Show Hands for Chopin’s Music

At Woodend Barn this Saturday, music lovers can enjoy a fresh approach to the music of Chopin, and Scotland’s influence on his work.

Amadeus Duo – Margaret Preston on flute and Alina Bzhezhinska on harp present a programme of Chopin’s music. Their arrangements give an interesting slant on Chopin’s piano music, as the evocative and sensuous combination of flute and harp take a fresh look at some of the most popular piano repertoire. They will also play the works of composers who influenced Chopin on his travels in Scotland.

The girls have toured this concert to many venues in UK and in Ukraine as part of the international celebration of Chopin’s 200th Anniversary (1810-1849). The tour will end in October with a concert at RSAMD where Alina was appointed Harp Lecturer in 2008. The programme which is designed to be audience friendly is narrated by Margaret and Alina who as well as playing their special arrangements, present amusing and revealing extracts from letters and commentaries from the last year of Chopin’s life.

Alina says, “I feel a special affinity for Chopin’s music and have found some experiences in his letters that I can definitely relate to, having had some similar thoughts when I settled in Scotland some years ago”

Margaret and Alina met in Aberdeen Music Hall in 2003, when they were playing Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius with massed Choirs and Orchestra conducted by James Loughran. This was a tribute to Lady Aberdeen in tribute to her 90th birthday. The girls “hit it off” and decided to form Amadeus Duo in order to play some of the glorious music written for their instruments. Since then they have played a diverse repertoire, everything from Mozart flute and harp concerto to Debussy and contemporary music as well as their own compositions. They have been invited to play their arrangements of Scottish music in Kiev next year.

Recent comments at their SOUND festival performance in Aberdeen Art Gallery:

“The proof of that was an almost full-house and in an arena which can be notorious for extraneous noise, there were almost no disturbances at all as everyone became absolutely absorbed in the seductive sounds of the Duo…. After the concert, many among the audience stayed to chat to the two performers and not many people rushed away to go home. Always a good sign!” –Alan Cooper

Details:

Saturday, 4 September
7.45pm, Woodend Barn, Banchory,
£10, £2 students, under 18 and jobseekers
The concert is being promoted by the Woodend Barn Music Society.

Licensed bar.