Summer Newsletter 2022

SITTINGBOURNE MUSIC SOCIETY SUMMER NEWSLETTER 2022

Welcome to Sittingbourne Music Society’s annual newsletter and a big thank you to all our members who have supported us over the past year.  We hope you enjoyed the last season and will continue to do so in the coming year. Below are details of the AGM to which you are cordially invited.

Sittingbourne Music Society Annual General Meeting

Friday 23rd September 2022 at 2.00 pm

42 Bell Road, ME10 4EB, Sittingbourne

Agenda

1.    Apologies for Absence
2.    Minutes of AGM 2021
3.    Reports: Chairman – Secretary – Treasurer – Adoption of Accounts
4.    Chairman’s Welcome
5.    Retirement and Adoption of Directors
6.    Election of Officers: Chairman – Company Secretary – Treasurer
7.    Any Other Business

Marilyn Austen
We are sorry to have to report the sad news that at the beginning of June 2022 Marilyn Austen, our Chairman and Concert Manager died after a short illness. She was a very supportive member of the Society for some years taking on the role of Chairman in September 2013. She fulfilled both her roles with determination until she was no longer able to continue to the best of her ability. Marilyn’s husband Keith has helped and supported the society over the years in a number of ways and we sent our condolences to him and his family. Marilyn will be missed greatly within the community of Sittingbourne. Miles Attwell has been appointed as Acting Chairman.

Financial Situation

Unfortunately the Society finds itself in a precarious situation financially. Last season finished with a considerable loss which meant drawing on its reserves; obviously this is not sustainable and is a cause for concern. One problem has been that audience numbers have not returned to pre-Covid levels.
We are very grateful to all those who give donations large or small which can then gain Gift Aid. Last season we were particularly grateful to one member who covered the cost of the artists’ fees for one concert and to one donor who paid for the distribution of publicity fliers. We are also very grateful to Making Music for subsidising some young artists’ fees.

2022/23 Season

We hope you will join us at this year’s concerts which will continue to be held at Fulston Manor School all starting at 7.30. The hall is very well ventilated and spacious with hand sanitiser available and you are welcome to wear a mask if you wish.

Friday 7th October 2022: Pianist Phillip James Leslie with music from J S Bach to William Baines

Friday 18th November 2022: The Zemlinsky Trio with various combinations of 19th century music for clarinet, cello and piano.

Friday 10th February 2023: Young violinist Madeleine Pickering and pianist Kumi Matsuo

Friday 10th March 2023: The Rautio Piano Trio will be including a composition by the English composer Ethel Smyth

Ticket prices will be kept at £15 per concert (£1 for under 18s). They can be purchased individually on the night but tickets for all four will be available at the first concert which helps to support the Society’s finances. We are not increasing ticket prices but, if you felt able, an extra donation would be very welcome – as we originally considered £20 per concert, an extra £5 per ticket would be wonderful.

Summer Newsletter 2021

The society AGM will be held at 7.30 on October (see details below).

After eighteen months of cancelled concerts and much uncertainty, it is good to find ourselves in a position to offer a season of concerts again. This our 18th season will have four concerts as usual which will all take place in The Millennium Hall, Fulston Manor School, Brenchley Road, Sittingbourne ME10 4EG. Access to the car park and Millennium Hall is in Brenchley Road at the first roundabout from Bell Road. It has full wheelchair access. The piano is of a suitable standard for professional players, so we have been able to include pianists in our repertoire without the very high costs of hiring a piano.

All concerts will start at 7.30.

We are not producing a brochure this year so here are details of our four planned concerts.

Friday 8th October 2021
Indira Grier, Cellist with Pianist Antoine Preat
including music by Beethoven, Debussy Janacek and Schubert.

Friday 19th November 2021
Susan Piggott, Soprano and Richard Furstenheim, Piano
An evening of English and French songs

Friday 4th February 2022
The Aurora Trio: Flute, Viola and Harp
Including works by Bax, Patterson, Debussy Piazolla and Knotts

Friday 11th March 2022
The Barbican Quartet – String Quartet
Haydn op. 77 no. 2 / Bartok Quartet no. 2 / Beethoven op. 59 no. 2

We hope you agree that this offers a wide variety of professional performers who, no doubt as usual, will provide us with very enjoyable evenings. Paper programmes will be provided but information can also be found online at www.sittingbournemusicsociety.com.

The concerts will each cost £15 and £1 for under 18s but because of the financial problems caused by last year’s cancellations the Society has decided not to offer a reduction for buying tickets for all four concerts in advance; we hope you will understand and agree it still provides good value for money.
It you would like to pay for all four concerts (£60) we will have season tickets available at the door at the first concert. If at all possible, we would prefer payment by cheque, please.

We will of course be mindful of any Covid related regulations imposed by the Government at the time of each concert. Please do not attend if you feel unwell, you have been told to self-isolate or are in quarantine after a visit abroad or you have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive.
We will be following guidelines for management of live performance provided by Making Music:
You may be asked to queue on arrival and provide your contact details. We will endeavour to have a one-way system in operation, will provide hand sanitiser and request that you wear a mask until seated. Please be respectful of each other’s space (minimum 1 metre) when choosing your seat. We will keep some doors and windows open for as long as we can to ensure good ventilation and will thoroughly ventilate the hall during the interval. The concert will last for 2 hours with a 15-minute interval. Unfortunately, we cannot provide refreshments, but you are welcome to bring your own.

Here are also details of our AGM to which you are cordially invited. Our chairman Marilyn Austen kindly offered to host the evening; her address is 14 Silverdale Grove Sittingbourne.

Sittingbourne Music Society Annual General Meeting

Friday 1st October 2021at 7.30pm

AGENDA

1. Chairman’s Welcome
2. Apologies for Absence
3. Minutes of AGM 2020
4. Reports: Chairman – Secretary – Treasurer – Adoption of Accounts
5. Retirement and Adoption of Directors
6. Election of Officers: Chairman – Company Secretary – Treasurer
7. Any other Business

After the meeting there will be a short musical performance of Spohr’s duo music by Miles Attwell and Freya Jury.

OUTREACH WORK

One of the society aims is to bring professional classical music to a wider audience. In the past several of our performers have visited local schools. Unfortunately, now we have not been able to organise anything for this season; if it does become possible, we may be able to add something later in the season.

THANK YOU

We would like to thank all our members for supporting the Society and those who have kindly given a donation. Gift aid can be claimed on donations we receive which obviously helps our funds even more.
Internet users – If searching for information, try using www.easysearch.org.uk – and if shopping register with www.easyfundraising.org.uk and nominate Sittingbourne Music Society. Each purchase will generate a small donation at no extra cost to you and we can claim gift aid as well. We thank all of you who have used this service in the past.

Thank you all once again for your support and we look forward to seeing you at the coming season’s concerts.

Summer Newsletter 2020

Since the writing of this article we have had to postpone all our events until the 2022/23 season.

The Society AGM will be held virtually at 7.30 on 25th Sept. Anyone wanting to attend by “zoom” or requiring a copy of the Trustees report and the end of year accounts please contact Anne Ryback at 42 Bell Road. ME10 4EB.

Dear Members,

We hope you are all managing to keep well in these difficult times.

This newsletter is to keep you informed of the decisions that the committee have had to make in accordance with government guidelines and future uncertainties.

As you know, with the start of lockdown we had to cancel our concert in March when we should have enjoyed a performance by the Barbican String Quartet. However, the good news is that they are happy to perform for us within our 2021/22 season; so we look forward to that. Despite the curtailment of the season we hope you enjoyed the concerts prior to lockdown.

The 2020/21 season had already been planned but obviously now these plans have had to be changed. As, even with schools  returning in September, we do not know if they will be open for lettings or what the  government guidelines will be on social distancing,  it has been decided that next season we will only have two concerts, one in February and one in March when we hope life will have returned to normal. Because of this there will be no season tickets; we will simply sell tickets on the night.

The concerts will be performed at Fulston Manor School again. On Friday 5^th February Cavendish Winds, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and French horn, will give a programme of French classics old and new.  On Friday 12^th March the Aurora Trio, with their unusual combination of flute, viola and harp, will be playing music by Borodin and Debussy as well as a composition by a local composer David Knotts.

The concerts that had been proposed for October and November we hope will be re-arranged for 2022/23.

With social distancing making meetings difficult, it has also been decided that the AGM will be a virtual meeting via Zoom. More details will be sent out nearer the time.

We do hope that once all the problems associated with these unprecedented times have resolved themselves we will all be able to enjoy our concerts again. In the meantime we wish all our members well and hope to see you again in 2021.

Summer Newsletter 2019

A big thank you to all our members for your support of the society over the past year. We hope you enjoyed the last season and will continue to do so in the coming one. We also hope you will be able to attend the AGM, details below, which is your opportunity to contribute your views on the society.

Annual General Meeting – Thursday 12th September 2019 at 7.30pm
The Phoenix Centre, Central Avenue, Sittingbourne

AGENDA

1. Chairman’s Welcome
2. Apologies for Absence
3. Minutes of AGM 2018
4. Reports: Chairman – Secretary – Treasurer – Adoption of Accounts
5. Retirement and Adoption of Directors
6. Election of Officers: Chairman – Company Secretary – Treasurer
7. Any other Business

 Light refreshments will be available, and after the meeting there will be a short musical entertainment performed by a quartet led by committee member Miles Attwell.

TICKET PRICES AND MEMBERSHIP

We do hope you will renew your membership again this year. Season tickets for this, our sixteenth season, remain at £50 giving you a saving of £10 for all four concerts. Given the high quality of all the performers, we feel this gives very good value for money and hope you agree.

If you are interested in other local Music Societies, as advertised in the concert programme notes, don’t forget you get £2 off the admission price on production of your SMS membership card. We would love to increase our audience size, so, if you know of anyone who may be interested, please pass on the extra brochure we are sending out or just spread the word by enthusing about the concerts!!

NEW VENUE

Please note that all concerts this season will be held at the Millennium Hall, Fulston Manor School, Brenchley Road, Sittingbourne ME10 4EG Access to the Millennium Hall is in Brenchley Road at the first roundabout from Bell Road.

We hope this will prove to be a good venue for concert goers and performers alike. It has full wheel chair access. Also the piano is of a suitable standard for professional players meaning we can extend our performer range without the very high costs of hiring a piano.

OUR 2018/19 SEASON

This was another year of high quality and varied music enjoyed by all who attended. Both Concert Royal and Travelling by Tuba had performed for us before and their return visits did not disappoint. Everyone who attended the concert by Borealis Saxophone Quartet enjoyed this enthusiastic group and the virtuosity of pianist Maki Sekiya made for a spellbinding finale to a great season.

OUTREACH WORK

One of the aims of the Society is to bring classical music to a wider local audience.

Four years ago “Travelling by Tuba” gave a funny and gripping session to junior school pupils which was very enjoyable, so we were very pleased when they offered further sessions prior to their concert in February. This time they visited Minterne Junior School and Meadowfield School. In both cases they were very well received with the students thoroughly enjoying their enthusiasm and the wonderful range of instruments.

This season we have the added advantage of offering two outreach activities; Manus Noble will be working with young students from the area and soundSPARK will also be performing in schools

OUR NEXT SEASON

We again anticipate a season of wonderful music covering a range of performers and genres over the four concerts on offer for this, our sixteenth, season. Our first concert features the young talented violinist Alexandra Lomeiko, accompanied by pianist Ana Gogava, who will be playing music by Beethoven, Ravel and Grieg. The young wind quartet soundSPARK are set to give an exciting performance covering a variety of styles from classical to contemporary. In February we welcome back the popular young guitarist Manus Noble and the season will end with The Barbican String Quartet, a young chamber group who made their debut in 2017. Their programme will include works by Haydn, Bartok, Beethoven and Mendelssohn.

THANK YOU

We would like to thank all our members for supporting the Society and those who kindly add a donation when paying their subscription. Gift aid can be claimed on donations we receive which obviously helps our funds even more.

We also want to thank all the organisations who supported the Society financially last year. Grants were given by KCC Combined Members Grant Scheme for our outreach work and Making Music subsidised the concert by Borealis Saxophone Quartet.  Queenborough Fishery Trust gave us a grant that allowed us to hire a concert standard baby grand piano for the highly successful final concert with Maki Sekiya.

We would not be able to continue without these grants and donations however great or small.

Internet users – If searching for information, try using www.easysearch.org.uk  – and if shopping register with www.easyfundraising.org.uk and nominate Sittingbourne Music Society. Each purchase will generate a small donation at no extra cost to you and we can claim gift aid as well. We thank all of you who have used this service in the past.

Thank you all once again for your support and we look forward to seeing you at the coming season’s concerts.

Summer Newsletter 2018

Welcome to the Sittingbourne Music Society’s Annual Newsletter.

We thank all our members for their support of the society and hope you enjoyed the last season and will continue to do so in the coming one. We also hope you will be able to attend the AGM, details below, which is your opportunity to contribute your views on the society. Please note the change of venue from the last few years; we hope that by holding it in Sittingbourne more of you will feel able to attend.

Annual General Meeting – Friday 14th September 2018 at 8 o’clock
The Phoenix Centre, Central Avenue, Sittingbourne

AGENDA

1. Chairman’s Welcome
2. Apologies for Absence
3. Minutes of AGM 2017
4. Reports: Chairman – Secretary – Treasurer – Adoption of Accounts
5. Retirement and Adoption of Directors
6. Election of Officers: Chairman – Company Secretary – Treasurer
7. Any other Business

The meeting will be followed by light refreshments and a short musical recital by committee member Miles Attwell and three of his advanced violin students, Laura, Joely and Freya.

TICKET PRICES AND MEMBERSHIP

We do hope you will renew your membership again this year. Season tickets for this, our fifteenth season, remain at £50 giving you a saving of £10 for all four concerts. Given the quality of the performers, we feel this gives very good value for money and hope you agree.

If you are interested in other local Music Societies, as advertised in the concert programme notes, don’t forget you get £2 off the admission price on production of your SMS membership card.

We would love to increase our audience size, so if you know of anyone who may be interested please pass on the extra brochure we are sending out or just spread the word by enthusing about the concerts!!

No doubt you have all heard of the new General Data Protection Regulations; if you wish to continue to receive next year’s brochure and newsletter please fill in the enclosed form and send it with your membership renewal and rest assured the details will never be passed on.                  

OUR 2016/17 SEASON

This was another year of high quality and varied music enjoyed by all who attended.

The Emily Sun and Jennifer Hughes recital, which replaced the original planned concert, was outstanding and gave us our largest audience.

Special mention should also be made of The Bingham Quartet who also
gave us a brilliant concert. They included John McCabe’s  ”Summer Eve’s Quartet” which they had learned especially for us, and which players and audience alike greatly appreciated.

OUTREACH WORK

One of the aims of the Society is to bring classical music to a wider local audience.

Last season The Marylebone Wind Trio, oboe, clarinet and bassoon, spent the day playing in local schools prior to their evening concert. They gave performances to the boys at Borden Grammar School and to two Junior Schools at Minterne School. The presentations were very different; the boys asked questions about the instruments, while the younger ones enjoyed several short and exciting items. Both were well received.

Three years ago “Travelling by Tuba” gave a funny and gripping session to junior school pupils which was very enjoyable; we have asked them back again this year to give two sessions during the daytime before the evening concert, one each to junior and secondary pupils. They give examples of musical styles and strange instruments over a thousand years and four continents.

OUR NEXT SEASON

We again anticipate a great season of music with the four concerts on offer for this our fifteenth season.

Two of our concerts feature performers who have entertained us in previous years. The Concert Royal Quartet with their period instruments gave a very enjoyable performance, although the programme this time will not include a singer. Travelling by Tuba provide a wonderfully entertaining and informative evening and the sheer number of strange and wonderful instruments that this duo play is incredible.

The second concert is a “Sittingbourne first” – we have not had a saxophone quartet before and are looking forward to it.

The last concert is a young Japanese pianist who some of you may have enjoyed listening to when she played for one of the Saturday morning recitals at St Michael’s church.

THANK YOU
We would like to thank all our members for supporting the Society and those who kindly add a donation when paying their subscription. Gift aid can be claimed on donations we receive which obviously helps our funds even more.

We also want to thank all the organisations who supported the Society financially last year. Grants were given by Swale Borough Council for our outreach work and Making Music’s Selected Artist Subsidy sponsored Emily Sun.

We would not be able to continue without these grants and donations however great or small.

Internet users – If searching for information, try using www.easysearch.org.uk  – and if shopping register with www.easyfundraising.org.uk and nominate Sittingbourne Music Society. Each purchase will generate a small donation at no extra cost to you and we can claim gift aid as well. We thank all of you who have used this service in the past.

Thank you all once again for your support and we look forward to seeing you at the coming season’s concerts.

Summer Newsletter 2017

Welcome to the Sittingbourne Music Society’s Annual Newsletter.

We thank all our members for their support of the society and hope you enjoyed the last season and will continue to do so in the coming one. We also hope you will be able to attend the AGM, details below, which is your opportunity to contribute your views on the society.

Annual General Meeting – Friday 22nd September 2017 at 8 o’clock
The Midwinter Room Tunstall Church

AGENDA
1. Chairman’s Welcome
2. Apologies for Absence
3. Minutes of AGM 2016
4. Reports: Chairman – Secretary – Treasurer – Adoption of Accounts
5. Retirement and Adoption of Directors
6. Election of Officers: Chairman – Company Secretary – Treasurer
7. Any other Business

The meeting will be followed by light refreshments and a short musical interlude; Shostakovitch’s beautiful 5 Duos for piano and violins will feature violinists
Miles Attwell and Laura Marshall.
——————————————————————————————————–

TICKET PRICES AND MEMBERSHIP

Unfortunately, due to increased costs, we have had to put up our prices for this season. The cost of each concert will be increased from£13 to £15 although under 18s can still attend for £1. Hopefully you will agree this is still very good value for the quality of concerts on offer, especially if you think of the cost of attending a concert in London or even in Canterbury.
Renewing your membership for the season will cost £50 giving you a saving of £10 for all four concerts. We do hope you feel able to do this.
If you are interested in other local Music Societies, as advertised in the concert programme notes, don’t forget you get £2 off the admission price on production of your SMS membership card.

OUR 2016/17 SEASON

This was another year of high quality and varied music enjoyed by all who attended. As well as music performed on a variety of instruments, flute, harp, viola, violin, cello, piano and guitar, playing music

from many composers from Baroque to modern, we had the Apollo 5 vocal ensemble who gave us a memorable performance of classical to pop with their festive programme providing a good prelude to the Christmas season.

OUTREACH WORK

One of the aims of the Society is to bring classical music to a wider local audience. Last October the Charlotte Ashton Flute Trio ran a workshop for young chamber music groups who then performed a short piece within the evening concert.
Next year The Marylebone Wind Trio, oboe, clarinet and bassoon, will spend the day playing in local schools prior to their evening concert.

OUR NEXT SEASON

Again there are four concerts on offer for this our fourteenth season. As you can see from the enclosed brochure, there is, as usual, a variety of performers, instruments and composers including John McCabe’s “Summer Eves” string quartet – a special request being played in our November concert by the Bingham Quartet.
A change of programme: since printing the programme, there is a change to our third concert in February when Michael Foyle will be unable to play for us. He has received an invitation to play with the Baltic Philharmonic in Gdansk which is an excellent career opportunity for him. We agreed to release him from his contract with SMS and will welcome Emily Sun, who was the 2016 Gold Medal winner of the Royal Overseas League Competition, in his place. The programme will contain Sonatas by Debussy, Faure and Schumann and the Rosenblatt-Bizet Carmen Fantasy. She will be accompanied by pianist Jennifer Hughes.
The guitarist for the first concert has also changed; Ahmed Dickenson Cardenas will be performing instead of Joseph Warwick.

Ideally it would be great to increase the size of our audience; if you know of any way of spreading the word, please do so. With this in mind, we are sending you two of our brochures; if you could pass one on (maybe someone new has moved into your neighbourhood?) it would be much appreciated.

THANK YOU

We would like to thank all our members for supporting the Society and those who kindly add a donation when paying their subscription. Gift aid can be claimed on donations we receive which obviously helps our funds even more.
We also want to thank all the organisations who supported the Society financially last year. Grants were given by KCC and their Combined Member Grant Scheme helped towards the outreach work. A grant from the Queenborough Fishery Trust supported the concert by Apollo 5. We would not be able to continue without sponsorship of this kind.

Internet users – If searching for information, try using www.easysearch.org.uk – and if shopping register with www.easyfundraising.org.uk and nominate Sittingbourne Music Society. Each purchase will generate a small donation at no extra cost to you and we can claim gift aid as well. Thank you to all those who have used this service in the past.

Thank you all once again and we look forward to seeing you at the coming season’s concerts.

Summer Newsletter 2016

Sittingbourne Music Society
Affiliated to Making Music

SMS GENERAL NEWSLETTER
Summer 2016

Welcome to the Sittingbourne Music Society’s annual newsletter.

We thank all our members for their support of the society and hope you enjoyed the last season and will continue to do so in the coming one. We also hope you will be able to attend the AGM, details below, which is your opportunity to contribute your views on the society.

Annual General Meeting – Friday 9th September 2016 at 8 o’clock
The Midwinter Room Tunstall Church

AGENDA
1.    Chairman’s Welcome
2.    Apologies for Absence
3.    Minutes of AGM 2015
4.    Reports: Chairman – Secretary – Treasurer – Adoption of Accounts
5.    Retirement and Adoption of Directors
6.    Election of Officers: Chairman – Company Secretary – Treasurer
7.    Any other Business

The meeting will be followed by light refreshments and a short musical interlude.
——————————————————————————————————–

CHAIRMAN

We are very grateful to Marilyn Austen for being our acting Chairman this year; she has done a good job even if it was undertaken rather reluctantly!
As well as a new Chairman, we would very much like to see more members on the committee, so if you or anyone you know, would be willing to join us as Chairman or committee member, please let a member of the committee know.

OUR 2015/16 SEASON

This was another year of high quality and varied music enjoyed by all who attended. We had a variety of instruments – The Thomas Shelbourn Baroque Ensemble with recorder, flute and harpsichord, Prince Bishop’s Brass, The Thorne wind Trio and Manus Noble and his guitar. We also heard music from all ages from Renaissance to the present day and from various parts of the western world.
Some people were able to attend our joint concert with Faversham Music Society where we enjoyed music by the young piano and viola duo, Omri Epstein and Daniel Palmizio.

OUTREACH WORK

One of the aims of the society is bring music to a wider audience of all ages. We were able to provide outreach work to local schools again, this time thanks to Manus Noble, an outstanding international guitarist.
He gave a day’s workshop to young guitar students of all abilities from St Peter’s and Highsted schools. It was good to hear the fruits of their labours in an item at the evening’s concert. We thank Highsted School for hosting the event.

Next season another outreach session is being organised for local students when the Charlotte Ashton  Flute Trio will provide a school workshop.

OUR NEXT SEASON

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL OUR CONCERTS NEXT YEAR WILL START AT THE EARLIER TIME OF 7.30

Four more concerts have again been organised which we hope you will enjoy. The season starts with the Charlotte Ashton Flute Trio (flute, harp and viola) In November Apollo 5, an a-cappella group will give a concert which should prove to be a good introduction to the festive season. February will see the Le Page Jenkinson Duo with a variety of genres for violin and cello. Our season will finish with the Muzika Lyra Ensemble with music for violin, piano, voice and guitar.

THANK YOU

We would like to thank all our members who kindly add a donation when paying their subscription.

We also want to thank all the organisations who have supported the Society financially. The outreach work with Manus Noble would not have been possible without help from Kent County Council’s Combined Member Grant Scheme and the Philip and Dorothy Green Award for Young Performers through Making Music.

Without support the Society would be unable to provide such a wide variety of high standard professional concerts – so a big thank you to all our concert goers.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR TREASURER

It’s that time of year again for members’ subscriptions to be paid; we have maintained the subscription again this year at £42 for four concerts and, hopefully, you will agree that it is excellent value for money. We are very aware of the need to balance the cost of professional artists against keeping the price of the concerts at a level which is accessible to a wide variety of people; we would, therefore, like to thank all those who add a donation, large or small, to the cost of their season ticket. Any donations received are increased in value as gift aid can be claimed on them helping to keep SMS financially viable.

Internet users – If searching for information, try using www.easysearch.org.uk  – and if shopping register with www.easyfundraising.org.uk and nominate Sittingbourne Music Society. Each purchase will generate a small donation at no extra cost to you and we can claim gift aid as well.

Thank you once again and we look forward to seeing you at the coming season’s concerts.

Summer 2015

JOHN  MCCABE

We were all very sad to hear the news of John’s death in February, the very day of our third concert of the season. The concert was given by pianist Malcolm Binns who is a loyal supporter of SMS and a friend of John. The programme included a piece composed by John and also a piece he especially asked Malcolm to play; it was a fitting local tribute to an internationally renowned composer. John was the founder of our society and we will always be grateful for his work as Musical Director; it was his wide musical experience and knowledge of professional musicians that enabled us to provide Sittingbourne with such a high standard of concerts.

CHAIRMAN

Peter Morgan has had to resign from the Chairmanship of the SMS; after a spell in hospital he felt he could no longer carry on. He helped to start the society when he was approached by John and Monica McCabe with the idea of a music society for Sittingbourne. He became Chairman and has worked tirelessly and with great commitment to promote the society. We wish him well.

Marilyn Austen has agreed to be acting Chairman until the AGM when the annual election of officers takes place. At the same time we would very much like to see more members on the committee – if you have any nominations, for a Chairman or committee member, please let a member of the committee know.

OUR 2014/15 SEASON

From comments received everyone seems pleased with our new concert venue and we will certainly be continuing there next season.

All four concerts were well received. The first two concerts featured “Concert Royal”, who gave us an evening with Jane Austen, and the talented young “Aureus String Quartet”. In February Malcolm Binns treated us to a wonderful evening of piano compositions and the season ended with Travelling by Tuba – a very lively and fascinating way to end our tenth season.

OUTREACH WORK

We were very pleased to be able to provide outreach work again this year. Travelling by Tuba agreed to spend time at two local primary schools, The Oaks Infant School and Minterne Juniors. At both schools the children thoroughly enjoyed the experience of a performance by the duo. The children were totally captured by the presentation, which was amusing and informative, interspersed by an extraordinary range of sounds and sights. It was totally geared to the audience, and used repertoire and instruments quite different from those used at the evening performance. Two young lads were so inspired that they came to the evening concert as well!

It is hoped that next season more work with local schools will be possible.

THANK YOU

Our thanks go to Malcolm Binns for his generous support in giving us a wonderful concert free of charge and to John Penry for the loan of his piano.

We are also very grateful for £500 from Sittingbourne Borough Council Members’ Localism Grants, towards outreach work and £1000 from Kent County Council Combined Member Grant Scheme.

OUR NEXT SEASON

We will again have four concerts in Sittingbourne to look forward to next season. With a variety of artists, it should be very enjoyable. There will be the Thomas Shelbourn Baroque Ensemble – recorder, flute and harpsichord, Prince Bishops Brass Quintet and The Thorne Wind Trio. The season will conclude with Manus Noble guitarist, kindly supported by Making Music’s Philip and Dorothy Green Award for Young Artists scheme.

As a new venture, in April SMS is combining with Faversham Music Society for a joint concert. It will be held in Queen Elizabeth School Faversham (where we will benefit from a decent piano without hire costs!) and will be a piano and viola recital.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR TREASURER

It’s that time of year again for members’ subscriptions to be paid; we have maintained the subscription again this year at £42 for four concerts and, hopefully, you will agree that it is excellent value for money. We are very aware of the need to balance the cost of professional artists against keeping the price of the concerts at a level which is accessible to a wide variety of people; we would, therefore, like to thank all those who add a donation, large or small, to the cost of their season ticket. Any donations received are increased in value as gift aid can be claimed on them helping to keep SMS financially viable.

Internet users – If searching for information, try using www.sittingbourne.easysearch.org.uk  – and if shopping register with www.easyfundraising.org.uk and nominate Sittingbourne Music Society. Each purchase will generate a small donation at no extra cost to you and we can claim gift aid as well.

Thank you once again and we look forward to seeing you at the coming season’s concerts.

Summer 2013

GENERAL NEWSLETTER
Summer 2013

Annual General Meeting – Friday 13th September 2013 at 7.30
The Midwinter Room Tunstall Church
(PLEASE NOTE NEW VENUE)

AGENDA
1. Chairman’s Welcome
2. Apologies for Absence
3. Minutes of AGM 2012
4. Reports: Chairman – Secretary – Treasurer – Adoption of Accounts
5. Retirement and Adoption of Directors
6. Election of Officers: Chairman – Company Secretary – Treasurer
7. Any other Business

Please join us if you can; we appreciate your interest in and support of the Society and its progress. The meeting will be followed by light refreshments.
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INTRODUCING TWO NEW COMMITTEE MEMBERS:-

Mairi Moulton
My qualifications for joining the committee of Sittingbourne Music Society are modest, but my support for the society is based on a great love of chamber music.  I am an enthusiastic supporter of local live music of many kinds and a long-standing audience member and friend of Oare String Orchestra and Maidstone Symphony Orchestra.  My performing skills are limited to choral singing.  I am a member of East Malling Singers and, since 1978, of Rochester Choral Society, of which I am vice-chairman and orchestra secretary.  I hope to be able to bring something useful from this experience to SMS.
Marilyn Austin
I work in the Science department at Fulston Manor school and live in Sittingbourne. I am married to Keith who also enjoys music and supports SMS. Unfortunately, having little musical ability, I do not actually participate in music making, I simply enjoy listening to a fairly wide range of music, especially piano works, string quartets and church choral pieces. I appreciate the opportunity to listen to the diverse programmes provided by the Music Society.

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JOHN McCABE

You are no doubt aware that John has been battling with illness which has involved frequent hospital visits for consultations and treatment. It has been a difficult time for him but he still managed to continue with his composing, fulfilling his commitments, including a piece for this year’s Proms. He has, however, had to cut back on his involvement with SMS; he is now Artistic Adviser rather than Artistic Director. We appreciate all he is doing and the enormous input he has put into the Society since its formation.

OUR NEXT SEASON

Sittingbourne Music Society’s 10th Season promises to be as interesting and varied as the previous nine. All 4 concerts will be held in The Bourne Hall, Sittingbourne Community College starting at 7.45 pm.
On Friday 11th October 2013 the international prize winning Carducci String Quartet will start our season with a programme that includes our own John McCabe’s new Quartet as well as works by Haydn and Beethoven.
On Friday 22nd November 2013 the Eblana String Trio, who are rapidly establishing themselves as an ensemble of immense versatility and talent, will be performing a varied programme with works by Schubert, Finzi, Beethoven and Mozart.
On Friday 7th February 2014 the young Chinese- American pianist Jessica Wei Zhu, who is a post-graduate
student of Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music, will be playing pieces by Brahms, Haydn, Schubert and Listz.
Our final concert, on Friday 21st March 2014, features the entertaining Early Music Group “Galliard”. Their programme is called “A Tale of Two Cities” with music from the courts of Louis XIV and the Kings in London, and will include witty readings and demonstrations of some of their instruments.

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SIR RICHARD RODNEY BENNETT

We were deeply saddened over Christmas to hear of the death of one of our Patrons, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, in a New York hospital. Born in 1936, he had a truly remarkable career, from opera, symphony, instrumental and vocal music of all kinds to film music and jazz – an ex-pupil of Boulez for composition he was also a star of night-club cabaret in New York and London! He sprang to prominence in the late 1950s at a very young age with already supremely accomplished chamber music for the concert-hall and film scores – the ability to be a brilliant all-rounder was already there. It led to performances by all the major symphony orchestras, La Scala, Milan, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and success with the Oscars.

His output was enormous in all forms. In recent years he softened from the more hard-edged “modernism” of the 1960s to a more “accessible” approach – though this “modernism” has always been tempered by his elegant lyricism and a natural rhythmic flow derived from jazz influences. Many of his works have become available on CD, including his fine first full-length opera The Mines of Sulphur, which has also been successfully revived. We in the SMS are glad we were able to programme his lovely Missa Brevis last season.

On a personal note, I might add that he was a deeply valued friend for 60 years, as well as admired colleague whose music formed an important part of my repertoire. It was always fun for his “Chums”, as he called us, to spend time with RRB – he will be truly missed.

John McCabe

Spring 2013

As many of you will be aware, with great regret we have had to change the programme for the concert on February 8th, John asked that we include this explanation of the reasons for that decision.

It was with much sadness that I made the decision to cancel my recital for the SMS in February – it was done on health grounds and proved to be a wise decision, but I did it reluctantly. My health problems bring into train one or two other career decisions which will affect my work for the SMS – I really do have a lot of musical work to do and ought perhaps to concentrate more fully on that.

Apart from anything else, I desperately wanted you to hear the programme I had chosen. However, we have been able to secure the services of a brilliant young pianist I’ve been fortunate enough to hear courtesy of the Park Lane Group. James Kreiling, naturally, cannot be expected to take over the same programme, but has chosen instead a magnificent array of some of the greatest piano classics: virtuoso masterpieces (Ravel’s formidable Gaspard de la nuit, and Beethoven’s majestic final C minor Sonata, Opus 111), some of Debussy’s glittering Images, and Schumann’s Scenes from Childhood, so familiar to many pianists (and so much more difficult to play than we all think!).  It makes a feast for any piano-fancier, and will I’m sure be a memorable and exciting evening.
As far as I am concerned, we will all have to work out how to tackle the future, but it does seem to me at this time that it would be better for me to act as an advisor on artistic matters rather than a formal Artistic Director. Our Committee has energetically taken up the reins in various ways already, and as the New Year starts we can make our plans. We will need all your support, though – we have come so far, and done so much good, that we must continue!
John McCabe 14 December 2012

This leads us into a timely message from our Chairman,  Peter Morgan:

Chairman’s Message

As Members may know, I am deeply concerned about the level of our Membership. One thing I have learned about voluntary organisations is that one must persist in recruiting new members or the organisation dies. We must not let that happen to our present Music Society. There are three things which I would encourage you to do to help in this matter.
Please would you go out of your way to invite friends, relatives and acquaintances to attend our concerts.
I am continuing to look for more distributors to deliver Letters of Invitation to their neighbours. I have composed such a letter, printed several hundreds of them, enveloped them and put them into bundles of 100 letters ready for delivery. If anyone is willing to help me with this would you either contact me by phone (01795 423215) or a note through my door at 65 Park Road.
We have a local population of about 60,000 people and many do not even know that we exist.
We are looking for more poster sites to advertise our concerts. If you have a poster site or know of one, please email  HYPERLINK “mailto:magsbroughton@hotmail.co.uk”magsbroughton@hotmail.co.uk or speak to a Committee Member at the concert.
Peter J. Morgan.

It was with deep regret that we heard of the death of one of our patrons Sir Richard Rodney Bennett on 24 December 2012, we hope to include an appreciation in a later newsletter.

We welcome comments and suggestions from members of the Society and from the audience, each of the last two concerts has been reviewed by a member of the audience and we thank them for the time spent.
Review of Cameo Opera’s Concert on 19th October 2012
The Music Society’s 2012/13 season began with an enthusiastic and energetic evening given by the ever-popular Cameo Opera.
“A Night At The Opera” gave us staged and costumed scenes from three operas- “The Magic Flute”, “Cosi Fan Tutte” and “The Barber of Seville”.
All three were well sung and acted, and the costumes were very good. However, at times the voices were a bit unbalanced, I felt, particularly in “Cosi Fan Tutte”.
The singers, furthermore, are to be congratulated for managing to keep going without batting an eye-lid through leaking ceiling and collapsing scenery!
With this in mind, a special mention must be made of Monica, who nobly spent the second half of the concert holding up the collapsing scenery!
As we have come to expect from Music Society concerts, this was a thoroughly enjoyable evening.  Dot Mill

Review of The Korros Ensemble’s Concert on16th November 2012
The Society’s November concert provided an enthusiastic audience with yet another feast of fine music, given by an unusual group of talented young players, the Korros Ensemble.  The setting of the drama studio, although arranged for quite other reasons, was well suited to the combination of flute, clarinet and harp.  Not a single work in the programme was originally written for this combination, though Villa-Lobos’s Choros No. 2 for flute and clarinet, beautifully performed, gave harpist Camilla Pay a brief rest.  Everything else had been arranged, to a greater or lesser extent, by clarinettist Nicholas Ellis.  The team was completed by the immaculate playing of flautist Eliza Marshall.
Perhaps the most obvious candidates for this treatment were the Rawsthorne Suite and Bax’s Elegiac Trio, both originally scored for flute, viola and harp.  Here the clarinet easily replaced the mellow tone of the viola and, in the Bax particularly, the beautiful writing for harp was allowed its full effect.  More surprising were the arrangements of piano works.  The Haydn Sonata in E which opened the concert was remarkably effective, giving the impression of a vocal duet with harp accompaniment. The familiar Debussy Arabesques and the less well known Stanford Prelude no.10 which was given as an encore both seemed to gain in colour and brilliance from their arrangement.
Of the arrangements of orchestral pieces, perhaps the most successful was the Dances from Falla’s La Vida Breve where the clarity of the folk rhythms was strongly maintained.  In Turina’s Danzas Fantasticas and Saint-Saens’ Tarantella, even though the latter is originally scored for flute, clarinet and orchestra, the harp struggled to convey the full orchestral sound.  However, both pieces were still very enjoyable and added to the variety of an imaginative and stimulating programme. Mairi Moulton
Still to Come
We can look forward to two exciting concerts to complete this season’s programme, John has written about James Kreiling’s piano recital on Friday 8th February 2013 which we anticipate will be popular with our members and, hopefully, a wider audience. Please bring any budding pianists you know to listen to this talented young pianist.

Our last concert of the season is on Friday 15th March 2013 when the Kaunas String Quartet will perform Grieg’s F major quartet, Schubert’s Rosamunde Quartet and Four Consolations for Sad Cello and Song without Words written by Vidmantas Bartulis who is the cellist’s brother. I am told this is a charming and witty piece despite the title! We are lucky to have booked this superb quartet from Lithuania as part of their UK tour so try not to miss this concert.
Both concerts will start at 7.45pm at the Bourne Hall, Sittingbourne Community College. Swanstree Avenue, Sittingbourne ME10 4NL.

Finally Finance!
Once again I would like to thank those of you who add a donation to your subscription, not only does this help us to book talented musicians but we have been able to claim gift aid on these donations so they are worth even more to us. Thank you.
Another way you can help the Society is by using  HYPERLINK “http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/”www.easyfundraising.org.uk
when you shop online, it is always worth checking as a very wide range of websites do donate to the nominated charity at no extra cost to you.

See you at the next concert on 8th February!

Completing with Communications
In an attempt to keep expenditure at an absolute minimum this newsletter has been emailed where we have an email address. We would like to use email whenever possible

if you do not want to receive communications by email please reply accordingly to my email at  HYPERLINK “mailto:magsbroughton@hotmail.co.uk”magsbroughton@hotmail.co.uk

if you receive a paper copy of this newsletter and are happy to receive communications by email please let us have your email address.

If more than one member lives at an address and each member would prefer their own copy of the newsletter please ensure we have both email addresses.

We will never pass your email address to any other organisation, it will be used solely by Sittingbourne Music Society