Newsletter number 9
September 2007
It’s hard to know as we write whether summer has really
come but we hope it has and will stay for a few weeks
more. However we are beginning to feel that it is quite
a long while since our last concert and we are now
looking forward with renewed energy to the start of our
57th Season.
Last Season
The 2006-7, was one of our most successful and enjoyable
in recent memory. We recall a few highlights and wish to
pass on some news about recent successes of some of the
performers.
We met the new Season with a trumpet fanfare from
Alison Balsom accompanied on the organ by David
Goode. It was a wonderful concert in St Mary’s
Church and we were delighted that so many young people
came along.
It was a great pleasure to welcome back the Maggini
Quartet; they are continuing with their
interpretation and presentation of the modern English
repertoire and will give the premiere of the final work
of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies's acclaimed cycle of ten
'Naxos Quartets' at the Wigmore Hall on Tuesday 16th
October 2007.
We have been especially fortunate to have heard from
some very talented young performers at the start of
glittering careers: prizes have gone to three of our
artists from last Season.
In December 2006 we heard the solo violinist
Ruth Palmer.
Her concert for us in December was deservedly acclaimed
by you as was her accompanist
Alexei Grynyuk
who gallantly stepped in at the last minute. We are
delighted that in March 2007 Ruth won the Classical Brit
Award for Young British classical performer,
2007; this award has raised her profile and we wish her
every success.
Sally Pryce and Adam Walker gave a superb performance for the Supper Concert and we are
delighted to report that Adam was chosen by the Young
Concert Artists’ Trust at their annual auditions in May
this year, for representation by them. He gave a truly
musical performance at the auditions and we hope that we
will hear more of him.
For our Countess of Munster Trust concert
in
March
we
were privileged to hear the young soprano
Elizabeth Watts
perform for us the programme she subsequently sang at
the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition in June
2007. She won
the Rosenblatt Recital
Song Prize and made it to the final round of the BBC
Cardiff Singer of the World 2007 competition. We were
delighted to see her successful in this prestigious
competition.
We ended our Season with our first concert in
Dedham Church – a beautiful sunny afternoon and
wonderful acoustics enhanced the magical sound of the
Sacconi Quartet with David Campbell and his
exquisite clarinet.
The lecture by Richard Ormond CBE on John
Singer Sargent was beautifully illustrated with many
paintings from private collections and we were treated
to an entertaining and intellectually stimulating look
at Sargent’s life and oeuvre. Richard Ormond was the
curator of the much admired exhibition Sargent in
Venice which was shown this year in New York and
Venice and was critically acclaimed in both venues
The 2007-8
Season
We are again presenting six concerts one of which will
be in the form of the very popular annual Supper
Concert;and one lecture The concerts offer a variety of
ensembles and one duo, ranging from a new Young Concert
Artist’s Trust performer who is appearing with us under
the auspices of the Countess of Munster Trust to the
long established and London Harpsichord Ensemble. We
also welcome back old friends: the Henschel Quartet.
We start the Season in East Bergholt Church on
Sunday 21st October at 4pm with the
Navarra Quartet. In July 2007 the Navarra Quartet
won 2nd Prize in the Fifth Melbourne
International Chamber Music Competition. Winners of the
2005 Florence International Chamber Music Competition
and selected for representation by YCAT in 2006. They
have taken part in the International Musicians Seminar
at Prussia Cove and in 2008 return as resident quartet
to the Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh. We are really
looking forward to hearing this fast-rising star quartet
– you can also hear them at Snape the evening before
(7.30) with the cellist Alasdair Tait.
The London Harpsichord Ensemble
led and directed by oboist Sarah Francis will lighten a November
afternoon for us in St Mary’s Church, East Bergholt on
Sunday 18th November, again at 4pm. The
Ensemble is the longest established chamber music group
in Britain and was started by Sarah’s parents in the
1950s. The Ensemble has made many recordings which have
received great critical praise. It is quite a while
since we have had a harpsichord at a concert and it
should be a memorable occasion.
We are very grateful to The Countess of
Munster Trust for sponsoring one concert each year; this
year they are supporting Thomas Gould, violin,
accompanied by John Reid, piano.
Thomas graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in 2006
and was also selected for representation by YCAT in
2006. His playing has been described as ‘full of
breathtaking shifts of perspective and colour ...’
Evening Standard 4 May 2007. John Reid has had a
number of significant recital appearances in England and
in Europe; one performance was described as ‘a master
class in piano-playing in itself, [he] has a technique
to be envied’. Eastern Daily Press, 9 May 2006.
They are performing for us on Friday 1st
February at 8pm in the Constable Hall.
The
Henschel Quartet is returning for the third time in the last six years. They need
no introduction and we are really anticipating with
great pleasure hearing them again. Their concert will
take place on Sunday 24 February 2008 at 4pm at St
Mary’s Church East Bergholt. They are performing the
night before at Ipswich Music Society with a slightly
different programme. We are extremely grateful to an
anonymous donor who has most generously sponsored this
concert.
The Season will end in Dedham Church on Friday 4th
April 2008 at 8pm. Please note the different venue, day
and time for a church concert. The Kungsbacka Piano
Trio have performed all over the world since their
formation in 1997 and since winning First Prize in the
third Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition
in 1999. They have won much critical acclaim, and this
should be a good finale to our season.
The Annual Lecture will take place on Friday 14th
March 2008 at 8pm in the Constable Hall. Thomas
Gainsborough will be the subject of the
lecture by Diane Perkins, Director of Gainsborough House
in Sudbury. She is a specialist in 18th and
early 19th century British art and has
published and curated exhibitions on Gainsborough,
Turner and Sporting Art, amongst others. Until 2004 she
had been a curator at the Tate for 17 years and was the
co-author of its ‘Gainsborough’ exhibition catalogue in
2002. Her lecture will examine Gainsborough’s career
tracing his path from provincial Suffolk to fashionable
Bath and finally to London. His paintings are looked at
within the context of 18th century society
showing how he tackled some of the contemporary concerns
of fashion, sensibility and rural poverty.
Supper
Concert
Saturday 12 January 2008 7.30pm
The Pegasus Wind Trio, which consists of oboe, clarinet and bassoon, will perform both
classical and some lighter pieces for our traditional
supper concert. They are all recent graduates who are
promoted by the Royal College of Music.
Tickets to include supper are £15.
To avoid disappointment please use the booking
form to reserve your places now. Numbers are limited
because of space. We are immensely grateful to David
Grier, of Grier and Partners Estate Agents
for once again sponsoring this event.
Jazz
Concert
We are delighted to announce that we will be holding the
second SVAM Jazz concert on Saturday May 17th
2008. More details will be available in December. If you
would like to receive further information and a booking
form please would you indicate on the booing form or by
writing to the Hon Sec. Information will be posted on
our website but will only be distributed by mail to
those who have indicated an interest.
Ticket
Prices
With the ever-increasing costs with which we are faced
we have decided that we now have to raise the ticket
prices as follows: Single ticket for each concert £12;
Lecture £10. Season tickets will remain, very
competitively, at £40 single and £70 double for this
year. We think this is excellent value and we hope that
you will all want to become Season ticket members of
SVAM.
Website
www.svam.org.uk
This is our website where you can check up-to-date
details of concerts, download or re-read programme notes
from the more recent past Seasons and discover more
about the current season’s performers. We are hoping to
have links to more sites soon. Please do visit us there
and let us have your comments and suggestions for how we
can make the site more useful for our audiences. At the
moment Google is not very good at finding us so the more
you visit SVAM the more visible we will become. Please
help us by visiting the site as often as you can.
Annual General Meeting
This will take place at 6pm after the concert on 21st
October 2007 at St Mary’s Church, East Bergholt and will
be followed by wine and cheese. The AGM agenda is
enclosed for those who were members last Season.
All members from last year are welcome and new members
are very welcome too. Membership is by Season Ticket.
Alicia Herbert
