PrettyInScarlett

Durham Amateur Pianists was featured on Radio 3 Breakfast as part of their incredibly useful  Musical Map last Thursday 18th October. The Musical Map has information on musical groups, events, festivals and more right across the UK.   My compatriots with Ottawa Piano Group held a meeting with a difference last Sunday at Southminster United Church, performing on a 1904 Heintzman grand piano. What a treat! The event was attended and recorded by CBC Radio 91.5 FM. Edited highlights and interviews from the performers aired on CBC Ottawa Morning on Tuesday 22nd October, which is available to listen again online . The clip provides an excellent profile of how piano groups for amateurs function.     

Sadly I won't be able to make the new Lenten series of concerts at Southminster United Church ... Roland Graham has programmed a variety of styles and instruments in a series of free Wednesday lunchtime concerts at Southminster United Church between 13th February and 27th March 2013. Admission is by donation.  

As a follow-on from last weekend's excellent Chopin concert, there is an afternoon of New Artists from the NAC's Summer Music Institute at Southminster United Church on 17th June. Entitled 'Dover Beach and other works for summertime', the concert features new artists Katarzyna Sadej , Emily Nenninger , Drew Santini, Hannah Min, Paul Casey , Karen Kang and Bryan Wagorn. I had the chance to hear Bryan Wagorn at one of University of Ottawa's Concerts at the NAC 4th Stage concerts back in February and thoroughly enjoyed his performance. The proposed programme is very enticing: MENDELSSOHN   String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13 MONIUSZKO          Sen  (The Dream)                                       Prząśniczka (Spinner Girl) SZYMANOWSKI ...

Something of an intriguing concert to which I was alerted by a friend. I have heard opinions about over-familiarity with the full orchestral versions of Chopin's E minor (op. 11) and F minor (Op. 21) Piano Concertos, however it was very interesting to here them in the 'piano with string quartet' arrangement. The programme notes indicate that Chopin himself performed the E minor Concerto in this arrangement. Certainly a performance in this manner gives the listener an opportunity to hear a far more intimate performance than usual.  Zuzana Šimurdová and Mazurka String Quartet With that in mind - plus the enticement of an 1888 Weber 6' 3'' piano - I and slightly less than 100 others went to Southminster United Church on 2nd June. Sadly the concert didn't seem to have been widely advertised (I saw a very small advertisement in the OSCAR as well as my friend's email) as I had expected more people for an Embassy-sponsored event.  The two concer...

Something of a hiatus over the summer.... After a brilliant holiday in Iceland, M and I relocated to Ottawa, Canada. Our new neighbourhood, Old Ottawa South, hosts a literary festival twice a year: Ottawa International Writers Festival . Last Thursday I tried out one of the events: an evening with writer Eric Siblin in Southminster United Church. Earlier this year I read his book The Cello Suites: J.S. Bach, Pablo Casals and the search for a Baroque Masterpiece and found it hugely enjoyable and informative. At first glance the book is a biography of J.S. Bach through the story of his 6 suites for unaccompanied cello; however, as Siblin also tells the story of 20th century Spanish cellist Pablo Casals, the book encompasses not only 17th but 20th century history, as well as Siblin's own journey with Bach. Siblin was talking on the subject of Bach's Cello suites, accompanied by cellist Winona Zelenka . Zelenka is assistant principal cellist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and...