Dear Friends of Orchestral Music,
The Gala Concert that the Friends is presenting on Thursday, 4 December 2014 is now just less than two weeks away. All the arrangements (and believe me there are quite a few!) are in hand and things have been coming together very nicely. Our conductor, Martin Panteleev, arrives next Sunday and the rehearsals commence on Monday the 1st of December. Benjamin Schmid, our virtuoso soloist, has an exceptionally busy programme of performances in Europe and only arrives late on Tuesday, 2 December.
It is remarkable that he will only do two rehearsals with the orchestra before the concert performance. Because of concert commitments he will leave for the airport almost directly after the concert to take a midnight plane back to Europe. We will however have the benefit at the reception for a short while. We are indeed very grateful that he has agreed to this punishing schedule to perform with the CPO – he is a huge fan of the orchestra!
If you have not yet booked your seats for the concert, I would urge you to do so without delay. The City Hall is filling up rapidly and it seems that we are indeed heading for a full house. So do not delay much longer; you may find that your preferred seats are only just still available and we would not want you to be disappointed and not be able to secure seats.
The post-concert reception will be held in the Bloomberg room downstairs and the front and side lobbies of the City Hall in order to accommodate the large number of guests that are expected. Since this a catered reception it is imperative that you kindly indicate to me at derek@auret.co.za or Ruth Allen at rutha@telkomsa.net as soon as possible whether or not you will be attending. Thank you to those members who have already responded – the number has in fact been most disappointing – so please do your bit! We need to confirm the numbers with the caterers by 26 November. Please also remember to have your membership cards available since the reception is for members of FOM only and entry will be strictly controlled.
I have no doubt that the evening is going to be splendid affair and the Committee and I look forward very much to welcoming you to your concert to honour the special achievement of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra.
Best wishes
Derek Auret
Chairman: Friends of Orchestral Music.