Vintage by the Wye are having a concert on Thursday 30th July, at 7pm at St Mary's Church.
The title is the Fabulous Thirties, the performers are Janice Day and Martin Litton, and they are always good fun. Songs will include 42nd Street, Mad about the Boy, Night and Day, and more.
Tickets are £20, but only £17 for early birds, from vintagebythewye.com
On Saturday morning I went into Hay via the footpath past the Swan Well, and then down to the riverside path, which meant that I passed the gateway to St Mary's church just as a chap was sorting out posters there. He reminded me of the concert that afternoon, which I had completely forgotten about.
So at 3pm I turned up for a wonderful concert given by the Hay Madrigal singers, in aid of The Lucy and Charlie Charity in Uganda. They support 43 orphans and a small community in Western Uganda, and the charity started with a donation from two Hay residents to a young man in Uganda, so it has strong local connections. They are trying to start their own school for the orphans, so they don't have to walk miles to the nearest school. If anyone is interested in donating, the link is:
http://gogetfunding.com/lucy-and-charlie-charity-center-uganda/
Entrance to the concert was £10, and the church had halved it's usual rate for hiring the space.
We started with Felix Mendelssohn, and moved on to his sister Fanny, whose work was mostly not performed or published in her lifetime, but is now being discovered and performed. One of the pieces was all about how everything in Creation was singing, so how could she be silent?
The tenor sang Death and the Maiden, in German, and there was a duet from Yeomen of the Guard by Gilbert and Sullivan. I didn't get one of the flyers, so I don't remember all the pieces, but it was all very good indeed. Other songs were Yum Yum from the Mikado singing "The sun whose rays are all ablaze"; Rosemary the pianist played a Song Without Words, and there was some Handel.
And also very good cake (though almost all of it had almonds in it!)
There are some other concerts coming up from the same group of singers.
On Saturday 8th August, at 3pm, Lucy Green and Rosemary Firman will be performing songs and piano music by a variety of composers, under the heading Songs of Love and Longing from Paris, Vienna, Milan and Leipzig. Entry is free, with a retiring collection in aid of church funds.
And on Saturday 22nd August, from 3.30pm, there's Soirees musicales - the story of Robert and Clara Schumann in their own words and music, narrated by Birgitta Claus and Steve Goodridge (the tenor), with Rosemary Firman on the piano. This concert is also free, with a retiring collection in aid of church funds, and both concerts will have cake and drinks.
We're really very lucky in Hay to have so many talented people who are willing and able to perform for us!
Sadly, I missed the concerts at St Mary's at the weekend, but I did happen to pop in for a Way-on-High magazine while one of the pianists was practicing on the magnificent Steinway Grand Piano that they had brought with them.
Which made me even more sorry that I missed the actual concerts.
Hay Music was busy over the Festival, but they aren't slowing down now. On Friday 12th June, at 7pm, the Sacconi String Quartet will be playing at St Mary's Church. Doors open at 6.30pm, and there will be a bar. Tickets are £20, or £10 for under 25s, with a few free tickets for under 25s on a first come, first served basis.
They'll be playing Mozart's quartet no. 19, which was called Dissonance when it was first performed (but only by the standards of the time - Mozart was just being a bit experimental), Smetana's "From my life" and Freya Waley-Cohen's Dances, Hymns and Songs for Friendship.
And in July there will be a series of piano concerts. All details on the Hay Music website.
My neighbour was sitting in her garden this morning when two children leaned over the wall.
"We're in a concert at the church this evening. You've got to come!"
So we walked down to the church together. Just in front of us, a kid with a violin case was charging full pelt down the hill, obviously thinking he was going to be late.
As we sat down, the two kids who had invited my neighbour looked back from their seats with thumbs up. "You came!"
The first half of the concert was performed by the professional pianist Jelena Makarova and soprano - the children were being introduced to a wide variety of music featuring rivers and the sea, starting with Benjamin Britten's arrangement of the folk song O, Waly, Waly, the Mermaid's Song by Haydn, a setting of a piece for choir done specially for Jessica Summers to sing with the piano by Colin Riley, called Never Coming Back, and At the River arranged by Aaron Copeland - one of those hymns that turns up in old Westerns.
Then it was the children's turn. Francesca Kay the poet had worked with Class 5 in four groups, each of which produced a very different river-themed poem, which composer Robert Peate set to music, including a very serious young drummer, a girl on the xylophone, various cymbals and percussion instruments, and two violinists - and the choir. They all looked as if they were enjoying themselves, and thoroughly deserved the applause after each song, and at the end. The poet said that she'd love to just go back to the school and write poetry with the kids until they told her to go away!
It was hugely enjoyable, and lots of people were leaving donations for further Outreach events in the future as they left.
It's not often Hay gets an entire symphony orchestra*, but Hay Music has organised a concert with the Hereford Symphony Orchestra this Saturday at 3pm (doors open at 2.30pm) in St Mary's Church.
Tickets are £20, under-25s £10. They will be playing Rossini's An Italian Girl in Algiers, Wagner's Siegfried Idyll and Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony.
And it's a busy week for music lovers, because Songs of the River will be performed, also at St Mary's, on Thursday 26th March at 6pm. This is a project put together by the musicians and children of Hay School - composer Robert Peate, poet Francesca Kay, soprano Jessica Summers and pianist Jelena Makarova. This concert is free with a retiring collection in support of Hay Music's Outreach Programme.
*in fact, this is the first time!
The Hay Music concert was brilliant!
Erik Rydvall on the nyckelharpa, (from Sweden) and Olav Mjelva on hardanger fiddle (from Norway) are both folk music stars, and they were joined by Max Baillie on the classical violin.
There were times when the nyckelharpa sounded like more than one instrument - it looks very complex, but Erik said it was quite easy really (!). It's an instrument which has been evolving since medieval times, when nyckelharpas were included in wall paintings of medieval musical angels. He said he chose his current one because he can play Bach on it (and proceeded to demonstrate).
By contrast, the classical violin hasn't really changed in 400 years.
The Hardanger fiddle has several differences from the classical violin, too. Olav said that he comes from a mining area of Norway, and in the 19th century German mining engineers wanted to hear the latest European fashions in music, like the polka and the waltz, so sent local folk fiddlers off to places like Copenhagen to learn the new styles, which got incorporated with the local traditions.
On Friday, they went into the school to give a workshop, and several of the children turned up for the concert with their families - they seemed to be really enjoying it.
As well as Nordic folk music and baroque music, they have started to branch out into Eastern European music from composers like Dvorak - who themselves went off into the countryside to collect folk music to incorporate into their music. And they played pieces that they had written themselves.
They have made a CD, Bach to Folk, so I had to buy a copy. They said that, if anyone took the CD home and didn't like it, they could send it to Olav - and he would send them back a CD that he didn't like! There was a warning that it would probably include accordion music! They added that some people had actually taken the offer seriously....
At the beginning of the second half, Janice Day took the mic to advertise the upcoming concert Rhapsody in Green, which features her husband Martin Litton and Mike Hatchard sharing one piano, with Janice performing some musical comedy. The concert will be at St Mary's on Thursday 29th January, from 7pm. Early bird tickets are £13 each, and can be booked via the website www.vintagebythewye.com
Hay Music is starting off the New Year with an afternoon concert at St Mary's Church at 4pm on Saturday 10th January. I went down to the Tourist Information office to get my ticket yesterday.
The Lodestar Trio plays classical and baroque music on violin, Swedish nyckelharpa and Norwegian hardanger fiddle, which is quite a combination! They also play traditional and contemporary Nordic tunes.
Doors open at 3.30pm, and there will be a bar. Tickets are £20, and £10 for under-25s, with a limited number of free tickets for under-25 year olds, first come, first served.
Then on Saturday 31st January, at 6pm, there's a children's concert at Hay Castle. Tickets are £15, with under-25s free. The Solstice Collective wind quintet are doing Peter and the Wolf, with Felix Ashley as narrator.
I love Peter and the Wolf, and have happy memories of seeing Johnny Morris (of Animal Magic fame) narrate it at a concert at Lancaster University back in the 1980s. Sadly, I'll be away that weekend, so I won't be able to see this version.
I couldn't go to the Dial-a-Ride Carol Concert this year, because I was at a meeting of the Cusop History Group committee organising the archaeological work at Cusop Castle next year on the same afternoon. I'll report more nearer the time, but it's very exciting to be involved in real archaeology again.
So I missed something unexpected and well deserved. During the concert, Mary Fellowes was honoured with a certificate and bouquet for all her hard work keeping Dial-a-Ride on the road.
Mary was one of the founder members of Dial-a-Ride, and she raised money for minibuses, and did a lot of organising behind the scenes, and put in a huge amount of hard work to keep it going over the years.
It's nice to see her being appreciated like this, and I'm sorry I missed it.
At least a photographer from the Brecon and Radnor Express was there - Mary looks quite surprised in the photo!
Yesterday evening I was at St Mary's Church to see James Fox talk to Kate Humble.
He's an art historian, but for his latest book he has turned his attention to lost and vanishing crafts around the UK. Some crafts are critically endangered, meaning that only one person is carrying the craft on - and without apprentices to learn the craft, it will die out. Five crafts went extinct while he was writing the book. There is only one man in the UK, at the only bell foundry left in the UK (in Loughborough), who has the specialist skills to accurately tune a bell when it has been newly made, for example.
But it's not all doom and gloom - other crafts have been brought back from the brink of extinction and have a much brighter future.
We're very fortunate in Hay to have a wide variety of craftspeople - Christina Watson, who has painted shop signs around the town for many years (and more recently trained as an icon writer), was in the audience, and she said that the various craftspeople help each other out with work. Walking round the market earlier in the day, there were basket weavers, and potters and spinners and dyers, knitted and crocheted goods, wooden spoons and knives and bowls, and more. The sponsor of the event was Shepherds, the ice cream makers - that counts too, and so does cheese making and brewing.
In the past, people in Hay made straw hats, or cut wood for the soles of clogs, and there were tailors and dressmakers and cobblers, blacksmiths and carpenters. Some of those still survive, but one of the things James Fox talked about was how hard it is to learn those traditional skills now. My sister learned dressmaking at City and Guilds evening classes, for instance - those no longer exist. Technical colleges are much fewer in number, and no longer offer the same sort of courses in engineering as they once did. This is all part of government policy over many years, seeing these things as unimportant, and easy to cut funding for. I remember a friend seeing a government retraining scheme advertised a few years ago, so she applied in order to learn how to mend saddles - there's a need for that in this area. But they were only offering computer courses.
However, there are charities across the UK (James Fox works for one of them) that support craftspeople to train up new apprentices, and to provide workshops and tools for them.
And kids want to make things! James Fox was talking about his own kids, but I saw exactly the same thing when I was a Viking re-enactor going into schools to teach kids a simple form of weaving. There was a real hunger to do something with their hands, and there was no time in the curriculum for anything but academic work.
The other thing about crafts is that they last. Shops are full of plastic rubbish that has been brought half way around the world, and it's cheap - but it doesn't last. A craftsman-made mug can last a lifetime, but will be more expensive to buy. James Fox treated himself to a pair of Sheffield steel scissors - they cost £100, but they will last his lifetime, and far longer than 10 pairs of £10 scissors would last.
In Japan, skilled craftspeople are honoured as National Treasures, and encouraged to pass on their knowledge. In France, Notre Dame was rebuilt so quickly after the fire because there were trained young craftspeople available to do the work. We desperately need something similar in the UK.
There's a talk at St. Mary's on Wednesday 5th November at 7pm.
Tim Pugh will be giving a slide show of Old Hay in Photographs.
It should be a fascinating evening.
Tickets are £5, in aid of St Mary's Church, and the St Mary's bar will be open.
It was a small, but enthusiastic, audience in St Mary's last night for the harpsichord concert - and two of the composers of the modern pieces were actually there to hear their work performed. Janet Oates also sang for one of the pieces. Sarah Lianne Lewis's Goleunir'r Dyffryn, for the Welsh part of the trip round the British Isles, was the world premier performance. There were pieces from Scotland and Ireland as well, and also a piece to start the concert from Ana Bon di Venezia, an 18th century Italian composer.
It was a mix of traditional pieces and modern pieces in conversation with the older work, and the modern pieces were using the harpsichord in all sorts of unusual ways - knocking on the wood, plucking the strings inside the case and, in one case, rolling a golf ball around on the strings! Despina Homatidou, the performer, was also called upon to hum and cry out at certain points. It was quite fascinating to watch, especially in the piece called Keening, which was written shortly after the composer's father died.
Later, in the question and answer session, Despina said that she hadn't been sure at first how robust the instrument was to stand up to such unusual treatment - but it turns out that harpsichords are tougher than they look!
It was also lovely to see a little girl in the audience with her mum - and she's clearly having piano lessons because she was allowed to try the keyboard of the harpsichord, which she did with confidence.
The new pieces were commissioned by the Vale of Glamorgan Festival Legacy Funds,
Tonight, at 7pm (doors open at 6.15), Despina Homatidu will be playing the harpsichord at St Mary's Church. She is a Greek musician currently working at the University of Cardiff and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. The concert is part of an initiative to produce new works for the harpsichord, and the programme will be a mixture of old and new, folk and classical. There will also be a question and answer session, and there will be an interval with refreshments. Tickets are £13.50 on the door.
Normally I'm at work on Sundays, so it's very rare that I get the opportunity to go to a proper Sunday service. This week, though, I'm getting ready to go on holiday, and there is someone at work who can cover the front desk, so I had the time to do it.
It's even better now that I can cut through on the little public footpath behind the Almshouses and come out right at the church.
Poor Father David was only assisting at Mass this morning, because his arm is in a sling, and for some things the presiding priest needs two hands. He did preach, though, on the Gospel reading about Jesus warning people not to take the place of honour when they were invited to dinner parties, and to throw banquets for the poor instead. He did say that he's not on co-codamol any more, though - so he's not as high as a kite, and he is getting better!
I didn't know all the hymns, but hymns are generally designed to be easy for the congregation to pick up, so that was all right, and I was able to belt out Tell Out, My Soul as the last hymn.
After the service, I was asked to mention the next concert at St Mary's. Rhapsody in Blue is a concert by Mike Hatchard, assisted by Susanna Warren and Jeremy Young, and there will be jazz, and Chopin, Ravel, and Flanders and Swann. Tickets are £15 from WegotTickets or on the door. OAPs are £12, and it starts at 7.30pm.
Also, on Saturday 6th September, there will be coffee in the church from 10.30am, followed by the monthly organ recital at 11am, with Barrie Magill.
A little later I met Simon the Poet in town, and he asked me if I'd like to sign up for the Parish magazine, Way-on-High - so he took my address and £10 on the spot and will add me to the list.
It means I'll have advance warning of things like Parish trips - for instance, yesterday there was a trip up to Capel-y-ffin for the annual Father Ignatius Memorial Pilgrimage. They start at Llanthony Abbey, and go from there to Capel-y-ffin, finishing off at the ruined monastery church. One of the banners in St Mary's Church is of Our Lady of Capel-y-ffin - a schoolboy had a vision up there in 1880.
And next year there will be the Parish pilgrimage to Walsingham - I visited Walsingham when I lived in Norwich many years ago, and it is a place with a very special atmosphere, so I'd love to go back.
I realised that I hadn't put my photos on the blog yet, of the procession of Our Lady of the Wye on Friday.
After a short Mass at St Mary's Church, the statue was carried through the town to the canoe landing stage, where it was lashed to two canoes (which were already lashed together) for the trip down to Whitney as the first stage of the pilgrimage.
And there they are, about to set off down river. The banner says "Save The Wye".
The river is very low, after a summer with very little rain.
The statue of Our Lady of the Wye is making its way downriver again, partly as a pilgrimage and partly as a protest against the pollution of the River Wye.
Proceedings begin on Friday August 15th, with a church service at St. Mary's at 10am, followed by a procession through the town to the launch point near Hay Bridge.
On the first day, the pilgrimage will get to Whitney-on-Wye.
On the second day, they get as far as Moccas, to be greeted by Gregorian chant by the monks of Belmont Abbey (with wine and canapes).
The third day sees a Patronal Mass at St. Mary's at 11am, and Evensong at 6pm with Bishop Frome and the Amici choir.
On Monday 18th, the statue sets off from Bredwardine Bridge, to arrive at Hereford Cathedral in time for Evensong at 5.30pm, followed by a party at Old Chapel.
And on the final day, they go from Hereford Cathedral to Hoarwithy, where there will be Evensong at 6.30pm with the Ross Parish Church Choir.
I only found out about this concert at lunchtime, when I met someone on the way back from shopping who said he was going.
Janice Day and Martin Litton are a fabulous duo, and I love the 1920s and 30s style songs.
Also, I don't think I'd ever seen Martin play a grand piano before - he's always been on keyboards at other concerts I've been too - and the difference was astonishing. He's a brilliant player. His first solo performance of the evening was The Sheikh of Araby, which was inspired by the film The Sheikh, starring Rudolf Valentino. I've seen that film, and Valentino really did have that star quality. Whenever he was on screen, you just couldn't take your eyes off him. I was slightly disappointed that Janice didn't sing the lyrics to the song, though - which include the lines: "At night when you're asleep, Into your tent I'll creep"!
Some of the songs were romantic and lyrical, and some were comic. For instance, in the same year one song writer wrote a song that was voted the most ridiculous ever, and As Time Goes By, which was later used in the film Casablanca. Janice sang the one about playing the rumba on the tuba down in Cuba.
She also sang Three Little Fishes, which I learned when they sang it on Playschool. It was also a song that Frankie Howerd sang, making much of the nonsense words in the chorus: "Boop boop dittem dattem wattem chu - and they swam and they swam right over the dam."
And also Mad Dogs and Englishmen.
Other songs I knew all the words to were Sing For Your Supper and, as part of the singalong audience participation, Dream A Little Dream of Me - though I learned them from the Mamas and the Papas arrangements.
Janice also sang in French - the signature tune of Josephine Baker, a Black American who became a star in France, and was known for dancing in a skirt made of bananas (and not much else). By contrast, Janice was looking very glamorous in a sparkly purple dress, with a subtle costume change during the interval.
They also had violin accompaniment from Steve Jones for a couple of the numbers.
There was, of course, rapturous applause - and their encore was Putting on the Ritz.
Martin will be playing as part of a quartet in the Hay Music Festival later in the year, and he and Janice are planning a concert of songs written in 1934 (which was a very good year, apparently).
Their website is www.vintagebythewye.com
The next Hay Music concert is on Friday 25th July, at 7pm at St. Mary's Church, and it sounds fascinating!
Lotte Betts-Dean is the mezzo soprano who will be singing with the Marsyas Trio and friends. They've performed in Hay before.
It's a varied programme, with Haydn and Debussy, Claude's Girl by Marika Hackman, and a piece by Schoenberg called Pierrot Lunaire. This is described as a piece that changed musical history. It was written in 1912, based on the Berlin cabaret, and is a cycle of 21 songs about the bizarre world of the clown-like Pierrot.
Tickets are £20, or £10 for the under-25s.
This is a bit late, because I didn't notice the dates!
But there is still time to book for the latest Hay Music events which are tonight, June 20th and tomorrow.
The Ferio Saxophone Quartet will be at the Castle tonight at 7.30pm, playing music from films, TV and stage. Tickets are £17.50.
And tomorrow they will be playing at a more formal concert at St Mary's Church, with classical music from Bach to Bernstein. Tickets are £20.
All the details, including ticket concessions, are available on the Hay Music website.
