Information for Participants
SEILLANS 8 – 18 AUGUST 2012
‘Your festival in the south of France’
Welcome back to Musique Cordiale. It’s our 8th year of music-making with friends and colleagues from all over the world in our idyllic spot. I am sure you will enjoy the terrific programme and exciting concerts we have in store.
2012 offers new repertoire, lovely singers and lots of great players. There will be evening & lunch-time concerts, chamber music, orchestral performances and jazz in the first week, with the Ensemble Cordial Choir joining in week two and coming together with the orchestra for the sublime Mozart Mass in C minor and the Poulenc Gloria.
The a cappella repertoire is nearly decided and our gifted and brilliant friend Tom Seligman is working with me on this; he is returning to conduct the orchestral and choral concerts this year. We have decided on the Allegri Miserere and Morten Lauridsen Madrigali.
In the beginning, the core of Musique Cordiale was the choir, to which we added an orchestra made up mostly of accomplished friends (and their friends)whom I managed to inveigle into coming to the Var for French vin, cuisine & soleil – in return for playing beautifully! As many of you will have noticed, as the festival has grown in scale and ambition, this has changed somewhat. However, the original formula, featuring the choir accompanied by my ‘playing’ friends, remains as important as ever. It is also the key to the ‘grand denouement’ at the end of the festival, when all the hard work comes together in the final concerts. And during this time, new friendships are made, paving the way to future happy festivals.
In an uncertain economic climate, an issue I have to address this year is the size of the festival and, as important, how to retain its intimate quality while it takes on a force of its own. Believing that ‘change is the great survivor’, we have to think creatively about how to achieve this balance without upsetting the unique and friendly atmosphere we always aim for. In 2012, we have decided not to stage an opera. There will also be a slightly smaller Musique Cordiale orchestra whose fine players can retain and enhance the high quality we have become accustomed to. And, pursuing the idea of inspiring singing from old friends, Andrew Staples will return to Musique Cordiale to sing Britten’s Les Illuminations.
This year’s festival does also feature exciting new initiatives. Andrew Staples is assembling a new ‘Consort Musical’ of merry (mostly) men to perform a glorious repertoire of Renaissance polyphony, madrigals, part songs and close harmony. Truly a week of vocal excellence to look forward to! And… at the inspiration of Lisa Gross, our Swiss oboist, a group of outstanding students from the Zurich Hochschule der Kunst are joining us to play solos and chamber music as well as participating in Musique Cordiale throughout the festival: flute, clarinet, bassoon and cello. The cool ‘Christie boys’, who live in Zurich, both talented musicians and who helped me so much last year, return this year. They will play with Michel Tirabosco & Jean Marie Reboul, whose return attracts huge enthusiasm from our Seillans audiences.
With the help of Chris Hoyle, our favourite cellist, we are inviting players from the Royal Northern College of Music, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Philharmonia. So we will achieve both continuity and change.
Also still evolving and now in its third year is the Academie Cordiale, which will be running during the first week. Our students from the Conservatoire in Nice will return for this unique experience of playing alongside professionals in a festival concert – plus a lunch-time performance in their own right as the culmination of their week of stretching and challenging work.
During the last few festivals, artist Sarah Bryant has been sketching as well as singing. This has prompted us to stage another different kind of new show this year. This will take the form of an exhibition, Scenes from ‘Musique Cordiale’. We are inviting other artists, including Vincent Fournier, Tessa Peskett, Clara Medek and Martin Naumann to show their work too, to be accompanied by a display of selected photographs from past festivals.
As you can imagine, I have been forced to look at the financial implications of aspects of the festival, so that we can plan confidently towards the 10th anniversary in 2014. We have had to put the prices up very slightly in order to cover the rising costs of everything, including food, accommodation, music and equipment hire, insurance and travel. But you can see that participants can look forward to new festival features this year as well as more of the quality and unique festival experience encountered in recent years. Please book early and, if you have friends who sing well and might be interested in coming, please ask them to contact me too. Please will members of the choir arrive on Friday 10 August in time for the concert at 7 PM.
The costs and registration form are below, they include entry to all concerts and dinner. Please pay a deposit of 350€ by March 1st.
Non-residents (including concerts & dinner): 350€
Standard accommodation: 700€
Superior (with pool or B&B): 800€
Single supplement: 160€.
Choral editions:
Morten Lauridsen Madrigali Faber music
Allegri Miserere probably adapted from one of the editions on cpdl.org
Poulenc Gloria Salabert
Mozart Mass in C minor(ed Maunder),Oxford University Press
other a cappella music to be announced in due course
I look forward to seeing you all again in August.
Love and best wishes from Pippa
pippapawlik@pppr.net
Musique Cordiale Summer 2012 (arrival Friday 10 August if possible)
Reservation Form 2012 + deposit to be returned by 1st March 2012
Name: Voice/Instrument:
1………………………………………………………………………
2………………………………………………………………………
Address:……………………………………………………………..
Telephone:…………………………………………………………….
Mobile:………………………………………………………………….
E-Mail:…………………………………………………………………….
I/we wish to participate in the summer music festival this year.
I enclose or am transferring deposit 350€ per person.
Total enclosed or transferred …………… Enclosed/Bank transfer?
Preferred accommodation or other Notes:
(E.g. Standard/Economy/Single Occupancy/B&B/pool/with or near friends in village etc)
If you wish to pay by bank transfer, please provide your bank with the following details:
BANK HSBC, FR FAYENCE
BANK NUMBER 30056, GUICHET 00248, CLE RIB 22
ACCOUNT NAME MUSIQUE CORDIALE – ACCOUNT NUMBER 0248 000 7092
IBAN FR76 3005 6002 4802 4800 0709 222
BIC CCFRFRPP
PLEASE ENSURE THE AMOUNT REMITTED IS GROSS.
I.E. ALL CHARGES ARE PAID AT YOUR END.
It would also be helpful if you could send an email to our treasurer in
France confirming the amount and date of your payment.
The organizers will do their best to respond to requests
I understand that I will be invoiced on 1 May for the full fees for this booking and that it is not always possible to meet all accommodation requests exactly. I agree to pay the balance of the invoices by 1 May 2012 and that deposits will not be repayable if this booking is cancelled after invoices have been sent to me. I also understand that flights & travel arrangements are our own responsibility and I will arrange early booking directly with airlines (prices tend to rise), car-hire firms etc. I understand that I am responsible for taking out appropriate travel insurance to cover cancellation costs and all expenses incurred following unforeseen illness, mishap or change of circumstances.
I understand that the weekly prices include participation in all events, including 7 meals (1 day with no meal). Participants are asked to arrange own transfers and transport.
Signed: …………………………………………………. Date ………………….……
Please return this form with your deposit
Payable to Musique-Cordiale
c/o Nigel Cox, The Orange Tree Galerie, 626 rte de Bargemon, 83440 Seillans.
