Inaugural Gala Concert ...

Our inaugural concert in Stellenbosch was such a wonderful evening and a night I will remember for many years to come.

There was a lovely atmosphere which included the children from the Hout Bay Music Project performing in the foyer of the hall. Those beautiful voices resonating to the accompaniment of strings.

We were honoured to have such fine musicians perform at this inaugural concert; David Juritz - Leader of the London Mozart Players, Suzanne Martens - Leader of the Amici Quartet, Gareth Lubbe - Principal viola of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig, Germany and Peter Martens - cellist of the Amici Quartet.

It was a full house and one of the most interesting aspects was that a large portion of the audience were there more for their affinities to what the Quartet of Peace represents than for the music. It was wonderful to chat to a lot of them after the concert and hear how much they enjoyed hearing the instruments and that string quartet music will now be a gendre that they will listen too!

At the end of the main concert there were solo tributes to each Nobel Laureate in turn. The violins being accompanied by Jane Theron on harp.

The lights were dimmed and it was so moving, not only the heart warming music but to be reminded of how far we have come as a country!

Last week on the 17th, November there was a concert in Leipzig played in the famous St. Thomas Church were J. S. Bach is buried.

The musicians said it was an inspiring experience playing Art of the Fugue with the great Master in earshot!

 

Our other exciting news is that we have three new musicians that have joined the group. Samson Diamond, Xandi van Dijk and Abel Selacoe. Their profiles are on our web site www.quartetofpeace.com

We are thrilled to have them on board and so looking forward to hear them play together!

Below is a video of the Stellenbosch concert. I have included a few excerpts and not the entire works. I do not have footage of the entire concert including the first solo tribute to Chief Albert Luthuli so have included the sound recording of that tribute with visuals of the making of the instruments.

The video below is best viewed in HD and full screen. For email subscribers the video can viewed by clicking here: Inaugural Gala Concert

Quartet comes to life ...

These last few weeks have been such an exciting time for all of us involved in the Quartet of Peace initiative ... suddenly the pieces of wood have come to life, there are faces behind the numerous emails from around the world and our identity as a Quartet of Peace has been established!

It was the usual frantic rush to get the cello ready in time and after working for three days with very little sleep. It was completed at 6.00 pm on the monday exactly one hour before our first rehearsal! 


Although it is rather stressful working this way it somehow always lends itself to the incredible focused concentration of fitting a bridge and soundpost which I really love doing ... those micro millimeter adjustments of fitting a soundpost which I do almost entirely by feel as one very gently flexes the back and front apart, intuitively establishing the best position.

The Italian name for the soundpost is ‘anima’ which means ‘the soul’ and this is certainly true!  The soundpost is a small spruce dowel inside the instrument under the treble end of the bridge, spanning the space between the top and back plates and held in place by friction.
Quite incredible how such an small piece of wood is the most important part of the violin!

The first rehearsal and the coming together of instruments for the first time was on monday the 11th of October at Suzanne and Peter Marten's house. David Juritz had literally just flown in from London a couple of hours before and Gareth Lubbe from Germany made up this inaugural group of musicians. There was such excitement in the air and for me hearing those first few notes played as an ensemble was such a moving experience and the fulfillment of a long held vision and dream!

A couple days later there was a rehearsal at the Hout Bay Music Project which was three hours long giving the children there an opportunity of experiencing what goes into string quartet playing. One of the highlights of the rehearsal was having the kids clapping, keeping the time for some incredibly difficult interwoven rhythms.

We were all amazed at the sense joy that the musicians shared when playing together and that really came through at the concerts. 

We do have some exciting news in that there will be three additional musicians joining the group; two of them are young black South Africans from Soweto. I will elaborate more in my next blog which will also be about the concerts with some video footage ... but for now the video below is of the first few rehearsals - please forgive me for the shaky footage ... after hardly having any sleep for about two weeks whilst getting everything ready, I was not quite myself during these recordings!

The video below is best viewed in HD and full screen. For email subscribers the video can viewed by clicking here: Quartet comes to life