Southampton Classical Guitar Society ~ Chairman's Chat

15th March 2010 6:30pm - members - please see important messages on the ensemble page. Thanks.

10th March 2010 Noon - doesn't time fly when a holiday is approaching? There seems to have been a lot happening recently but I'm struggling to remember any of it!

Unforgettable, though, was the free lunchtime concert on Monday at Turner Sims Concert Hall by Gary Ryan. An hour of exquisite music by a favourite of the society, and all for nothing. Hats off to Southampton Uni for doing. The hall was nearly full, which for a weekday lunchtime, is quite amazing. I understand about 100 or so music students (all instruments) have to attend but that still meant 200-300 'normal people' (it's OK, no students will read this!) were there.

Tonight we have our monthly 'Extra Ensemble Evening' so please come along if you can make it. Details in the diary.

3rd March 2010 1:30pm - I see from a news item in the March edition of Classical Guitar Magazine that guitarist Dimitris Dekavallas received a call from the BBC Pronunciation Dept to check on the correct way of saying his name prior to broadcasting his music on Radio 3. As laudable as this is, couldn't they cut that department altogether and put the money saved towards keeping Radio 6Music alive? I'm sure DImitris and others would forgive the odd mispronunciation if they did.

This month's edition features American guitarist/composer Brad Richter on the cover and an interesting interview inside. Brad played an excellent concert for us back in 2002 at The Point and was over here last year to teach at the World Youth Guitar Festival (also featured in this month's issue). His Elation is still one of my all time favourite modern pieces. Never has a piece been so aptly named.

Still with CG Mag, I see they have created a presence on Facebook and already people are using it to make comments and suggestions about the content. This is the freedom the internet gives us with direct contact to someone who might be able to influence things. I have to say, it seems they might be listening as recent issues are beginning to address some of the long standing gripes us amateurs have had with an otherwise fine publication. At last some interest for younger readers. As well as the WYGF review there is an article on the National Youth Guitar Ensemble, directed by Gerald Garcia.

Keep it up! Now if they can only get a bit more current with reviews of events. Six or seven months is far too long. Two or three would seem reasonable.

Finally, there is a great picture on page 39 of John Williams signing the soundboard of a steel string acoustic! As much as I love him, there is no way he is not coming within a country mile of my guitar with a big black felt pen in his hand.

24th February 2010 11am - tonight's meeting features an old friend as our guest player. James O'Neil joined the society back in 2001 as a 12 year old. He used to delight us with his playing even then.  Now he is nearing the end of his final year at The Royal College of Music so we all looking forward to seeing how he has progressed and wishing him well with his final recital. Please come along and give him your support tonight. Non-members are very welcome for a nominal guest fee of just £3. Not bad to see a concert these days!

17th February 2010 10am - time passes at an ever increasing rate. Or so it seems. Our next concert (featuring the Vida Guitar Quartet) is now less than 10 weeks away but of more pressing immediate interest is the workshop tobe held the following day.  It will feature Helen Sanderson and Mark Ashford (both of the quartet) and will include ensemble playing, technique classes and a masterclass. Places are limited so don't delay in contacting us to reserve yours for a chance to study with two of the best teachers in the country. See the diary page for brief details or email us formore information.

11th February 2010 11pm - we enjoyed a great meeting last night with some fine group playing. It was finished off with some superb solos. Special mention should go to Edward Burgess for his perfroamcne of El Sueno en la Floresta by Agustin Barrios. Big turnout too for a mid-month meeting.

Good luck to the Incorporated Society of Musicians. They know what we mean. Click here if you want more info.

7th February 2010 8:30pm - we enjoyed a really good concert last night from Milos Karadaglic. Despite concerns over ticket sales, the audience turned out to be pretty much in line with usual.  They enjoyed well-known and slightly less familiar pieces by Sor, Bach, Villa-Lobos, Albéniz, Barrios and Domeniconi as well as the 2nd ever performance of a piece composed by young Bulgarian/British composer, Dobrinka Tabakova. The piece was commissioned by the performer who collaborated in its compostion. A great new piece.

5th February 2010 2pm - just over 24 hours to go to our much anticipated concet at The Point starrring Milos Karadaglic, fresh from his recent highly successful debut at The Wigmore Hall in London.  This seem destined to continue our own trend of successful celebrity concerts with this one featuring a real star of the future. You can see him here first! The full programme is on the concerts page. Tickets are available from the box office by clicking the link or by calling 023 8065 2333.

3rd February 2010 12:40 - only 3 more days to go to our next Celebrity Concert featuring rising young star, Milos Karadaglic.  Milos, from Montenegro, will be playing a programme that includes Sor, Bach, Villa-Lobos, Albeniz and Barrios. The full programme is on the concerts page. Tickets are available from the box office by clicking the link or by calling 023 8065 2333.

2nd February 2010 9:30pm - the latest issue of Classical Guitar Magazine dropped through my letterbox yesterday. Very interesting editorial by Colin Cooper about amplification. He is, to me, the person whose opinion I most respect in the guitar world. I'm not going to change my view on amplification overnight but I'll promise to give it some  more thought. (Written as I listen to Ten Years After at Woodstock in 1969!). There is also a write up of last year's West Dean Festival. A timely reminder to me to pay my deposit for the 2010 event. (Other festivals are available).

28th January 2010 12:00noon - life resumed a sense of normality last night after the bad weather of a fortnight ago. We had a great meeting with a very sizeable turnout and some wonderful music. We welcomed a number of new members once again.

I've just been listening to the excellent Radio 4 programme, ;Great Lives' with Matthew Parris interviewing John Williams and Berta Rojas about Agustin Barrios. It's repeated tomorrow evening at 11pm but you can also hear it at a more sociable time on the BBC iplayer. Here is a link! A nice 30 minutes of guitar chat.

27th January 2010 3pm - we have our regular end-of-month meeting tonight. Come along and join in with the ensemble (if you want to) and play a solo (if you want to) or just be part of the audience. If you haven't been before, why not try it: we won't even ask you to pay on your fist visit! The meeting opens at 7:30pm but late arrivals are made just as welcome. We are now at The St Boniface Centre, Hursley Road, Chandlers Ford. See you there!

I had the pleasure of joining over 400 others to enjoy Xuefei Yang (guitar) & Natalie Clein (cello) giving a superb recital yesterday evening at Turner Sims concert hall in Southampton. A wonderful programme of Piazzolla, de Falla, Villa-Lobos and Casals was enhanced by a first UK performance of Stephen Goss' The Autumn Song, commissioned by the performers. The highlight of the night for many, I suspect, as it was clearly written with the individual personalities of the instruments in mind so that the ensemble was totally sympathetic towards each others strengths. Both players treated us to a Bach solo too. A great night!

24th January 2010 12:30am - listen to BBC Radio 4 next week which features a special progamme about Agustin Barrios. The programme, recorded live, features host Matthew Parris and John Williams in London and Berta Rojas in Washington DC. It is part of their 'Great Lives' series and in it Williams explains why he believes Barrios to be one of the greatest musicians of all time (I can't argue!). It will be broadcast on Tuesday 26th Jan at 4:30pm and repeated on Friday 29th Jan at 11pm. More info here.

20th January 2010 11:30am - we now have full programme details for our next Celebrity Concert, featuring Milos Karadaglic. The concert is on Saturday 6th February, 8pm at The Point, Eastleigh (close to M3 Junction 13 and M27 Junction 4). Details can be found on our concerts page.

A local youth theatre company is putting on Les Miserables during the mid February half term week. The guitarist due to play with them has had to pull out at short notice so we are trying to help them with this appeal. If you are capable of playing with an orchestra and sight-reading and you are able to commit to 8 performances in that week plus 2 rehearsals, all for almost no payment, then please contact the webmaster with your details.

14th January 2010 11:45am - the first meeting of the year (the first in our new venue) took place last night despite the snow, ice and a little fog. A fair number of people ventured out in the conditions to make it a very enjoyable evening. The first thing we noticed was the absence of bells ringing (bliss!) and then how warm we all were (which would most certainly have not been the case in the previous venue). By the time we came to the break everyone was commenting on the great acoustics and then the facilities so I think we have made the right decision. Here's to the future!

It's now less than a month to wait for our next Celebrity Concert at The Point featuring the wonderful young talent that is Milos Karadaglic. We're looking forward to seeing him on our stage just a few weeks after his Wigmore Hall debut. His programme will include works by Sor, Bach, Villa-Lobos, Albéniz, Tabakova and Domeniconi. Tickets are available by clicking the links above. If you can display a poster for the concert, one can be downloaded here.

12th January 2010 11:30am - we're just a day away from our first meeting in our new venue and, unless there is a deluge of snow between now and then it will go ahead. See the diary page for details where there will be an update on the status of the meeting.

10th January 2010 12:30pm - the ground around here is still covered in snow but the roads are all useable at the moment. More snow was forecast for the last few days but has not materialised (must have been a government promise) and more is forecast between now and Tuesday. Our meeting next Wednesday should be fine unless there is a sudden late heavy snow fall. Keep an eye on the diary page for the latest status which will be updated right up until about 7pm on Wednesday. Our new premises should be considerably warmer than our old one would be in this weather.

If you are a non-member reading this and have made a New Year's resolution to get more involved with the guitar then come along and see what you think of us. Full details via the diary page.

8th January 2010 2:45pm - I've just returned from my first venture outside in the car since Monday due to the snow. Apart form the local roads it isn't too bad. Anyway, the upshot of that is the publicity machine for our next concert is now up and running. Our publicity officer will be sending out flyers to all our mailing list and posters to our poster monitors to dismally in all the agreed spots. If you would like to be on the free mailing list for all our concerts, drop an email to Lynn at publicity[at]scgs-guitar[dot]org[dot]uk.

If you would like to help publicise our concert, click here to download a poster which you can put up in any suitable location such as your front window, a local shop, library etc. The poster can be printed A4 or A5, colour or black & white, it's up to you.

I was asked recently why I don't take down the For Sale page on the website as there is never very much offered. As it happens, the top two items are currently being looked at by potential buyers but I take the point. Interestingly, however, this page is consistently in the top 5 pages visited across the whole site so you may want to think about clearing out some of your no-longer-wanted guitar paraphernalia. It's completely free for members and non-members can advertise there wares (at the webmaster's discretion) for just a nominal donation once sold. No commercial activity though please! Just email webmaster[at]scgs-guitar[dot]org[dot]uk.

6th January 2010 2:45pm - Happy New Year!

You'll probably get bored with me saying this but please don't forget to go to the new venue next Wednesday (and for evermore). If you go to KJH in Romsey it will either be locked or you'll have to take up a new hobby (macrame, bee-keeping, ukulele playing, who knows?). From now on we meet in the St Boniface Centre, Hursley Road, Chandlers Ford in the Large Upper Room from 7:30pm onwards. See you there.

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