Music at Booth Books

There's a new group in town, Hay Music, and this is the second concert they've organised at Booth Books. The first one was last week, and was apparently very successful.
This time it was the turn of Aquarelle Guitar Quartet. They'd come down from Manchester, but Rory Russell is local to Hay, so he was delighted to be playing in his own local area. "The others were a bit iffy about being invited to play in a bookshop," he said, "but this isn't just any bookshop!"
They started off by holding us spellbound with Bach and Rimsky Korsakov, and then moved into more modern pieces. Guitar quartets are quite a new thing, they said, so there isn't a lot of music composed especially for them. This means they either have to adapt a piece themselves (Vasilis Bessas of the group wrote the arrangement for a traditional Balkan song and dance in the second half), or they commission composers to write a piece for them, like the Dancas Nativas by Clarice Assad, also in the second half. This was a Brazilian piece, and they seem to like Brazil because one of their CDs on sale was all Brazilian music. For some pieces, they were even using their guitars as drums!
It was a magical, spellbinding evening - I'd certainly make an effort to see them again.
And right at the end, (after the encore) they were each presented with a long-stemmed white rose - in true Hay Festival tradition! The lady doing the presenting said that she'd got them from a firm that swore they were the same roses that would be used for the Royal Wedding!
Hay Music are looking for ideas for future concerts, talks and films, and can be contacted through Booths Bookshop or at johnstark532@gmail.com.

And for other fans of classical guitar music, a lady was passing out flyers in the interval for a concert at St Eigon's Church, Llanigon by John Mills on classical guitar, with Mai-Britt Waghild, a mezzo-soprano. Funds raised by the concert will go towards the ongoing renovation of the marvellous organ at St Mary's, Hay. It's on Saturday 21st May, and tickets are available from 01497 820477 or 820423 or 821003.
The organisers of last night's concert