A Note from Daniela
Dear Music Lovers and Friends of the Pimlott Foundation!
I just wanted to let you know some more details for the forthcoming Pimlott Foundation event in Stowmarket on the 24th of January in the United Reformed Church (originally planned to take place at the Regal Theatre) at 2.30pm :
Simon Joly on the piano, Andrew Wickes recitation, and Daniela Bechly soprano are going to perform selected song repertoire and melodramas by Schubert, Strauss, Liszt and Wagner .
The concert is organised by the Stowmarket Concert Society
Tickets are priced £ 8 (£1 for under 18’s or free, if they bring an adult)
Contact number: 01449 612825
Furthermore, internationally renowned countertenor Yaniv D’Or and soprano Daniela Bechly are performing the Pergolesi Stab at Mater on Easter Saturday , the 3rd of April in Boxted’s St Peter Church at 4 pm and at 7 30 pm in Stoke by Nayland, at the Church of St Mary with Jeremy Hughes and the Laurentian Ensemble.
Kindest regards from Daniela Bechly
24th January 2010
Recital in aid of the Pimlott Foundation
part of the Stowmarket Concert Series
Venue: United Reformed Church, Stowmarket
Time: 2.30pm
Performers: Soprano Daniela Bechly (soprano) and Simon Joly (piano) with readings by Andrew Wickes works of Schubert, Strauss, Wagner and Copland
Tickets from: Regal Box Office: 01449 612825
Tickets are priced £8.00 (under 18's £1.00 or free if they
bring an adult!)
October 9th and 10th
OPERATIC SOIREE
Download the Anagrams Quiz Answers (.doc)
Incl extracts from Carmen, Rigoletto, Don Giovanni and other favourites
Dedham Assembly Rooms
at 8pm
Performers:
Daniela Bechly, Megan Peel, John Marshall, Hakan Vramsmo
James Longford (piano) and the Pimlott Foundation Young Singers.
17th May 2009
BWV Cantata 'Wahrlich, wahrlich, ich sage Euch (Truly, truly, I say unto you)'
St John's Church at Great Wenham
at 6.30pm
Mezzo Daniela Bechly
Tenor Tom Stapleton
Bariton Alan Loader
Conductor Tom Seligman
Sunday 5 April '09
Aldeburgh Church, Suffolk
Evensong at 6pm
Cantata BWV 4 Christ lag in Todesbanden by J.S. Bach
Sunday 15 Feb '09
All Saints Church, Fordham, Essex
Evening Prayer at 6.30pm
Cantata BWV 82 Ich habe genug by J.S. Bach for The Presentation of Christ in the Temple/The Purification of the Virgin Mary
Performed by Richard Edgar-Wilson (tenor) and the Laurentian Ensemble under Jeremy Hughes
Note from Daniela Bechly:
Dear Friends and Pimlott Foundation Supporters,
I am very pleased to announce, and warmly invite you to, this year's Christmas Concert in the Barn at The Old House on Sunday 14th December, which will feature Yaniv D'Or, an outstanding Tenor and Countertenor, Chris Blades, Bariton, who until very recently performed in the West End productions Phantom of the Opera and The Sound of Music, Charlotte Walters, a rising star who is studying for her A levels at Ipswich School, Phoebe Pimlott and myself, Daniela Bechly. Everybody will be accompanied by the award winning pianist, James Langford.
If you would like to attend this event, we would be delighted to see you there ..... but please give us a quick ring, or send an email, to check availability and timings.
I'd like to wish everybody a very happy and peaceful Christmas and a happy and healthy 2009.
With sincere thanks for your continued support,
Daniela Bechly
Bach Cantata
23rd of November 2008 - ALL SAINTS CHURCH, Fordham, nr Colchester
Doors open 5:30pm
Bach Cantata BWV 140 Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme
with Jeremy Hughes and the Laurentian Ensemble,
Roderick Earle, Bass, and Daniela Bechly, Soprano
Mozart’s The Magic Flute
Framlingham College, Suffolk
A review by Jane O’Grady
On August 30th this year, the Pimlott Foundation put on Mozart’s Magic Flute at Framlingham College in Suffolk, in a production which combined the best of deft professionalism with the fresh enthusiasm of amateurs.
It was superbly directed by Penny Cliff (a writer and a cellist with the English National Opera Company), with the Orchestra of St Paul’s playing, vivaciously conducted by Ben Palmer, and with all the main parts sung by professionals (including Daniela Bechly, Steven’s widow), and the three boys sung by teenage girls, one of them Phoebe Pimlott.
The issue of whether or not the opera should be sung in its original German, or translated into comprehensible but distorting English was cleverly solved by what is probably the best compromise – the singing was in German, the dialogue was the dignifiedly colloquial translation by Jeremy Sams.
The production was billed as ‘semi-staged’, but designer Mamoru Iriguchi had set up a changing backdrop of different views of Framlingham College, projected behind the orchestra, which sounds a simple, even unpromising trick, but actually somehow grounded and enriched the music.
What started off as singers sitting on a row of chairs in front of the musicians took off into such a luxuriant, imaginative, playful production that by the end everybody felt you had seen a lavishly set opera. This was partly due to the wonderful voices of the professional singers (who included Adam Magee as Tamino, Sarah Moule as Pamina, Hakan Vramsmo as Papageno, and Stacey Wheeler as Queen of the Night), and also to their exuberant acting. Hakan Vramsmo was one of the best Papagenos I have ever seen, and never have I seen the meeting of the Papageni as deliciously, imaginatively and adorably staged as in this production.
The audience emerged into the chilly summer night enraptured, which is exactly what the Pimlott Foundation is trying to achieve.
SUNDAY, 20TH JULY – ALL SAINTS CHURCH, FORDHAM, ESSEX
6.30pm
Bach's Cantata BWV 105 for the 9th Sunday after Trinity Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht with the Jeremy Hughes and the Laurentian Ensemble Soloists: Daniela Bechly, Ed Leach and Tenor.
SUNDAY, 13TH JULY – ST. PETER’S CHURCH, COGGESHALL
5.15pm
Patrick McCarthy and members of the Colchester Bach Choir and Orchestra will perform one of Bach's Cantatas for the Eighth Sunday after Trinity, No. 45 Es ist dir gesagt, Mensch with contralto Elizabeth Stokes and John Upperton among the soloists.
A fundraising concert on Steven's Birthday
St Paul's Church, Covent Garden, London, 18th April 2008
Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante
Wagner: Siegfried Idyll.
Mozart Concert aria KV 505 Ch’io mi scordi di te.
Mendelssohn 4th Symphony The Italian.
Hayley Chisnall viola
Sian Philips violin
Daniela Bechly Soprano
Conductor Simon Joly
An Evening of Purcell, with the Laurentian Baroque Ensemble
Dido and Aeneas.
The Assembly Rooms, Dedham, Essex, 2nd Feb 2008
"The Assembly Rooms in Dedham provided an elegant setting for the first production by the Pimlott Foundation on 2nd February. “An Evening of Purcell” was an indulgent occasion from the start, starting informally with wine and sandwiches to the accompaniment of incidental music by the seventeenth century English composer Henry Purcell. A selection of Purcell’s most famous songs and other music followed, performed by a variety of singers supported in two items by the Laurentian Chorus which was small in number, but not in voice! Two items stood out – one a performance of Purcell’s delicate Evening Hymn by Laura Wright, who though only 17 filled the Assembly Rooms with a rich voice far more mature than would be expected, and the other a sensitive rendition by the countertenor Peter Crawford of one of Purcell’s most famous songs, ‘Music for a While’. "
"Purcell’s music, and the songs of the first half in particular, does not seem designed for large spaces, and the Assembly Rooms provided an intimate backdrop in which even the delicate sound of the lute, part of the accompaniment, could still be heard despite the room being full to capacity. The gallery at the back provided the ideal position for an unexpected trumpet voluntary – a much more engaging way to invite the audience back to the second half than the more usual bell!"
"The second half, and the principal focus of the concert, was a semi-staged performance of Purcell’s opera, Dido and Aeneas. Soloists made full use of the small stage, supported again from behind by an able chorus who appeared to enjoy the freedom of performing more dramatically than would usually be suggested by singers reading from the scores. As soloists maximising the drama of their roles Julie Roberts and Patrick McCarthy, and the young Charlotte Walters, were particularly believable, and Stephen Varcoe as Aeneas brought home the tension of being torn between the engaging Sorceress of Angela Bostock and the striking, impassioned Dido (Daniela Bechly). Themed colours for dress helped identify the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ roles, a fairly crude but effective mechanism. The Laurentian Baroque Ensemble, as before a string quartet with lute, guitar and harpsichord but now joined by two recorders, was positioned to one side but evidently still with good enough sight lines for the singers and players to play very tightly together. In this they were clearly aided by clear but discreet direction from the conductor, Jeremy Hughes."
"Dido’s lament is justly the best-known aria from this opera, and as with all very famous tunes brings obvious risks to the performer. Daniela Bechly, however, sang expressively and movingly, leaving the audience in no doubt as to Dido’s emotional torment at the end of the opera."
"One of the key aims of the Pimlott Foundation is to provide the opportunity for young musicians to perform alongside more established professionals. The three young singers – Laura Wright, Charlotte Walters and Anna Bashall, all of whom sang solo in Dido and in the chorus, were fully deserving of their roles, and of the audience’s attention. These singers, like almost all the performers, live in Essex or Suffolk, showing that it really should not be necessary to travel further afield to hear performances of a high calibre. It is to be hoped that the Foundation will continue as it has begun - putting on concerts which meet the Foundation’s aims and provide a musical delight for their audience. "
Jane Couchman
Evensong for Epiphany Sunday
St.Peters Church Colchester, Essex, 6th Jan 2008
Bach Cantata for the Third Day of Christmas
All Saints Church, Fordham, 31 Dec 2006
Canapè Choir, A Light Collation Soirèe,
Old House Barn, Great Horkesley, 27 April 2007
Steven Pimlott A Celebration
National Theatre, London, 17 May 2007
Bach Cantata Mein Herze Schwimmt Im Blut
The Church of St Mary, Stoke by Nayland, 19 August 2007
Old House Recital, Old House Barn
Great Horkesley, 30 September 2007
Suffolk Memorial Concert for Steven Pimlott
Lavenham Church, 27 October 2007