Saturday, September 19, 2015

It's a long time since I posted anything. My niece Lorraine Schulman who is a brilliant clarinetist with the Oxford Philomusica in England came out here and we had been practising separately for some months to do three concerts the weekend after she arrived in April. Unfortunately I tripped in the car park at the airport when fetching her and fractured my wrist. That put paid to the concerts. I had arranged also to have a music appreciation evening at my house before the concerts and we were going to play some of the pieces. The music appreciation group came and we did some playing with me using only my right hand! There was also load-shedding so we all had a lot of fun by candlelight and torches! My arm was bound up for 5 weeks and then I could take the bandages and splint off. I was so sorry for Lorraine who could only come for 10 days just for the concerts. She hopes to be able to come again and do those concerts with me! My 90th birthday was coming up on 21st May and I was arranging a big concert for that - 3 days later so as to have it at the weekend - with about 12 or 13 people performing. These were all musicians I had worked with in the past and present who were still around! This had to be postponed and we are now hoping to do it on 29th November. In the meantime, Marcelle Volckaert who is a soprano I have done many concerts with, asked me to play for her at two concerts this month. I love challenges so was determined to do them. As soon as the bandages came off, I began practising exercises at the piano, very cautiously at first, and learning the new music. It was a great programme of Spanish and Portuguese songs and I also had to play a Spanish solo piece. We did these concerts on 6th September in Barrydale at Tim and Clive's house where we have played many times before, and on 12th September at the Old Town House in Greenmarket Square, Cape Town, for the Friends of the Michaelis Collection. Both went off very well and we had extremely enthusiastic audiences.