June: These newsletters seem to be getting longer. We send them to you because you have been to, or expressed interest in a Lacock course. If, having tasted the waters of the Pierian spring, you have decided to exercise your talents in other directions and would rather not be on the list, simply send a reply with “unsubscribe” as the subject.
The most recent courses have gone particularly well – the winter school with Greg Skidmore, Tobago, Ghislaine’s well-attended voice workshop and Venice with Robert Hollingworth. It was of course wonderful to while away the end of the European winter in a Caribbean fishing village: everything fitted so well that I have asked Justin Doyle to lead a return visit from the 28th January to the 4th of February 2018. I had an inkling that he would be inclined to accept as he had named this year’s programme “Tallis in Tobago, part I”. Despite his recently-announced appointment as principal conductor of the prestigious Berlin Radio chamber choir, he has promised to keep those dates free for us.
I had a bizarre experience after our final concert. A well-dressed lady somewhat younger than myself came and introduced herself with the winning chat-up line: “Hello, I’m Jenny Agutter. I’m sure I know your name.” I don’t think we discovered why she should, but it turned out that she had been a regular visitor to Castara Bay for several years. I mentioned that we would try to interact more with the local community on our return visit – Justin would be just the person for it, and she talked about outreach schemes that she had set up, including an ambitious-sounding production of The Tempest with the local primary school. We promised to keep in touch to coordinate our efforts.
January: The Lacock Scholars go from strength to strength and in fact have a performance in London tomorrow (if you’re reading this today). It’s at 6 o’clock in St Cuthbert’s, Earls Court and all the details are on their own web site, www.lacockscholars.org . The Scholars are getting noticed far and wide and have been asked to sing at the Brighton Early Music Festival this autumn. They are also preparing for a recording in May. It’s very Lacock that their director is Greg Skidmore, himself a sort of proto-Lacock scholar. We’ve always taken any opportunity to promote from the ranks: the directors JanJoost van Elburg and Carlos Aransay first came to Lacock courses students, as did the instrumental tutors Martin Lubenow and Kina Sellegren; in a way the list also contains the director of our very first course in 1986, Harry Christophers, who sang in the choir Andrew had formed in London, Coro Cappella. Last time we mentioned a possible plan to found a charitable trust to support the Lacock Scholars financially and allow them to widen their activities. Having taken a few soundings, though, it seems that the administrative burden of running a Trust might be something better avoided and we might go for a more informal scheme. Several kind souls have kindly offered to make a financial contribution to support the Lacock Scholars and if you would like to join them please let Andrew know.
Two sad deaths to report. The first is Duncan Druce, a hugely gifted violinist and composer who was very much a fixture on the Lacock scene in the nineties. He was the kindest and most sympathetic of teachers, and it was an electrifying moment when in a tutors’ concert this quiet and introverted man picked up his violin and with some showy baroque piece turned into a fireball. He wrote “Earth, Sun, Moon”, settings of Three Greek Hymns translated by Shelley for chorus and early instruments for the Lacock Summer School in 1995. His death was widely noted in the press, including this obituary in The Guardian. More recently, many of you will remember the Portuguese bass Victor Amaro, who died at the beginning of December. Victor was the most charming of people with a great gift for friendship and brim-full of enthusiasm for music and life. He found us the venue of Obidos, where we held courses for several years, and we also have fond memories of him at courses in Lisbon, Lacock, Venice and Cholula in Mexico. It is a very sad loss and I’m sure many of you will want to join me in passing on condolences to Ana. To end on a brighter note, we are happy to tell you that two singers who have been frequent participants in recent courses, David Butler and Vivien Price, are now Mr & Mrs Butler.
