Newsletter number 11 September
2009
As we start our 59th
Season we are already planning our 60th
Anniversary Season which will begin in October 2010.
There will two pre-season events a concert and party in
June and a Guitar Workshop and Concert in September
2010. For further details see below.
In the meantime we have
not taken our eye off the ball and have planned what we
hope you will agree is a very interesting programme for
the current Season. We look forward to welcoming you and
your guests at all our concerts and events.
Review of 58th
Season, 2008-2009
We presented six concerts including the ever popular
Supper Concert.
The Carducci Quartet returned to us and opened the
Season with a lovely concert in St Mary’s Church. They
have since then performed at Carnegie Hall in New York
and continue to win good reviews and continue with their
recordings.
In November, Adam Walker (flute) and Lucy Wakeford
(harp), who replaced Sally Walker at short notice,
delighted us with their repertoire. Adam and Lucy have
continued to receive excellent reviews.
Katie Stillman (violin) and Victoria Simonsen (cello)
were our Countess of Munster Musical Trust performers
this year. Their programme was challenging and they
played superbly. We are so lucky to be able to hear such
outstanding young musicians and are most grateful to the
Countess of Munster Musical trust for including us in
their programme.
A much welcomed concert was the solo piano recital by
Charles Owen, He gave us a memorable concert.
We ended the Season with an excellent concert by the
Badke Quartet who, unlike most of the Season’s
performers, were new to us. They are continuing to
enhance their reputation with excellent recitals.
The Supper Concert performers were The Canteloube Trio
whose entertaining descriptions of the pieces they
performed complemented their wonderful performances on
oboe, clarinet and bassoon.
The Annual Lecture was given by Mary Hawkins. Her
interesting approach to Venetian Art and the influence
of the artists of Northern Europe, with excellent
slides, made some of us look at well-known paintings
with different eyes.
59th Season, 2009-2010
Five concerts
and the Annual Lecture are included in the Season
Ticket. In addition we hope you will join us for the
Supper Concert.
Three of the Season’s concerts are in St Mary’s Church,
East Bergholt and the remainder in the Constable Hall.
Normally the church concerts are on Sunday afternoons
but one of them this year will, exceptionally, be on a
Friday evening.
The Season starts on Sunday 11th October in
St Mary’s Church, East Bergholt at 4 pm with the
London Concertante, a string septet, who will play a
programme ranging from Mozart to Holst. They are
regarded as one of the finest chamber ensembles in
Europe. Reviews include: ‘played with silky-toned
elegance…extraordinary unanimity. The London
Concertante, fine chamber musicians that they are,
played with an uncanny clarity of texture…quite
exquisite.’ The
Strad
This concert will be followed by the Annual General
Meeting of SVAM, (please see below).
In November we welcome back the Maggini Quartet
with a new programme of Haydn, Mendels-sohn and Rubbra.
The Maggini need no introduction and we look forward to
enjoying their concert which will also be in St Mary’s
Church; 4 pm on Sunday 22nd November 2009.
Our Countess of Munster Musical Trust concert this year
will be a duo: James Turnbull (oboe) and
Victoria Davies (harp) who will play a programme
ranging from Bach to Berkeley. The generosity of the
Trust is most gratefully acknowledged. The concert will
take place at the Constable Hall on Friday 4th
December at 8pm and be followed by the usual wine and
nibbles.
On Friday 29th January 2010 at 8 pm in the
Constable Hall Mateusz Borowiak will give a piano
recital. Mateusz is the 2009 winner of the Nigel W Brown
Music Prize; this is the latest in a string of awards
this young pianist has already received.
He won the
Coutts & Co Award for Keyboard at the 2006 Royal
Over-Seas League Annual Music Competition at the age of
17.
He has appeared at
numerous venues in the UK including the Barbican,
Cadogan Halls, the Purcell Room and several festivals he
has also appeared in Austria, the Czech Republic, Latvia
and Poland. Mateusz graduated from Cambridge with double
first class honours in 2009 and will be studying in
Poland with Andrzej Jasinski this year.
Our final concert will be on Friday 19 March at 8
pm in St Mary’s Church, East Bergholt (please
note the day
and venue)
with the appropriately named Trio con Brio
Copenhagen. This piano trio of two Korean sisters
Soo-Jin Hong (violin) and Soo-Kyung Hong (cello) and the
Danish pianist, Jens Elvekjaer (who is married to the
cellist) was formed in 1999 in Vienna and has drawn much
critical acclaim. Their ‘sparkling joie de vivre’ and
‘magic dialogue’ have attracted particular praise. We
hope that they will cast their magic over us in their
performance of Beethoven, Ravel and Smetana.
Annual Lecture
Friday 19th February 8 pm at the Constable
Hall.
We are delighted that one of our long-standing members,
Jeremy Greenwood, has kindly agreed to give our
lecture entitled ‘A great range of textures: the
wood-engravings of Eric Ravilious’. This is a
subject on which Jeremy is renowned as an expert: he has
recently published the catalogue raisonné of Ravilious’
wood-engravings. As well as being an author and
designer, Jeremy regularly gives lectures. The lecture
will be illustrated and followed by a reception.
Supper Concert
Saturday 9 January 2010, Constable Hall, at 7.30 pm
This popular fund-raising event returns and we hope that
as many of you as possible will join us to hear Tim
Pells (classical guitar) and Elizabeth Clarke
(soprano) perform a programme to include songs for High
Voice and Guitar by Campion, Dowland and Schubert
amongst others.
We have increased the ticket price for this event. We
hope you will agree that it is much simpler if we
include the cost of wine and soft drinks in the price.
An increase was also necessary because of rising costs
associated with the event. At £20 per person it still
represents excellent value.
Annual
General Meeting
This will take place at 6pm after the concert on 11
October 2009 at St Mary’s Church, East Bergholt. Members
are invited to join us for wine and cheese after the
meeting. AGM papers are enclosed for those who were
members last Season. All members, including new members,
are very welcome. Membership is by Season Ticket.
60th
Anniversary Season – Diary notes
Birthday Party
On Saturday 26th June 2010 we will be holding a special
celebration concert at St Mary’s Church and a Members’
Party to be held locally. Further information about the
concert will be on our website and invitations to the
party will be sent out to members in January 2010. We
hope as many of our supporters will come to the concert.
There will be a charge for this event.
The Art
and Times of the Guitar: Workshop and Concert
On 25th September 2010 we shall be holding a
special event. The English Guitar Quartet will be
running a hands-on workshop for classical and acoustic
guitarists of all ages. The sessions will include
rehearsal for a concert to be given by the participants
at the end of the workshop session. There will be space
for about 30 people on the sessions. It will start about
2pm and a light supper for participants and friends and
family will be provided. In the evening the English
Guitar Quartet will give a concert for the Society in
the Constable Hall with a programme ranging from Purcell
to Britten. Further details will be advertised in late
spring 2010. If you have family members or friends who
might be interested please note the date.
Programme Notes
We once again wish to record our thanks to Peter
Shave for his entertaining and enlightening
programme notes which do so much to improve our
appreciation of the music. We are really grateful for
his advice to the committee on matters musical as well.
Sponsors and Donors
Last Season we were supported most generously by Lady
Anne Wake-Walker and by David Grier of Grier & Partners
who once again sponsored the Supper Concert which
enables us to apply more of the proceeds towards
subsidising other events. We are also very grateful to
Grier and Partners for the support they give SVAM by
being our ticket agent in the centre of East Bergholt.
The current Season is supported by a bequest from the
late Gill Walker and by a donation from Professor
Cattermole to cover the cost of piano hire for the piano
recital. Once again David Grier has generously agreed
to support the Supper Concert. We are most grateful to
all our supporters, including the many members who
kindly add a donation when they apply for tickets.
These donations do help defray expenses such as the
wine and teas at concerts and mean that we can avoid
charging for them. Thank you to all of you who support
SVAM in so many ways and particularly by being such
loyal and enthusiastic audiences.
Stour
Valley Arts and Music Society is a Registered Charity:
Reg No 276640
