October 2010

The Divertimenti in Corfu Festival and the Chamber Music Holiday in Corfu have just finished. Wonderful concerts with the Herold Duo in a winery, our five star beach resort hotel, a private villa and an enchanting small square in the Old Town of Corfu. We had a most interesting excursion to Albania and others to various parts of this beautiful island, including the Old Town of Corfu which is always popular and now a World Heritage Site.

Our first Chamber Music Holiday in May 2010 was in St Goar on the Rhine. It was a great success with a compatible and interesting group of six nationalities with lots of chamber music playing and inspiring coaching by David Jackson – violist from Sydney and Martin Sedlak cellist from the Kinsky Trio in Prague.

St. Goar, Rhine Valley, Germany - 18 to 25 May 2011
Chamber music playing with coaching morning and afternoon on the 4th and 5th by the eminent cellist and composer Michael Denhoff from Bonn, a highly experienced chamber musician and coach. Coaching other days is in the morning only. Sightseeing will include a day in Bonn with the Beethoven Museum; visits to a local winery and the stunning Fortress Reinfels in St Goar; dinner in an historic restaurant in medieval Bacharach; and a wonderful day cruise to historic Rudesheim on the Rhine. Our friendly family-run hotel overlooking the Loreley corner of this majestic Rhine river provides excellent four course meals. Bookings are already open with a substantial discount for early payment.  

From Prague we went to visit Elvira Bekova, the world renowned soloist and violinist of the Bekova trio and her English doctor husband Michael Humphreys who have converted an historic farmhouse on the border of Tuscany and Umbria, Felcino Bianco. The amazing views and the building itself are fantastic and the concert hall built into the rock is breathtaking and acoustically superb.

Tuscany and Umbria - 1 to 13 September 2011
Planned together with Elvira and Michael and based in the nearby enchanting Etruscan hill town of Citerna on the Umbria/Tuscany border. I was absolutely entranced by this small town with an amazing atmosphere and with so much of interest nearby. Chamber music playing with coaching by Elvira and Alfia Bekova (Bekova Trio) graduates of the Moscow Conservatory, renowned for their solo concerts as their chamber music, and Igor Polesitsky leading chamber musician in Italy who has toured with such ensembles as the Borodin Quartet. They will also perform three concerts, two of these will be in Felcino Bianco with a buffet dinner in the gardens, an experience few visitors to Italy can experience. The other concert is in a beautiful old church in this historic town. Accommodation and most meals will be in a charming hotel with facilities for chamber music, an excellent restaurant, stunning views and a lovely pool in delightful surroundings. Sightseeing will include the historic towns of Gubbio, Citta de Castello, Perugia, Etruscan Cortona and nearby Arezzo and Sansepalcro and we shall spend a day visiting the famous wine towns of Montepulciao and Montalcino. Bookings have already started and there are generous discounts for early payment in full. We have a limit of just 23 rooms so it is wise to book early especially for single rooms.

Divertimenti in Corfu - 16 to 30 September 2011
The excursion to Albania is always an attraction visiting Gjirokastra and Saranda Castle as well as the fantastic archaeological site at Butrint. Corfu is a very varied and beautiful island and the Old Town of Corfu is fascinating with two Venetian Fortresses, wonderful museums and a maze of narrow streets in the Venetian sector and with the French and British influences it is certainly unique. Our five star beach resort hotel is superb with four restaurants serving gourmet meals and many amenities including two sandy beaches; also places for chamber music playing. Details of the concerts and coaching will be published later this year. Early booking discounts are offered.

I am working on the possibility of one other Chamber Music Holiday in late June, details will be in the next Newsletter. For Christmas 2011 I have a choice of interesting places such as Prague, Istanbul and maybe Egypt.

News of our “Musical Family”

In June we stayed with Brigitte Riemens and Franco Romei in their wonderful home in Florence and got together with Igor Polesitsky, Roger and Elena Low and Adriana Terry. I mentioned in the last Newsletter the very sad news of the famous luthier John Terry’s death. Adriana told me she still has a viola and cello of his for sale, anyone interested can email her.

In Prague we had a most enjoyable 50th birthday party for the great Czech cellist Michal Kanka (Prazak Quartet). Everyone said it was one of the best get togethers they had been to, with several of the top musicians in Prague including the Prazak Quartet.  It was a warm evening so we could also be on the large balcony of my apartment overlooking the city. The Kanka family have been part of Chamber Music Holidays for many years as have many other famous Czech musicians.

The Herold Quartet had a highly prestigious concert on 17 September as soloists with the Talich Chamber Orchestra. The concert was on the Anniversary of the “Velvet Revolution” in Prague Castle with the President and other VIPs in the audience.  

The Kinsky Trio - Lucie Sedlak Hulova who many of you know from the mid 1990s until now and her husband Martin Sedlak - have a new pianist, Slavka Pechocova. Their concert in May was excellent, especially the Smetana Trio. 

I was sorry to miss the wonderful Aron Quartet festival in Schloss Laudon on the outskirts of Vienna. It was a highlight in 2008 – great music in stunning surroundings. I hope to return again soon. Their concert for our group in the apartment hotel last year was one of the high points in the Vienna/Eszterhaza Holiday Festival.

It was a such pleasure to get back in touch with Martin and Rosemarie Packham from Bonn who came to the first CMH in Chelsea, London in 1982 and returned for many years. Martin has been most helpful with contacts in Bonn including Michael Denhoff.

It is such a pleasure to keep in email and phone contact with so many people who have been on our Holidays. Do forward this Newsletter to anyone who may be interested and I would be grateful for email addresses of people who could be planning to attending one of the Chamber Music Holidays. There have been problems with emails so if you do not get a reply please resend. I apologise to those who somehow received the August 2009 Newsletter last April instead of May. We have still not been able to find out how this happened.

All best wishes for the rest of the year.

Vivienne Pittendrigh

Previous Newsletters

Spring 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
June 2009
May 2009
February 2009
December 2008
October 2008