I am sure most Amigos will remember 2009 – 2010 when we celebrated the twentieth birthday of our association in some style. The concerts throughout the season were excellent and the celebratory dinner was on the terrace was spectacular. At the end of that year I thought we had reached our zenith and that we would find it difficult to do better than that. One year later and we have marked the thirtieth anniversary of the opening of the Cultural Centre. Oh me of little faith! 2010/2011 has proved to be an equally remarkable year for the Amigos.

We began in September with two lovely concerts from Yevgeny Sudbin who was brimming with vitality and happiness having very recently become a father for the first time. He was so proud and so devoted that he could hardly wait to get home after each performance to be with his beloved family once again. How fortunate were we to have this very gifted young man come and play for us once again?

October saw a highly successful first time visit from Constantin Sandu and Horia Vacarescu playing piano and violin respectively. With any luck we should be able to tempt Sandu back again at some time in the future. No less excellent was Horia Vacarescu although it will probably be much more difficult to recapture such a Will o’- the – wisp. Also in October we rallied support for a concert which was given at the auditorium at Vale do Lobo by our then prospective protégé, Antonio Cebola. The subject of the demise of Antonio will be brought up later in this report.

As usual in November we held our AGM. It was well attended and all went smoothly. All the officers of the Association were prepared to stand again and were re-elected en bloc. Anneli Lindroos was also co-opted onto the committee of the Direcção. Afterwards we had our young musician’s Gala concert when Joana Ballmann, our sponsored student of the last four years at the Conservatory in Cologne, played her excellent final concert for us. Joana has since graduated successfully from the conservatory in Cologne. Later we were the guests of Marie and the team at the Cultural Centre for a delicious and sumptuous supper.

For our Christmas and New Year concerts we were delighted to hear the piano playing of Joana Gama. These seasonal concerts were as always well attended and come as welcome break in the middle an otherwise hectic season. There could have been no one better way to celebrate the first of the Cultural Centres 30th Anniversary concerts than the winsome Katya Apekisheva. Her piano concerts in late February and early March were magical and very well attended. Katya is great fun to have around, always fizzing with ability and vivacity.

In March we had the pleasure of welcoming back Uta Kerner, Violin, Sunita Mamtani, Cello and pianist Julian Reim. This talented trio of friends have been to São Lourenço several times before and they are just as harmonious off the platform as they are on it. Germany produces some of finest musicians in Europe and it was delightful to have them back and hear them again.

At Easter time we had the pleasure of hearing our dear friend Piers Lane once again, and this time he brought with him the world renowned Clarinettist, Michael Collins. No wonder I began my report by saying that we may have even eclipsed the success of 2009/2010. To have these two world renowned musicians was something of a coup for us. Piers as well as playing with major international orchestras around the world still organises his acclaimed annual Music festival in Brisbane as well as a series of concerts at the National Gallery to celebrate the life of the late Dame Myra Hess. Michael Collins has now extended his consummate talents and become the Principal Conductor of the City of London Sinfonia.

In May we were quite delighted to see the lovely pianist, Sa Chen once again. We first met SaSa when she came to the Cultural Centre in May 2009 and we were all quite captivated by her youthful personality as well as her superb playing. Since then her career has blossomed spectacularly and she is very much in demand. For all that, when she knew that Marie was asking her to be part of the thirtieth anniversary celebrations of the Cultural Centre, she enthusiastically agreed she would come. Such is friendship.

June turned out to be a wonderful month for the Amigos. On the second day of the month the Amigos had arranged a dinner party on the terrace São Lourenço to celebrate the anniversary when Marie and Christina were our principal guests. The catering was contracted to fellow Amigo, Annelies Ruegebrink who undertook to provide the tables, chairs and the staff needed to accommodate some fifty enthusiastic participants who were to enjoy a Latin American themed evening under the stars. The evening began with a choice of cocktails accompanied by the sounds of a guitar and an accordion and then on to dinner at exquisitely decorated tables and chairs in red, black and white where everyone enjoyed an excellent dinner in romantic surroundings. To further add to the glamour, Annelies had generously provided an attractive pair of young tango dancers who danced with true Latin passion between the tables at intervals throughout the evening. We are totally indebted to Annelies for her masterful arrangements and for giving us a truly lovely occasion.

Our concerts in June came from another good friend, the masterful violinist, Jeroen de Groot. This time he brought a new pianist with him, Bart Van de Roer. We have had the pleasure of hearing Jeroen many times over the years, but perhaps he has never been in better form than this year when he and Bart seemed to find between them an excellent balance, one bringing out the best of the other.

June also provided us with a totally unexpected surprise when, out of the blue, we were introduced to Ana Beatriz Ferreira. Anne Kaasa, the Lisbon based, Norwegian born, pianist who has played excellently at the Cultural Centre and was instrumental in finding Joana Ballmann as our last sponsored student turned up trumps once again. As most Amigos will remember, we had hoped that our next sponsored student would be Antonio Cebola but very sadly, as he was not able to gain a place at any music school and we found ourselves without a suitable recipient for our Young Musicians fund; until that is, Ana Beatriz came along. Helga and I interviewed this charming and confident young woman who had already gained a place at the Royal College of Music in London to study piano but was desperately seeking further sponsorship to make her dream come true. After the interview she performed short concert for the committee and duly impressed us all. Since then she has moved to a RCM Hall of residence in central London and begun her studies. She has written ecstatic letters to us saying how appreciative she is of our support. She is a truly worthy beneficiary of our fund an as usual, after the AGM, our young musician will play for the Amigos and later, there will be an opportunity to meet her.

The committee have continued to be an enormous support throughout the year. We have met regularly, the meetings have been constructive and enjoyable, and everyone has shouldered the wheel. Once again we have been blessed with excellent press coverage of our programs and the concerts have been well attended throughout the year.

Bookmark this page

INVITATION

A Latin American dinner for the Amigos de Música in celebration of the 30^th Anniversary of the Centro Cultural de Sâo Lourenço at 7.30 on the 2^nd June 2011.

We have chosen fellow Amigo Annelies Reugebrink to take care of us on this special occasion. Annelies, as well as being the honorary Dutch Consul, has been a highly successful professional caterer in the Algarve for many years and it goes without saying that Marie will be our guest of honour for the occasion.

The evening will begin at 7.30 with cocktails and what better cocktail than a well

chilled Margarida, although less heady alternatives will also be on hand. As last year, there will be table plans and we shall again be seated at circular tables where dinner will be served at 8.30. We begin with ‘Ceviche’, a light and refreshing Chilean dish of fish marinated in line juice before moving on to ‘Picanha’ from Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay which makes the best of the excellent beef which extensively farmed in all three countries. Refried beans, sausage, fried pineapple and baked potatoes Andean style will be the accompaniment. For our pudding we shall have a homemade Chilean chocolate cake served with everyone’s favourite vanilla ice cream and Amarena Cherries. The red and white wines served throughout will be from Malhadinha Nova. The sound of a guitar and an accordion will be heard at intervals throughout the evening and we will have the pleasure of seeing a talented couple dance the Tango.

The dress code will be ‘Summer casual’ which should leave plenty of scope for those who may care to be a little inventive. Space is limited and reservations will be strictly on a first come first paid basis. The cost to Members will be 60€ and Guests 65€

We/I would like to attend the Amigos Latin American Dinner on 2^nd June 2011

Name(s) of Member(s) __________________________________________________

Name(s) of Guest(s) ____________________________________________________

Cheque enclosed in the amount of: €                          payable to AAMSL

Please return this slip together with your cheque by Monday 23^rd May 2011 to me, Barry Shaw. Rua de Sâo Sebastião 4. Boliqueime. Loulé  8100 – 070.  Alternatively by Bank Transfer to Banco Totta Santander. NIB: 0018 0000 4041014600103 and confirm with a copy of the transfer receipt to michael.savage@sapo.pt

Bookmark this page

ASSOCIAÇÃO DE AMIGOS DE MÚSICA DE  SÃO LOURENÇO

INVITATION

After the Annual General Meeting

On Friday the 26th November 2010

at the Centro Cultural de São Lourenço,

all the Amigos have been invited by

Marie Huber and her Team

To our traditional

AAMSL Young Musicians Gala

Which will be followed by Supper

DRINKS WILL BE SERVED AFTER THE AGM AND AT 8 O’CLOCK.  THE  GALA CONCERT WILL GIVE ALL AMIGOS ANOTHER  OPPORTUNITY TO HEAR OUR SPONSOREE

JOANA BALLMANN

”””””””””””””””’

This event is exclusively for the Amigos de Mùsica

There is no charge but it is important to

RSVP

Please remember to call the Centro Cultural to make your reservation.

289 395 475

NB. While we would like you to come to the AGM, you are very welcome to attend only the concert and supper. Please RSVP to confirm

Bookmark this page

20th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION DINNER

8th May, 2010

Dear Amigos,

You will remember that some time ago I wrote to tell you that we were planning to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the founding of the Amigos de Música with a rather special dinner at Vila Monte near Moncarapacho. While the response has been fairly good, it has also been suggested that perhaps we should have thought of holding this very special event closer to home. To that end we have made the decision to cancel the original plan and replace it with the following which I hope you will agree will make for a much more enjoyable evening.

Instead of holding the event at Vila Monte we now propose to celebrate the occasion at home. In other words, the evening will now take place at the São Lourenço Cultural Centre where we have arranged to have an excellent dinner professionally catered for by the well know Gisela and Ad Matthijs of Fine Dining in Almancil.

The date and time remain the same – 4th June 7.00 pm. The Black tie dress code remains the same. The price remains the same, 60 Euros for Amigos, 65 for guests. The musical entertainment remains unchanged, in fact the whole evening begins to look a whole lot better.

Marie as always has been very encouraging in this change of plan and having had the good fortune to have dined Chez Gisela on several occasions in the past, I am confident that the food and wine will be more delicious and the service superb. The evening will be more relaxed and the ambiance more intimate.

I hope you find these changes to the original plans exciting and acceptable; I cannot for the life of me imagine why we did not think of it before.

Kind regards,

Barry

Member(s) [60 Euros] attending: ___________________________________________________

Guests wishing to attend: [65 Euros] ________________________________________________

Cheque enclosed: ___________Euros.   Payable to: The Amigos de Música or AAMSL

Cheques together with this slip should be posted to me please: Barry Shaw. Rua de São Sebastião 4. Boliqueime. 8100 – 070 Loule.

Barry Shaw
Rua de São Sebastião 4. Boliqueime. 8100 – 070
Tel: 289 366 617  Tlm: 919 739 997  e-mail: info@amigos-de-musica.org
Website: www.amigos-de-musica.org

Bookmark this page

The cost of the evening will be 60 Euros for Amigos and 65 Euros for Guests. Cheques should be sent directly to me please, to be in my hands not later than the 17th May.
This should be a lovely elegant evening and I look forward to seeing you there..
Barry

20th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION DINNER  ON 4TH JUNE
Member(s) attending:             _____________________________________________________________
Guest(s) wishing to attend:    ______________________________________________________________
Cheque enclosed: _______________Euros.      (Payable to:-‘The Amigos de M QUOTE  sica’ or AAMSL)
Cheques together with this slip should be posted to me please:- Barry Shaw. Rua de São Sebastião 4.
Boliqueime, 8100 – 070 Loule.

Bookmark this page

Financial Report for the year to 30^th. June, 2009

This is really now my last report to the members and am very pleased to pass my duties to the safe hands of Michael Savage.

The outcome for the year as expected is a deficit of €2,745 against a surplus for last year 2007/08 of €3,835.  This is almost totally explained by the increase of support to the Centro Cultural (CCSL) of €5,890.

Our normal income is static and indicates that the increase in subscriptions of €25 is justified.  The association’s reserves are substantial but can be eroded.  Members support in the form of contributing to individual concerts or musicians is less and is to be expected in the current financial climate.

The attendance figures are as follows:

2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004

Paying Guests     36                  41                   36                   45                   42                   37

Members            33 36 33 34 37 34

69                  77                   69                   79                   79                   71

The average cost of each concert was:

2009 2008 2007 2006

Average Cost €            915                 546                 816                 705

Concerts                        16                    16                    18                    14

Another interesting statistic is that the average number of visiting musicians per concert was 2 which must explain the increase this year and of course members’ individual support being less.

It is very clear that if we wish to maintain high quality and versatility in our concerts the price has to be paid.

As I continue to be a member I look forward to the association’s progress.

Edwin B. Bisset

Treasurer

Bookmark this page

INCOME & EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT YEAR TO 30TH JUNE 2009

A.A.M.S.L.

BALANCE SHEET AS AT 30TH JUNE 2009

Bookmark this page

Minutes of the Assembleia Geral of 2007-2008

The Assembleia Geral of the Associação was called to order at 17:30 on Friday, November 21st, 2008, in the Centro Cultural of São Lourenço by its Presidente, Mr. John Levitt. There not being a quorum present, the meeting was postponed for one hour and was reconvened at 18:30 of the same day in the same place with 41 members present in person and 14 present by proxy out of a total paid-up membership of 109 members (including 4 honorary members).

A reading of the minutes of the previous AGM of 23rd November, 2007, was dispensed with by unanimous consent. There were no matters arising.

The Presidente of the Direcção, Mr. Barry Shaw, gave his report (copy attached), reviewing the Associação’s 16 concerts of the past year and noting that, after detailed consideration by the Management Committee, it was decided to keep the annual membership fee unchanged at € 125 but to raise the joining fee from € 50 to € 75. The meeting was asked for a show of interest in having a summer party next summer and most present were in favour. Mr. Shaw also noted that 2010 would mark the 30th anniversary for the Centro Cultural and the 20th anniversary for our Associação. He then thanked the Committee in general for its work during the year and, in particular, Margaret Jackson, who volunteered to take over from Rosemarie Angell as Secretário, and Edwin Bisset, the retiring Tesoureiro, for his 10 years’ service. Mr. Bisset will be replaced by Ted Maitland. The CCSL stopped providing food for the concerts a year ago, which has meant that, as AAMSL wishes to continue having food provided, an outside caterer has been used, which has resulted in an increase in costs. Mr. Shaw urged members to donate services (such as accomodation, air tickets, rental cars, etc for artists) and to bring paying guests as ways of helping AAMSL’s finances. The President´s report was accepted unanimously.

In Helga Hampton’s absence for illness Mr. Shaw described the Master Class project with Paul Crossley that is being created by Mrs. Hampton, noting that it will take place in October, 2009 (the next fiscal year) and that, with the help of conservatories all over Portugal, 3 Portuguese pianists had already been enlisted, with 3 more to come. The Classes will be open to AAMSL members and there will be 2 concerts given. This project will be financed by a very generous donation of € 5,000.

Mr. Edwin Bisset, the Tesoureiro, gave his report (copy attached). He noted that in the 2007-2008 year AAMSL events averaged 36 members (up 9% from last year) and 41 paying guests (up by 5 from last year) for a total average attendance of 77, about 86% of the venue’s capacity. The year turned out better than expected financially, mainly because there was a reduction of € 5,950 in the total support required of AAMSL for CCSL concerts. Annual subs were down marginally but donations totalled € 6,030 (of which € 5,000 has been put into restricted funds for the Master Class project). The Ballmann sponsorship was a € 1,000 expenditure. A surplus of € 3,835 was earned.

The Conselho Fiscal’s report (copy attached) was given and the reports of both the Tesoureiro and the Conselho Fiscal were unanimously accepted.

The biannual election of officers was held and the following were elected unanimously for a 2 year term:

Position Assembleia Geral Direcção Conselho Fiscal
Presidente John Levitt Barry Shaw John Perera
Vice Presidente Christine Lady Vasvasour Helga Hampton Erika Steinacker
Secretário Larry Hampton Margaret Jackson Jeffrey Jackson
Tesoureiro Ted Maitland

In his closing remarks Mr. Shaw thanked the existing AAMSL officers and he presented AAMSL’s traditional gifts of thanks to the Centro Cultural’s staff with appropriate comments.

There being no further business, Mr. Levitt closed the meeting at 19:10 and the members present then enjoyed cocktails and a piano recital by the Associação’s sponsoree, Ms. Joanna Ballmann, followed by a lovely meal offered by Marie Huber and her team at the Centro Cultural.

Bookmark this page

Financial Report for the year to 30^th. June, 2009

This is really now my last report to the members and I am very pleased to pass my duties to the safe hands of Michael Savage.

The outcome for the year as expected is a deficit of €2,745 against a surplus for last year 2007/08 of €3,835. This is almost totally explained by the increase of support to the Centro Cultural (CCSL) of €5,890.

Our normal income is static and indicates that the increase in subscriptions of €25 is justified. The association’s reserves are substantial but can be eroded. Members support in the form of contributing to individual concerts or musicians is less and is to be expected in the current financial climate.

The attendance figures are as follows:

2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004

Paying Guests 36 41 36 45 42 37

Members 33 36 33 34 37 34

69 77 69 79 79 71

The average cost of each concert was:

2009 2008 2007 2006

Average Cost € 915 546 816 705

Concerts 16 16 18 14

Another interesting statistic is that the average number of visiting musicians per concert was 2 which must explain the increase this year and of course members’ individual support being less.

It is very clear that if we wish to maintain high quality and versatility in our concerts the price has to be paid.

As I continue to be a member I look forward to the association’s progress.

Edwin B. Bisset

Treasurer

Bookmark this page

When it was time for the first concert of our new season in September 2008 the financial markets of the world were in a state of uncertainty and disarray. No one could predict what was going to happen next and everyone was worried, but magically the sun was shining and we were due to hear the internationally famous flautist Marc Grauwels and guitarist Yves Storm for the first time. Although the concerts did not quell the stormy financial turmoil, they were good and gave us a small haven of calm amongst the chaos.

In October we welcomed back the delightful pianist Lucy Parham who with the benefit of actors Orla Charlton and Christopher Bramwell, gave us an insight into the extraordinary creative and temperamental life of Franz Liszt with readings from letters liberally interspersed with romantic examples of his music. It was a format first successfully devised by Lucy some years ago when she came across the many letters which had passed between Robert and Clara Schumann. At present Lucy is working on a new entertainment similarly based upon the amazing life of Chopin, his relationship with George Sands and the many letters that passed between them. We hope to be able to be able to include this in our 2011 series.

Our annual General Meeting took place on Friday 21^st November 2008 when all officers of the Amigos, having come to the end of their two year terms of office, were due either to retire or stand for re-election. After ten year in office our excellent and devoted treasurer, Edwin Bisset had indicated that he would not be standing again. Ted Maitland had offered to take his place but due to an unexpected career move and very much at the last minute, he was unable to fill the post. Kindly Edwin Bisset agreed to temporarily hold the post until such time as a suitable replacement could be found. All other officers being prepared to serve once again were re-elected. After the meeting we were treated to another Gala recital by our Amigos sponsored young musician, Joana Ballmann after which all assembled were the guests of Marie Huber and the team at the Cultural Centre for an excellent supper.

At the end of December we heard Fritz Moscher and Julian Reim playing Cello and Piano and in early January Uta Kerner, Sunita Mamtani and once again Julian Reim. Both of the concerts were good and both were well attended. In February were heard two Kathryns in concerts excellently played by Kathryn Kruger, Violin and Kathryn Gross, Cello. In March we made our first acquaintance with a bright young Portuguese pianist, Pedro Ferro and in April we were able to welcome back pianist Eric Le Sage who introduced us to a sensitive young French compatriot violinist called François Salque. They were both remarkably good concerts.

In May we finally had the much anticipated, long awaited, arrival of the pianist Sa Chen who had so nimbly slipped through our fingers the previous year. In the end she kept her promise and made her debut performance at São Lourenço one year later. When we heard her play it was obvious to all why she had found it so difficult to find space in her calendar for us. With a terrific career already behind her and an even greater one ahead, we were fortunate indeed to have had the privilege of hearing such a charming and gifted young musician.

In June, as we came towards the end of our year, we had the pleasure of hearing the Trio Pangea, three gifted young musicians, one from Spain, another from France, the third from Portugal. June always seems to be a tricky month for concerts. Could it perhaps be that so many people are away visiting friends and family outside Portugal? Records show that more often than not attendances are some of the poorest of the year which is a pity as those of us who do attend often enjoy some rather wonderful music making.On the other hand, when we looked a little further ahead to the Amigos Summer Beachside party at 2Passos Restaurant which was to take place on the 4th of July, we discovered that we had 38 pre-paid reservations in hand before the end of the month.

Early in 2009, with the invaluable help of Cristina at the Cultural Centre, we were able to design and introduce a new and very much more distinguished logo which now appears regularly, wherever possible. The design was soon to be incorporated into a handsome new Amigos badge which has also come into existence this year. Finally and probably most importantly of all, an Amigos de Música web site was created from scratch and was launched into the ether early in 2009. Once again we needed to turn to friends for help and no one could have been more encouraging and helpful than Frank Schmidt of Quinta Properties Ltd, who put it all together for us and taught our secretary, Margaret Jackson and John Perera how to organise and maintain it. Since then we have been able to trim and tweek the site so that anyone wanting to know anything about us can easily navigate through the site to discover who we are, what we do, what we have done and what we are going to do in the future. Our programmes, newsletters, press releases and membership details are there for all to see. It is a wonderful facility, quite appropriate to our existence which takes us one step further into the outside world.

On a personal note I must mention the wonderful support and encouragement the Direcção committee has given me at every one of our regular and well attended meetings throughout the year; Helga Hampton has been my wonderful Vice President; Margaret Jackson continues to be the best Secretary one could ever wish for; Loyal Edwin Bisset, who kindly stepped back in and held the fort as treasurer; John Perera, who continued too as an excellent Press Officer and finally Larry Hampton who is always on hand and can be reled upon for his useful advice.

The year 2008-2009 has been successful.The concerts have been good, the general ambience and feeling of good will and camaraderie which exists between the Amigos has been, as always, evident at every concert. It was a wonderful year.

Bookmark this page