership year 2012/13 go out at the end of May 2012, you may see
this flexibility reflected in the way we are planning to spread our wings as far as some new venues are
concerned. However, as far as calibre of artists is concerned I can already promise you that there will be
no changes to the customary high standard. So, please, feel free to tell friends and other music-lovers that
AAMSL is alive and kicking and what a wonderful contribution we are/have been making
to the local
cultural life.
For example: We can next look forward to Marianna Shirinyan, an Armenian pianist from Denmark
in April who will present herself to us with a most varied programme of music by Schubert, Chopin,
Berg, Mozart, Nielsen. THE CORRECT DATES ARE: Wednesday, April 11th and Saturday, April
14th, 2012. Please make sure that you email your reservation to ccsl@iol.pt as soon as possible.
*****
One more date for your concert agenda: At Centro Cultural in Lagos, Thursday, March 29th, 2012 at
21:00 you can hear our “old” sponsoree, Nuno Silva Marques, in a piano recital with music by Liszt
and Debussy. Nuno, who we sponsored during his studies with Artur Pizarro at the London Guildhall
School of Music, is pursuing an international soloist career all the while teaching as head of the piano
department at the Oporto Music Conservatory and the Braga Music School. Please make yourself
known to him as “Amigo”. His website is: www.nunosilvamarques.com
Helga Hampton
helga.hampton@btinternet.com