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Newsletter - June 2002

Articles

May Meeting | Next meeting | Future Meetings | Concert Diary | Quote of the month | Quartetto Concertante - 13th July 2002 | Summer Concert | Extra Meeting - 16th June | Kinson AGM | Parking | New Members | Contact Numbers

May Meeting

This month we worked our way through the whole programme for our concert on July 6th. Although this went quite well it became evident that a lot more practise would be necessary to ensure a good performance.

Stephen presented us with his Dance No III. This was a good fun piece to play with all the tapping on the front of the guitar and the tambour section.

The Irish Folk Medley was still not quite up to speed, so we especially need to practise this at home to take it up a notch or two.

Everyone worked extremely hard and a well earned cup of tea followed.

Players this month

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Next Meeting

The next meeting will take place on 23rd June 2002 at 5.45 p.m. until 9.30 p.m. in the small hall. Although we normally meet on the third Sunday of the month this one falls on the fourth. We will of course be running through the whole of the orchestra pieces. To avoid any confusion, if you haven't done so already, could you please give back to Ann movements Polonaise and Badinerie of the Bach suite.

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Quote of the Month

“Stunning”

S. Kenyon

DGS Rehearsal 16.6.02

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Future Meetings

July21st from 5.45 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. August18th from 5.45 p.m. to 9.30 p.m.
September22nd from 5.45 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. October20th from 2.00 p.m. to 5.30 p.m.
November17th from 2.00 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. December15th from 2.00 p.m. to 5.30 p.m.
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Quartetto Concertante - 13th July 2002

Tickets for Quartetto Concertante will be on sale at the next meeting. The price will be £8 and £6 concessions. Do take advantage of the £1 discount for members and members family and friends if booked in advance. The concert, as most of you know, will take place at St. Stephen's Church. Posters and flyers will be available at the meeting.

Fiona McKinley who was to play violin (as mentioned in the January newsletter) will not be available and has been replaced by Brian Howells.

Members of the quartet are:
Brian Howells (violin) studied at the Royal College of Music under Leonard Hirsch and was a member of the Bournemouth Sinfonietta for 30 years, latterly as Principal Second Violin. He is now a busy freelance working with orchestras and chamber ensembles in the south.

Quartetto Concertante

Gillian Tolliday (viola) violin teacher by day, jazzer by night, Gillian graduated in music at Southampton University and obtained violin diplomas at Trinity College London. She has led the Grainger String Quartet for the last six years, performs with The Stromenti String Quartet (led by Jack Maguire, co-leader of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra), and also enjoys playing jazz violin with Swing 39, a Django/Grapelli group capturing the aura of the 1930s.

Stephen Kenyon studied guitar and composition at Trinity College of Music and has performed in the USA, France and Germany as well as the throughout the UK. His compositions are published in the UK and the USA.

Joseph Koos moved to the UK from his native Hungary in 1957, and studied cello with William Pleeth at the Guildhall School of Music, and with Paul Tortelier in Paris. He played with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and from 1969 to 1994 was Principal Cellist to the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Joseph plays with the Palm Court Theatre Orchestra, the Stromenti String Quartet and several other chamber groups and frequently coaches for the National Children's Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra.

Programme Preview for Quartetto Concertante

Quartetto Concertante programme preview to whet your appetite - This is not necessarily the order in which they will be played :

Bach
Prelude and Fugue no IV in C# minor (Well Tempered Clavier Bk I)*
Paganini
Quartet Op4 no 2 in C
  1. Moderato
  2. Minuetto
  3. Larghetto
  4. Allegretto
Grieg
Wedding Day at Troldhaugen*
Brahms
Hungarian Dances*
Peter Hope
Divertimento
  1. Allegro Moderato
  2. Andante Sostenuto
  3. Allegro Giocoso

(* arranged by Stephen Kenyon)

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Summer Concert

Music

The order of the orchestral pieces for the programme is as follows:

The Orchestra will perform in the second half of the concert. The first half will open with a few Elizabethan pieces arranged for quintet including The Fairy Round and Pavane de Spaigne which Ann, Julie, Katie, Chris and myself played at the March meeting. Stephen has been asked to play one or two solos and finally Maurice, Chris and Ann will play the Bach piece that they preformed at the February meeting.

For the benefit of our new members I will explain our concert selection procedure. The committee originally asked Stephen in his capacity as Musical Director to select any other items he felt suitable to make our concerts more varied and enjoyable. Basically how he does that is to choose anything that he has heard played throughout the year at our regular meetings which he feels would be appropriate and of a reasonable standard.

Dress

Black trousers, white shirts and bow ties for the men. Black trousers or skirt and coloured long sleeved blouse for the women. Please no white trousers and no patterned blouses. Just one colour, it can be as bright as you like. Lots of different patterns just look a mess.

Rehearsal

The final rehearsal will be at 5.30 p.m. at Pelhams on the day of the concert. It would probably be a good idea to bring a drink and possibly something to eat to keep you going. We will have a break before the actual concert. The bar will be open during the interval.

Party

There will be a party afterwards at Julie's house. If you wish to come please let Julie know (01202 680 310)

Please bring an item of food and some drink - something cold for a buffet which doesn't need heating as Julie doesn't use her oven in the summer! This is a great chance to relax after a lot of hard work so do come along and join in the fun.

There will also be a another get together at Julie's house for the Quartetto Concertante concert a week later on the 13th. Well, you can't have too many parties. Same applies about the food.

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Extra Meeting - 16th June

The extra meeting last Sunday went extremely well. Everyone had obviously been practising really hard. It really did show and Stephen was very pleased.

It was suggested that perhaps we ought not to start rehearsing so far ahead for next years concert as people get a bit tired of the pieces by the time the concert arrives and also we all put more effort into our practise nearer the time. Another suggestion was that we have our concert at a different time of year as people are starting to go on holiday in early July. Let me know what you think. Unfortunately we do need to book Pelhams quite a long way in advance as it is becoming an extremely popular venue.

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Kinson AGM

On 16th May Ann Plumb attended the Kinson AGM on behalf of the DGS. Two items of interest arose that will eventually affect our society.

Firstly as some of you know there are plans to demolish the small hall and extend the building. However, it is not likely that building works will be carried out until Easter 2004. Then only if £10,000 can be raised by a lottery grant or by some other means.

Secondly the underground floor heating under the Small Hall is no longer able to function. There are no plans to repair it at the moment as it would mean digging up the concrete base under the floor, a major operation, and given they hope to demolish the Hall when they start the extensions it is not a viable proposition. We may be using a calor gas heater as a temporary measure. It may be that we will be able to use the Large Hall in the winter (if it is available). Calor gas heaters are usually quite good at warming up a room quickly but if you do feel the cold it might be a good idea to bring extra clothing such as a fleece or thick jumper.

Parking

A notice about the parking at Pelhams was handed to Ann at the AGM. The gist of it is as follows: