Summer Music Guitar Course


(Contributed by Trevor Pike)


Members have the opportunity to participate in a Guitar Ensemble Workshop from the 3rd to the 5th of October 2008 under the tutelege of Gerald Garcia


The course will be held at Dunsford House Midhurst West Sussex GU29 oDG.





Lewisham Mandolin Players join with Bromley BGS



For those of you who didn't make last Saturday's Pluck'n Strum (July 19th for those who don't read the newsletter), you missed a treat!! The Bromley Guitar Society and the Lewisham BMG Orchestra led by Ian Segui got together and did we cook up a musical storm!!


We managed to even drown out the usual Saturday night cacophony provided by the Bromley police car sirens (although they did pop up to share the limelight with the solo performances later on in the evening.) I think it was the first time I could remember where the walls of the meeting room were expanding in and out to accommodate the ensemble performance!!



A lot of work went into the planning of the meeting and I would like to especially thank Ian Segui for all the work he went to in organising us all. Ian also had a long way to travel so his efforts were much appreciated. It made for a great evening's entertainment and fun. I am sure it will be the first of many 'get togethers'.



Along with the members of the BMG Orchestra we performed the following pieces


  • Song of the Rose
  • Gypsy Love

  • Amapola
  • Les Enfants du Piree (Never on a Sunday....which was just as well as it was Saturday!!


We were also treated to some great mandolin performances from the 'Silver Belles' trio.

Members of the BGS also provided some great solo performances.

Len Ivell took us for a tour of the Mexican Countryside with his arrangement of Mexican Songs.

Rebecca Clifford performed Bach's Prelude, Fugue and Allegro (BMV998) while your correspondent trotted out Packington's Pound on the Lute Guitar and also managed to trip over the odd branch or two while walking through the 'Woods So Wilde'.


Click here to listen to the pieces.

A special thanks should be also extended to Trevor Pike again for stepping up and providing refreshments for all the members. It was really appreciated.

As the Summer break kicks in, there will be no meeting until September. However the Lewisham Mandolin Society meet regularly at St Georges Church hall in Beckenham every Monday at 7:30 and I know that they would welcome any guitarists to join with them. Visit the BMG web site for more details

Please remember to keep the 18th of October free in your diaries for the Amanda Cook Concert. More news about concert bookings will be available by the end of August.

Federation of Guitar Society Events for July


Lunchtime concert

1 pm Thursday 3 July 2008

CambridgeRound Church, Bridge street, Cambridge

Admission is free with retiring collection.

Jennifer Bennett (baroque violin and viola) & Yair Avidor (theorbo/lute) play French music by Robert de visee, Leclair and Marin Marais.Phone 01223 311602.



Lunchtime concert

1 pm Saturday 12 July 2008

CambridgeRound Church, Bridge street, Cambridge

Admission is free with retiring collection.

Jennifer Bennett (baroque violin and viola) & Yair Avidor (theorbo/lute) play lute and violin music by Bach, Vivaldi and Corelli.

Phone 01223 311602.



Evelyn Tubb and Michael Fields Concert

7:30pm Saturday 20th September 2008

Kinson, Bournemouth

Kinson Community Centre,

Pelhams Park, Millhams Rd,

Kinson, Bournemouth BH10 7LH


Admission: £10


See DGS web site,


EventsDorset Guitar Society

Dorset Guitar Concert

2.30pm Sunday 19 October 2008

Kinson Community Centre, Pelhams Park, Milhams Road, Kinson BH10 7LH


Music from soloists, small groups and DGS Orchestra directed by Stephen Kenyon.

See DGS web site,

Lute Society News


1 CONCERT ON 15th JULY

15 July, 7:30 pm, Earl's Court Festival, St Cuthbert's Church, 50 Philbeach Gardens , London SW5 9EB. Tel: 0207 370 0015; http://www.eccf.org.uk/

Earl’s Court Baroque
Žak Ozmo Director

Esther Levin, soprano
A Venetian Entertainment in London
“When I think of a word to replace that of music, I can think only of Venice .” Nietzsche

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, music from Venice inspired and delighted the whole of Europe . Venetian-style masquerade balls, especially, were all the rage in Count Heidegger’s eighteenth-century high society London. Earl’s Court Baroque presents a programme of entertaining, imaginative, and uncommonly beautiful works by Venetian masters Vivaldi, Marini, Uccelini, and Castello, as well as forgotten English works associated with the fashion for Venice in 18th-century London. The ensemble is led by Žak Ozmo, specialist on early plucked instruments, and is joined on this occasion by international soprano Esther Levin.
Doors open: 7:00pm. Starts: 7:30pm
Complimentary refreshments included.
Tickets: £10 (£6 concs)
Advanced bookings at: http://www.eccf.org.uk/ or call: 0207 370 0015
Earl’s Court Baroque: www.zakozmo.com/ECB


2. LUTE QUARTET GIG IN YORK FESTIVAL

The new lute ensemble Chordophony, directed by Lynda Sayce, makes its debut at the York Early Music Festival on Friday 4th July, 10pm, with a late-night candlelit concert in St Margaret's Church, Walmgate, York.'For life, faith or fortune: musicians in exile'. Music by Dowland, Vallet, Bull, Phillips, Castaldi and Kapsberger, played on the only complete, matched consort of renaissance lutes in the world. Box office 01904 658338 or book online at http://www.ncem.co.uk/
Also Chordophony's new website http://www.chordophony.com/ has just gone live. Do pay a visit!


3. JOGLARESA CONCERTS

Dear all,
I am performing in a number of concerts in July with medieval group Joglaresa - http://www.joglaresa.com/
The concerts, entitled 'Exstastis' feature a programme of Arabic, Jewish and Christian song and will take place in York, Buxton and London (free!). Please do come along if you can.
York Early Music Festival Family Concert 12 July 2008, 11.00am – 12 noon Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate


Tickets Adult: £10.00 Concession: £8.00 Student: £3.50http://www.ncem.co.uk/yemf2.shtml

York Early Music Festival 12 July 2008, 9.30pm – 10.30pm St Olave's Church,


MarygateTickets Adult: £20.00 Concession: £15.00 http://www.ncem.co.uk/yemf2.shtml
Buxton Festival 19 July 2008, 3pm Tideswell ChurchTickets £16 http://www.buxtonfestival.co.uk/Extasis.htm
National Theatre Outdoor Festival: Watch This Space, London 31 July 20081.15 – 2.15 National Theatre South Bank, London SE1 9PX FREE
All best wishes
Merit