The AMIGOS’ AGM 2010/11 was held at the Centro Cultural São Lourenço on Friday November 18th., 2011.  The AGM, under the leadership of Assembleia Geral’s president, John Levitt, was conducted with his usual humor and style.  Barry Shaw, the president, reported on the events of the previous 2010-11 AMIGOS’ year which included many excellent concerts and the celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of the Centro Cultural São Lourenço.

The opening concert of the previous musical year was by Yevgeny Sudbin, the young Russian hailed by the Daily Telegraph as one of the greatest pianists of the 21^st. Century. Among other great concerts was that given by the vivacious and bouncy Russian pianist Katya Apekesheva to celebrate the beginning of the Centro Cultural’s 30^th. Anniversary.

Then came one of the highlights of the Amigos’ musical year.  The world famous pianist Piers Lane and the renowned clarinettist Michael Collins gave two superb concerts.  Michael Collins is now the Principal Conductor of the City of London Sinfonia. Soon after the very much in demand Chinese pianist Sa Chen flew in from Beijing via Vienna to give two amazing concerts.

In June the Amigos had a Latin American themed dinner to celebrate the Centro Cultural’s 30^th. anniversary.  It was a splendid evening complete with tango dancers and exquisite cocktails, food and wine catered superbly by Annelies Ruegebrink. To round out the musical year in June 2010 violinist Jeroen de Groot and pianist Bart van den Roer gave two wonderful concerts.

Following Barry Shaw’s report it was the turn of Michael Savage, the Hon. Treasurer to present the accounts which were approved by the members present.

One of the highlights of AMIGO’s AGMs is for the person being sponsored by the AMIGOS and Mundo Crastino Meliori to give a concert. Last year Joanna Ballmann, the young Portuguese pianist, who had been sponsored for the past 4 years at the Conservatory in Cologne, gave a wonderful final concert. She graduated soon afterwards and may be off to Brazil to further her professional career.

Ana Beatriz Ferreira is being sponsored for 3 years to study at the Royal College of Music (RCM) in London.  Born in 1991, Ana Beatriz graduated from the National Conservatory in Lisbon in 2009, finishing her piano studies with the top classification. After completing her studies at the Escola Superior de Musica de Lisboa she was admitted to the RCM. Ana Beatriz together with her RCM teacher, Prof. Ruth Nye, had chosen to present a program by Mozart and Liszt. Ana Beatriz gave an introduction to her program and then proceeded to deliver these difficult and demanding pieces with great feeling and assurance.

Following Ana Beatriz’s concert the AMIGOS present were treated a sumptuous supper by Marie Huber and her team at the Centro Cultural.

CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR’S CONCERTS. CLASSICAL PORTUGUESE GUITAR – MIGUEL DRAGO & PEDRO FRIAO.  THESE WILL BE ON WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 28^th., 2011 & WEDNESDAY JANUARY 4^th., 2012. EVERYBODY IS WELCOME.

For more information about the 2011/2012 concert program visit the AMIGO’s website www.amigos-de-musica.org or www.centroculturalsaolourenco.com

Call Cristina at 289395475 to make concert bookings.

ABOUT THE AMIGOS AND THE CENTRO CULTURAL

The Centro Cultural is located next to the historic Church of São Lourenço, near Almancil, and holds regular exhibitions by well known artists and sculptors. The AMIGOS is an international group of around 110 members who support the musical activities at the Centro Cultural by underwriting the concerts which are regularly performed there. Concerts at the Centro Cultural begin at 7.30pm sharp.  Wine and lemonade is served from 7.00pm.  During the interval wine and canapés are served. Entry is €25 for guests and non-members.   For membership enquiries please contact Margaret Jackson, AMIGOS’ secretary at jackson.algarve@mail.telepac.pt

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After the Annual General Meeting

on Friday, 18th November, 2011

at 6.30 pm at the Centro Cultural de São Lourenço,

you are invited by

Marie Huber and her Team

to our traditional

AAMSL Young Musician’s Gala

followed by Supper

DRINKS WILL BE SERVED AFTER THE AGM

 THE  GALA CONCERT AT 8 O’CLOCK WILL GIVE ALL AMIGOS ANOTHER  OPPORTUNITY TO HEAR OUR SPONSORED PIANIST 

ANA BEATRIZ FERREIRA

”””””””””””””””’

This event is exclusively for the Amigos de Mùsica

 There is no charge but it is important to 

RSVP

Please remember to e-mail the Centro Cultural <ccsl@iol.pt> to make your reservation or call:

  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  

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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.

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Anna Kaasa, Piano

for reservations please call 289 395 475 or send an e-mail to ccsl@iol.pt

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Miguel Drago and Pedro Friao ; Guitarra Classica

for reservations please call 289 395 475 or send an e-mail to ccsl@iol.pt

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Dear Amigos,

We have accidentally set ourselves a very difficult task this year. We like to schedule what we think might be the best concert of the year, somewhere towards the end of the season to encourage everyone to renew their subscriptions. However, in September we began our new year with two concerts which surpassed all our expectations. So much so that many people have said that the Sinaiski Trio gave the finest concerts they had ever heard at São Lourenço. They were truly excellent, but they are a very hard act to follow. Incidentally Evgeny Sinaiski is the son of the renowned Vassily Sinaiski who conducted the hitherto neglected and highly acclaimed performance of Sir Hubert Parry’s (of Jerusalem fame) 5^th Symphony at the London Proms last year, although he is better known as the conductor of the Mariinsky Opera and home of the Kirov in St Petersburg. Evgeny loved the Algarve so much when he was here that he has ambitions to set up an International Youth Concert Academy Algarve in 2012. It is a very ambitious project and as yet only in embryonic form, but anyone who would like to have more information or be a part of this wonderful idea should make a point of being in touch with me as soon as possible..

On the other hand, we have great expectations for next week too when we shall have the opportunity to welcome two more new faces to the Cultural Centre. Teresa Krahnert and Ninon Gloger arrive on Monday and will play two concerts for violin and piano. The programs look fascinating and should please just about everyone, containing as they do, a goodly mix of familiar favourites and less well known pieces to inspire and keep us on our toes.

On Friday November 18^th the Amigos Annual General Meeting will take place and as usual, it will be followed by an opportunity to hear our new protégé, Ana Beatriz Ferreira who has just begun her three year course at the Royal College of Music in London. Ana Beatriz is a charming, clever and courageous young woman who qualified and was accepted for a much coveted place at the Royal College of Music in London. With the help of her family, the Amigos and other kind and generous sponsors, she has barely scraped together sufficient funds to put her through the course and she will still need to find further funds to see her through. Do come and listen to her and who knows? As they say these days; every little helps.

The Christmas and New Year concerts (28^th December and 4^th January) are looking good this and by way of a change we have lined up two virtuosos of the guitar. Miguel Drago and Pedro Frias will play programs called ‘A Arte da Guitarra’ the details of which I will advise at a later date. The music should be good and it is definitely something to look forward to.

Finally, I must report a tragedy and so I have left it until the end. We all know the sisters Joselia and Amalia who have for countless years formed a vital part of the team at the Cultural Centre. They are a part of from a large Almancil family. Recently the head of the family, their father, passed away and so perhaps a light hug or a friendly commiserating smile would be appropriate if you are intending to come to concerts next week.

Kind regards,

Barry

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Saturday, 15th October 2011 at 7.30pm

Composers: Debussy, Mozart, Freitas Branco, Wieniawski, Bach, Pärt, Crumb, Schumann.

for reservations please call 289 395 475 or send an e-mail to ccsl@iol.pt

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SINAISKI TRIO

Nadezhda Korshakova (violino)

Kirill Timofeev (violoncelo)

Evgeni Sinaiski (piano)

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Dear Amigos,

What a great year this has turned out to be. Many of us thought that the 2009/2010 season in celebration of the Amigos 20^th anniversary would be difficult to follow. But as we come towards the close of the 2010/2011 season marking the 30^th birthday of the Cultural Centre, it seems that we might have even surpassed ourselves. At the end of May we had the pure joy of seeing and hearing the lovely Sa Chen again. If anything, she has become even more charismatic since the last time we saw her. Not only was it heaven to hear the way she made the piano sing, it was delightful to see her face and whole body so completely absorbed in the music as she was playing. She in a dear person and we have cause to hope that she will return to the Algarve again one day.

On the 2^nd of June we held an Amigos summer party. We hardly needed an excuse, but it was to celebrate the first thirty years of the Cultural Centre, our musical home. It was a perfect warm evening and guests were greeted by a selection of cocktails and canapés accompanied by Argentinian music from a guitar and an accordion. Dinner was announced and we moved up to the top terrace where we were seated at white cotton covered chairs adorned with scarlet sashes arranged around five tables each seating eight or nine people. These were charmingly set out with white cloths complimented by red napkins, red chargers and red glasses; it looked stunning.

The food was delicious and the atmosphere during the entire evening could not have been better and naturally, Marie was our guest of honour. It must be mentioned that fellow Amigo, Annelies Ruegbrink and her company Concept Catering took care of all the catering arrangements. As a gift she arranged for two young professional dancers to entertain us at intervals throughout the dinner with charming yet passionate Tangos. Thanks to Annelies for her generosity and a deep bow of respect for her ability to be a superb party organiser. It was a great evening.

So now we come to the last set of concerts of the Amigos year when our old friend Jeroen de Groot returns with his lovely Amati, 1660 violin to be accompanied by Bart van de Roer at the piano. Everyone will have received the program by now and with luck, those not on the mailing list will have picked up the information from one of John Pereras excellent press releases. I can see that the Classists will probably opt for the Wednesday concert while the Modernists may be inclined to prefer the program on Saturday. Either way, do come and please bring your friends along too.

Margaret Jackson will be sending out your renewal reminders very shortly and although we will have no special reason for a marking any major events during the period after September 2011 to the end of June 2012, the arrivalUberHHH    of the Sinaiski in the middle of September should ensure that at least we polish off our celebrations for thirty glorious years of the Centro Cultural with aplomb.

Kind regards,

Barry

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FOR IMMEDIATE PUBLICATION JUNE CONCERTS 06.06.2011

JEROEN DE GROOT, VIOLIN AND BART VAN DE ROER, PIANO. On Wednesday June 15^th., 2011 Jeroen and Bart will play works by Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. On Saturday June 18^th., 2011 they will play pieces by Ravel, Fauré and Prokofiev.

Jeroen de Groot, born in 1961 in the Netherlands, studied the violin at the Sweelink Conservatory in Amsterdam from the age of 11 with several teachers including Herman Krebbers, who expected the young Jeroen to learn and play a new composition from memory every week. After winning the prestigious “Oscar Back” national violin competition in 1985 he went on to study in Salzburg with Sándor Végh who was more of a musical philosopher teaching Jeroen to develop his own personality. Later he studied in Paris with Ivry Gitlis who taught him the physical aspects of playing the violin.  Jeroen went on to win prizes at international competitions in Munich, Scheveningen and Bordeaux.  He now plays regularly with leading orchestras and in chamber music concerts and recitals all over the world.  His violin is a 1660 Nicolo Amati. (see http://jeroendegroot.info/index.html)

Bart van de Roer was born in the Netherlands in 1972 and had his first piano lesson when he was 9. He studied at Amsterdam’s Sweelinck Conservatory with Jan Wijn and participated in a number of master classes with eminent pianists. He has a very active musical career performing as a soloist and a chamber music player and devotes a part of his time to teaching.  In 1994, together with Mark and Wouter Vossen, he founded the Storioni Trio which was immediately successful.  The Trio was awarded several prizes, made tours of Europe, Asia and the USA and has played in most major concert halls including the Carnegie and Wigmore Halls and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.  The Storioni Trio founded the Storioni Festival in 2008, an international chamber music festival in and around Eindhoven. Bart has been a prize winner in several competitions including the Steinway Competition and the Princess Christina Competition. (see www.storionitrio.com)

For more information about the concert program please see www.centroculturalsaolourenco.com).

Concerts at the Centro Cultural begin at 7.30pm sharp.  Wine and lemonade is served from 7.00pm.  During the interval wine and canapés are served. Entry is €25 for guests and non-members. For concert bookings please call Cristina at 289395475 or send an e-mail to ccsl@iol.pt

The AMIGOS is an international group of around 100 members who support the musical activities at the Centro Cultural by underwriting the concerts. For more information and membership details please visit the AMIGO’s website www.amigos-de-musica.org

SEPTEMBER 2011 CONCERTS. After the summer break the new concert season will begin with the Russian Sinaiski Trio. The trio consists of pianist Evgeni Sinaiski, Nadzhda Korshakova, violin and Kirill Tomofeev, cello. These concerts will be on Tuesday September 13^th. and Saturday 17^th., 2011.

ABOUT THE AMIGOS AND THE CENTRO CULTURAL SÃO LOURENÇO

The Centro Cultural São Lourenço is located next to the historic Church of São Lourenço, near Almancil, and holds regular exhibitions by well known artists and sculptors. It is now in its Thirtieth Year. The AMIGOS celebrated its twentieth anniversary in 2010.

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