March 2011
Spring is approaching and after a very strange winter it will be most welcome.
St. Goar, Rhine Valley, Germany - 18 to 25 May
This is a lovely time in this beautiful area of Germany. A full programme with intensive coaching and fascinating sightseeing. As this is just two months away, bookings will close on 18 March so please contact me immediately if you intend to join us.
Divertimenti in Corfu Festival - 28 June to 9 July
There are some major changes for this year. First of all the dates – much earlier than previous years and an ideal time with fabulous long balmy evenings. We have a wonderful opera in a spectacular setting the first week. The Ionian University Summer School Baroque choir and orchestra are performing Purcell’s Opera Dido and Aeneas and the world renowned Baroque conductor and violinist Stanley Ritchie will direct and conduct this. We are invited to the dress rehearsal as well as the first night in the magnificent St George’s Chapel in the Old Venetian Fortress. We then have three outstanding concerts with Stanley Ritchie, this time playing classical violin with cellist Roger Low, one of the leading chamber musicians in Italy. The violist in the last concert will be Zbynek Padourek from the Martinu Quartet, Prague (formerly violist of the Kocian Quartet) and in the other two concerts the violist is David Jackson, a well known chamber musician from Sydney. Programmes will include Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert. Concerts will be in wonderful private Venetian mansions (places few tourists ever have the opportunity to visit) and a delightful Country Club in the north of the island. Sightseeing with much of historical interest including a day at the famous archaeological site Butrint in Albania, exploring the UNESCO World Heritage site of Corfu Town with its Venetian Fortresses and museums, and a day trip on a boat to the north of the island including historic Kassiopi. Accommodation is in a five star beachside hotel with excellent restaurants and many amenities, lots of socialising with like minded people - ideal for players and listeners.
Umbria and Tuscany - 1 to 13 September
Our first Chamber Music Holiday Festival on the border of Umbria and Tuscany. This is proving very popular and you are strongly advised to make reservations as soon as possible as our hotel has only 25 rooms and many of these are already booked. The hotel has made available three additional single rooms, anyone interested should reserve one of these immediately, all others were booked some time ago. I am working with Elvira Bekova (Bekova Trio) and her husband Michael Humphreys, a retired English doctor, who is an excellent organizer. They give wonderful help and support and have much experience in the local area as they organize Masterclasses every year. Elvira and her sister, Alfia Bekova, who are our coaches, are famous as chamber musicians in the Bekova Trio and also playing with various other musicians. Their solo careers are highly successful and they also excel as teachers. They will be joined by Igor Polesitsky, the outstanding violist from Florence and leading chamber musician in Italy - at present on tour in North America with Kelzmeratafiorentina which he founded. Two of the concerts will be held in the fantastic concert hall in Elvira and Michael's home, a wonderful converted Tuscan farmhouse where some of the morning coaching sessions will be held. Visiting such a delightful historic home is something most tourists never experience.
Other news
I have just heard that the Kelzmeratafiorentina and also the Prazak Quartet are in Vancouver this week so no doubt they will be in other parts of North America – do check your concert schedules.
Alfia Bekova has been invited to be a member of the International Jury for a new Piano Trio competition to be held in Graz, Austria in February 2012.
The Kinsky Trio is most successful with a recent concert in the Prague Spring Festival series, a very prestigious event. Their new CD - Czech Chamber Music 1872-1910 - is now available and features Forester, Novak, Janacek and Fibich.
The violinist Sedlakova Hulova Lucie is at present on tour with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in Japan and hopes to meet some friends from Chamber Music Holidays. Our thoughts are with people of this wonderful country after the terrible disaster.
Zbynek Padourek, formerly violist of the Kocian Quartet now with the Martinu Quartet, will be in Corfu in July on holiday with his family and will play at one of the concerts in Divertimenti in 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. I hope to see you later this year. If you have written an e-mail to me which has not been answered please resend it.
All best wishes,
Vivienne Pittendrigh.
Previous Newsletters
November 2010
October 2010
Spring 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
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May 2009
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December 2008
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