October has been an eventful month for director of music, uzz. Keen to extend a welcome to other amateur musicians who are not aware of the great courses and concerts we have on offer. Please contact Vicky on 01462 459446 or email as she would be delighted to speak to you.
October has been an eventful month for director of music, uzz. Keen to extend a welcome to other amateur musicians who are not aware of the great courses and concerts we have on offer. Please contact Vicky on 01462 459446 or email as she would be delighted to speak to you.
October has been an eventful month for director of music, uzz. Keen to extend a welcome to other amateur musicians who are not aware of the great courses and concerts we have on offer. Please contact Vicky on 01462 459446 or email as she would be delighted to speak to you.
We are always looking to extend a welcome to other amateur musicians who are not aware of the great courses and concerts we have on offer. Are you able to support Benslow Music by distributing posters or course brochures in your local area? Please contact Vicky on 01462 459446 or email vicky@benslowmusic.org as she would be delighted to speak to you. www.benslowmusic.org UZZ THE Inevitably its been an eventful frst month for me. Foremost has been the opportunity to get to know our capable and supportive staff, others associated with us too in a myriad of roles, and becoming accustomed to Benslows ways. Fane mentions the frst rate courses elsewhere - feedback from those is greatly appreciated, has been duly considered and passed on to tutors. Issues raised have been dealt with immediately (where they could be). Particularly gratifying has been the relationship with our local community, notably through Margaret Archibalds Everyone Matters Outreach course performing in local Care Homes, through the terrifc concerts and not least with the involvement of young musicians form North Herts Music School sharing the Magginis expertise we hope to build on all of that. Most of you will be aware of the wonderful new(ish) patio outside the Dining Room which blends so skillfully that it fts as if it has always been there. We were delighted to celebrate its installation with a splendid tea party on 9 September with Nona Blay, Bernard too, as the star attractions. Both have given so much to Benslow over the years and Nona was the prime mover in ensuring this asset to the estate - thank you hugely! It was great to welcome current and former Trustees and staff, Members, Friends and other friends on 25 September for another lovely Benslow occasion, this time to mark Stephen Pettitts time here as Director of Music. Widely liked and admired, Stephen invested much time and energy to expand the course and concert programme during his tenure, to Benslows lasting beneft and for which we are all most grateful. He was presented with a pair of engraved Dartington Crystal goblets a fne bottle of wine with which to baptize them too and was warmly appreciative of the opportunity to be here again. The AGM on 14 September gave us the opportunity to hear the remarkable 17 year old violinist Andrew Samarasekara, currently borrowing the fne Vuillaume from the ILS, playing Ravel Tzigane (with Nigel Hutchison) and HW Ernsts fendishly diffcult solo variations on The Last Rose of Summer note Andrews name for he will go far; he is deeply appreciative of the support of Benslow/ILS too and thus a great ambassador for us. We are all saddened to learn that Hannah James is to leave us after all-too-short a time here as Music Administrator. She has contributed greatly to the Registry team and will be much missed as we thank her profoundly and wish her well in her chosen feld of work with those requiring additional learning support. She promises to be back for folk music courses were pleased! As we move forward we are focusing on Marketing and Fundraising strategies: if there are experts in these felds amongst the Membership do please let me know as soon as possible. In any case I am looking forward to greeting you here on courses and at concerts. A bientt. Peter Hewitt CEO COURSE PLACES AVAILABLE We still have places available on the following October courses. Celtic Folksong (Code 14/273, 3 - 5 October) Chi Kung for All (Code 14/274, 3 - 5 October) Graham Trews Vocal Workshop (Code 14/346, 6 - 9 October) Jazz Ensembles (Code 14/278, 10 - 12 October) Preparing for Grade 6 Theory and Beyond (Code 14/279, 10 - 12 October) Fantastic Flutes (Code 14/348, 20 - 23 October) Singing from Scratch (Code 14/282, 24 - 26 October) Orchestral Clarinets (Code 14/284, 27 - 29 October) Orchestral Oboes (Code 14/285, 27 - 29 October) Symphonic Wind Band (Code 14/286, 31October - 2 November) On most courses we can usually squeeze in a few more so even if the course youre attracted to isnt on this list why not ask in any case? INFO@BENSLOWMUSIC.ORG OR T: 01462 459446 TO BOOK YOUR PLACE NOTES FROM FANE September has been a very busy month for courses. The month began with the annual clarinet weekend with David Campbell, Margaret Archibald, Ian Scott and John Flinders. We were delighted with the positive take up for the course as it is one of the highlights of the year. The public concert given by the tutors was also very well attended and we look forward to seeing the team back again next September. We have also had the opportunity to share what we do at Benslow Music with the local community. During September the Everyone Matters course, co-ordinated by Margaret Archibald, gave the opportunity for course members to take chamber music prepared at Benslow into local nursing homes throughout the three-day course. We have received numerous letters of thanks from the nursing homes involved and we are really pleased we are able to run this course for the second year running and hope it will return in one form or another in 2015. We were also able to strengthen our connection with the North Hertfordshire Music Service. During the string quartets course with the Maggini we were able to offer the opportunity for three groups of school age string players to gain some valuable coaching from this world-renowned quartet. We hope to strengthen this connection with the local music service over the coming few months, and have already arranged our involvement with a county-wide composing workshop for young people in October called Go Compose. We are currently in the process of planning the course programme for the Jul-Dec 2015 period. Alongside the usual favourites we have already devised several new courses which we hope will be of interest. However, there are still a few gaps. So I once again urge you to get GOODBYE TO HANNAH We are very sad to say a farewell to Hannah James who will be leaving us in October. Although she has only been with us for fve months, she has made a noticeable impact and will be missed by us all. Hannah is leaving us to join the West Hertfordshire College working in student support, and we wish her the best of luck for the future. in touch if there is a particular course you want to see in our programme or a particular tutor you would like to work with. All suggestions will be investigated and if we can ft them into the programme, we will. If you do want to get in touch please drop me an email fane@benslowmusic.org or give me a call on 01462 459446. I look forward to hearing from you and we hope to see you at Benslow Music soon. Fane Henderson Head of Music Q & A WITH NIC FALLOWFIELD How long have you been involved with Benslow Music? For over forty years! Hitchin is my home town and while I was at Hitchin Boys Grammar School I was occasionally asked, at the suggestion of my teacher Anne Macnaghten, to make up the numbers on chamber music courses, some run by a lady called Joan Jelliffe and others run by Phyllis Ebsworth who many years before had been the viola-player in the Macnaghten Quartet. It was very good experience for me, learning new repertoire, and of course the older players made a great fuss of this young boy in their midst. Those were the days, long before Waldeck, when we played in bedrooms and did the washing- up ourselves after each meal. Years later, in the late 1990s when Anne found coaching increasingly diffcult I was asked to come and help out: when she died, in 2000, I took her place on the Macnaghten Quartet courses. That was wonderful; I had been coached as a youngster by Bernard and Janet (and Anne of course: not Jen actually, who came after) and they were very much family. To be working alongside them was very special for me. I had started studying with Anne soon after going to the Grammar School - when Id only been playing for two or three years - and the walk up Windmill Hill after school to her house for lessons soon became the highlight of the week. She, along with her husband, the cellist Arnold Ashby, was not only a huge infuence on my early musical thought but also on how I wanted to live my life, if that makes sense. She was a remarkable woman, a great inspiration, so to be able to step into her shoes as it were, at Benslow, was a big thing for me. How have things been going with the Tedesca Quartet since you started in 2011? The quartet is a complete joy! Its a pleasure and a privilege to rehearse and play with my colleagues, Clare, Richard and Jenny. Coming together to play at...how shall I put it?..a certain stage in our musical lives has been a completely different experience to how it might have been when we were all in the earlier stages of our respective careers. Its not easy to explain exactly why but for me I think it has a great deal to do with simply enjoying and cherishing everything that everyone else brings to the music, not having to fght ones corner, as can be a danger for young musicians. Its important of course still to be convinced of things oneself, but experience (and maturity one hopes) brings more fexibility. We work hard together in rehearsal and they can be very tiring days, but somehow its also more relaxed generally. The lunches become very important! Coaching at Benslow together as a quartet has been immensely rewarding and enjoyable. We enjoy each others company and I think this aspect, that we are a social group as well as four individual players, feeds into the experience of the participants on the courses. What advice would you give to anyone considering taking up an instrument in later life? Do it! People should know that even a very modest ability on an instrument can give such pleasure when you come together with others. Thats the key of course; the excitement and enjoyment of making music with others, whether it be the simplest violin or recorder duet, or sitting down to play a Haydn string quartet, or sitting at the back of a huge string section with sixty or seventy others while the sounds of a Mahler symphony swirl around ones ears. Or to sing in a choir of course. Everyone can do it; if one instrument doesnt seem to suit after a while, then try another. Try another anyway! Teachers can always be found. My wife teaches a variety of instruments to quite a few late starters and they are often the most rewarding of pupils, well-motivated and greatly appreciative. Other than music, what occupies your time? Well, music is pretty much all-consuming. Wearing several different hats as it were - player, teacher, conductor - and working for so many different organisations there are always, always preparations of some sort or another needing to be seen to. Practice of course, scores to be learnt, soloists to arrange and rehearse with, timetables to work out, students to think about and discuss things with, travel arrangements etc etc. However, I do have interests away from the world of music. Im a reasonably strong chess-player. I play matches usually every week or two in the local (Birmingham) leagues and occasionally, maybe fve or six times a year, play in a weekend tournament. My son is also a strong player and is professionally involved in junior chess, coaching in schools and privately and helping to run junior tournaments. Its been a very strong bond between the two of us for many years. When I play chess its about the only time I dont have music running through my head; its hard work but also a sort of relaxation. Its good to drive home from a weekend tournament and realise that Ive hardly thought about work the whole time Ive been there. My colleagues in the quartet wouldnt let me forget it if I didnt mention one other thing; the allotment! In April last year Linda and I were fortunate enough to be offered a really idyllic plot only six or seven minutes from where we live. There was a huge clearance job to do but we fnally put in a shed and a 20ft polytunnel and its now producing a daily harvest of fruit and vegetables. On days when I dont feel like doing much work I can sit on the bench by the pond under the fruit trees listening to cricket on the radio. Nics next courses are Speed Dating for Strings and Piano, Mon 17 - Thu 20 Nov and Group Quartets Mon 8 - Thu 11 December. Benslow Music, Benslow Lane, Hitchin, Herts SG4 9RB T: +44 (0)1462 459446 I E: info@benslowmusic.org I W: www.benslowmusic.org INTERNATIONAL RECITAL SERIES An enticing series of concerts of music given by world class artists. Programme details are available on our web site. FRIDAY 10 OCTOBER, 8PM DIGBY FAIRWEATHER AND CRAIG MILVERTON ARE JOINED BY COLLEAGUES FROM THE BRITISH JAZZ AWARD WINNING DIGBY FAIRWEATHERS HALF DOZEN, AL SWAINGER (BASS) AND NICK MILLWARD (DRUMS), FOR A NIGHT OF JAZZ PERFORMED IN AN INFORMAL JAZZ CLUB ATMOSPHERE - PRE CONCERT DINING AVAILABLE FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER, 8PM PROGRAMME INCLUDES WORKS BY MOZART, HAYDN AND BEETHOVEN - PRE CONCERT DINING AVAILABLE FRIDAY 7 NOVEMBER, 8PM PROGRAMME INCLUDES WORKS BY MOZART, TIPPETT AND SMETANA TICKETS 12 I BOX OFFICE: 01462 459446 FREE ENTRY TO MOST CONCERTS FOR UNDER 25S AND CARERS ACCOMPANYING A DISABLED VISITOR. CONCERTS TAKE PLACE IN PETER MORRISON HALL, BENSLOW MUSIC, BENSLOW LANE, HITCHIN HERTS SG4 9RB FITZWILLIAM QUARTET DIGBY FAIRWEATHER - CRAIG MILVERTON QUARTET RECENT COURSE COMMENTS WI ND PLUS SUMMER SCHOOL I had a fantastic time. Inspiring music and making fabulous friendships. A very enjoyable week. The tutors were very good indeed, helpful and inspirational with a large variety of music. The food was particularly good. BAROQUE ON MODERN I NSTRUMENTS Lucy Russell was outstanding. The tutors worked very hard indeed to make this a most enjoyable and successful course. A well organised course with informative, approachable tutors who were most generous with their expertise and advice. Perfect! Beautifully organised, friendly atmosphere, exceptional tutors and I learnt a lot. Exceptional concert. The tutors were a fabulous team! They worked conscientiously to organise a tailor- made course for us. I have learned a great deal and had a wonderful time. Inspirational!. T AI CHI WI TH GLYN WI LLI AMS A wonderful stay as always. An enormously helpful course in a beautiful friendly setting. Tutor, staff, place - what a team!. BENSLOW SUMMER STRING ORCHESTRA The food is wonderful and the room was brilliant - I feel regenerated. Jonathan Trout runs an outstanding course in all respects. Our cello tutor, Claire Morgan was also frst class. STRING QUARTETS WITH THE MAGGINI Just a note to thank everyone at Benslow for a super weekend. Everything about the venue is really frst-class, from the smart accommodation, through the great food and the lovely, friendly staff. It was also a delight of course to have tuition from the inspirational Magginis. PURCELLS VERSE ANTHEMS A small and friendly course and as ever I learned a great deal from the two tutors who worked brilliantly together. Apprehensive at my frst time to Benslow, but I need not have been, the welcome was warm, the tutoring patient and structured and the food, grounds and accommodation fabulous. I made many new friends and cant wait to return. COULL QUARTET