January 2010

Happy New Year and may it be filled with wonderful music. This will be a shorter newsletter as I am at present moving to a new home here in Corfu, ideally suited for the barbeque and parties in September for the Chamber Music Holiday group. If you try to phone me during the next week my phone may still not be connected after the move so please be patient, the emails will only come through on my mobile phone. I shall be in Italy in February checking details for the Asolo and Venice Holiday and exploring a most interesting possibility for 2011. I am looking forward to meeting good friends who I first met 20 years ago - Igor Polesitsky and Roger Low, two of Italy's leading chamber musicians, who will again be our coaches in Asolo. Charismatic and highly experienced teachers they are always very popular with our participants. I shall also be visiting a friend I have not seen for a few years, Elvira Bekova the brilliant violinist of the famous Bekova Trio. Elvira and her husband have a fantastic converted farmhouse on the border of Tuscany and Umbria and have wonderful music festivals there. More about that in the next Newsletter.   

St. Goar, Rhine Valley, Germany - 12 to 19 May
This new Holiday is most  exciting. It would be advisable to reserve as soon as possible as single rooms especially are almost booked out already. At present men way outnuimber women in this group so I am looking forward to more bookings especially from women - but more men are most welcome too of course!  Several of us (8 so far) will be going from St Goar straight to Prague so we start on 19th with dinner then playing, an opera and sightseeing before the main group arrives on 21st. Do join us! 

Prague Spring Festival - 21 May to 2 June
The Prague Spring Festival is one of the most famous and prestigious in Europe. We have eight concerts and one opera during our stay. This is very special for me as many years ago I first put my foot on European soil in Prague in May for the Spring Festival coming from Australia with a Chamber Music group. I fell in love with this magnificent city, its wonderful music and its friendly people and my affection has grown over the years. The great Czech cellist Michal Kanka will be celebrating his 50th birthday with us at a party in my apartment in the hotel on 21st May. He will have a special recital on 24th May and on 1st June a concert with the Prazak Quartet of which he is a member. Extensive sightseeing will include some guided walks visit to two of my special favourites, the Musical Instruments Museum and the Lobkowicz Museum and many other places. It would be advisable to book early as tickets for the opera sell quickly and I only make reservations once deposits are paid. It is possible to join Prague with Budapest/Vienna which starts on 4th June. 

Prague Summer Festival - 21 August to 2 September
This very popular Holiday has wonderful music and so much more. Prague is usually not crowded at this time and we have extensive sightseeing as described above in May as well as concerts of lots of chamber music playing with coaching. Prague is very green and our hotel overlooks the main city, a superb position near the castle. Meals vary from typical Czech menus to international cuisine, several in the hotel restaurant, outdoor barbeque area and terrace. A favourite is a Czech restaurant with a fantastic virtuoso band. The discount for payment in full is still available until 28 January.

Asolo and Venice - 4 to 12 September
The Asolo International Music Festival will be a highlight, as will the world famous Human Chess Game in Marostica which is held every two years. As I mentioned above I shall be visiting Asolo for some days next month and I hope to have some new photos for the website, I shall also try out a couple of new restaurants to add to the list I already have - this is a gourmet paradise! There is a discount for payment in full available until 1st February.

Asolo and Venice can be combined with the Corfu Chamber Music Holiday.
Enjoy the unique, spectacular views as you sail out of Venice passing the Grand Canal, St Mark's Square, the Doge's Palace and the Vivaldi Church, it is amazing to look down on the maze of canals and houses. Stay over in Venice on 13th September then take the ferry to Corfu the next afternoon, arriving the following evening. The ferries are like cruise boats with restaurants, cafe/bars, swimming pools, shops and a large range of cabins. Several of our participants have travelled this way and they all had a great time. You would then have 15th at leisure in Corfu before the Holiday starts on 16th. You could also stay longer in Venice or the Veneto area departing from Venice early afternoon on 15th and arrive in Corfu around midday on 16th.

Divertimenti in Corfu - 16 to 30 September.
This is the 23rd year on this beautiful, lush green, cultured island. Our first year in the friendly, family run hotel was a big success, the 500 year old family chapel was a very popular place for chamber music. I am preparing the programmes for the concerts with the wonderful Herold Quartet. They will include Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven (op 57 no 2 and op 131) Dvorak (op 105 and 106) Ravel, Borodin, Tchaikovsky and Janacek's Intimate Letters. Details on the website later next month. Discount for payment in full until 15 February. 

The Stamic Quartet will be on tour in Japan in early February - I am sure they would be delighted to see the many Japanese participants in the Chamber Music Holidays groups who they met in Prague and Corfu!

Once again thank you all for your interest and support and please forward this Newsletter to friends who may be interested. Do continue to send me contacts with people who may be interested in joining us. Thank you to everyone who has sent me their change of e-mail address, this is most helpful. If you have written an e-mail to me which has not been answered, please re-send it as I am still finding important emails and application forms in junk or spam filters.

I really enjoy your emails responding to the Newsletter - do keep writing! I hope to see you this year.

Vivienne E. Pittendrigh

Previous Newsletters

December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
June 2009
May 2009
February 2009
December 2008
October 2008