PRESS RELEASE

As the 2009 Paxos Chamber Music Festival came to a close, it was generally understood that it was to be the last September festival on the island. The incredible support from a private sponsor could not be sustained, and the festival's association with London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama had also come to an end. In September 2010 however, despite all difficulties, and due to the passionate commitment of the organising committee, six young musicians came to Paxos to continue in the spirit that the festival's founder, John Gough, brought to the island. Returning nearer to the simplicity of the festival's origins, the ensemble utilised the combination of performers (a string quartet, pianist, and a soprano) to present three varied and striking programmes. Beautiful music wafted amongst the bay and olive trees and over the Loggos harbour, and together, the committed audience, the performers, the local people, and the leadership of the committee kept the festival's spirit alive.

It is with great joy that we now anticipate the 2011 Festival, in its 25th Anniversary Year.

Paxos Festival Trust, Municipality of Paxos and Paxos Cultural Association are proud to host inside the old Loggos Schoolhouse a series of five concerts over two weeks. Almost all the performers will be new to the Paxos audience, and a core ensemble of piano, tenor and string quartet will be joined by guitar duo, Duo Amythis to present a diverse series of concerts. Highlights will include Schubert's 'Trout' Quintet and Fauré's La Bonne Chanson (Concert 1), Haydn's 'Sunrise' String Quartet and a new commission from young Greek composer Michail Palaiologou, (Concert 2), Brahms' Piano Quintet and Vivaldi's Concerto for Two Mandolins (Concert 3) and music for guitars and voice including works by Dowland and Rodrigo among others (Concert 4). The festival will begin with a concert celebrating the memory of John Gough and the Festival's 25th Anniversary, and conclude with a celebration of Greek music making on the island, (Concert 5) which will feature local children amongst the performers.

PROGRAMME:

CONCERT 1: Thursday 8/9/11 8.30pm

The 2011 Paxos Chamber Music Festival will begin with a 25^th Anniversary Concert, dedicated to the memory of the Festival's founder, John Gough. In the spirit of his garden gatherings, the ensemble will begin with 'a little night music', following Mozart's beloved Serenade with Fauré's exquisite song cycle La Bonne Chanson. The evening will continue with a pair of tenor arias and conclude with the joyful 'Trout' Quintet by Schubert.

CONCERT 2: Saturday 10/9/11 8.30pm

The second concert begins with Haydn's 'Sunrise' Quartet and concludes with a new commission from young Greek composer Michail Palaiologou - by way of some gems of the string repertoire and a Schubert chamber song. Massenet's well loved Meditation will be followed by Rebecca Clarke's Viola Sonata, a powerful work influenced by English folk song and French impressionism. After interval, Schubert's sorrowful song setting Auf dem Strom for tenor, piano and cello obbligato, and Szymanowski's Mythes, with their depictions of Narcissus and other mythic figures in their natural setting on the island of Paxos precede Palaiologou's finale: the composer will be on the island to work with the ensemble on his new work which should be a thrilling end to the second concert of the festival.

CONCERT 3: Tuesday 13/9/11 8.30pm

For the third concert, the ensemble is joined by Duo Amythis, a guitar duo based in France. Ravel's Greek Songs will feature, alongside Saint-Saen's serene cello solo The Swan, and a Belgian Nocturne  for voice and piano quintet from the little known composer Lekeu, a student of Franck who tragically died only one day after his 24^th birthday. The guitars will lead the ensemble with the baroque refinement of Vivaldi's Concerto for Two Mandolins, and to conclude, Brahms' darkly passionate Piano Quintet.

CONCERT 4: Thursday 15/9/11 8.30pm

Duo Amythis present the fourth concert, alongside tenor John Bacon. Their intimate programme, explores the remarkable diversity of solo and duo repertoire for the guitar and the voice. The works of past masters, such as Dowland, Scarlatti and Bach, appear as vivid and fresh as pioneering works written by living composers.

CONCERT 5: Saturday 17/9/11. 8.30pm                                                                  

A music piece written by local children participating in a 3 days workshop under the artistic direction of cellist Natasha Zielazinsky will be performed by the children themselves among other performances of local music students and their teachers and surprise performances by the Festival musicians; what John Gough would call a surprise evening! 

All five concerts will take place in the old school house in Loggos at 20.30 on the 8^th,10^th, 13^th, 15^th and 17^th of September 2011. Ticket price is 15 euro for the first 4 concerts and 10 euro for the fifth one.

Reservations will be made at travel agencies in Gaios (Sunvil), Lakka and Loggos (Planos Holidays) and tickets will be sold at the door in Loggos Schoolhouse.

On the 7^th of September a celebration of the 25 years of the Paxos Festival will take place at the old Loggos School house, where the portrait of John Gough, commissioned by the Mayor of Paxos, Spyros Bogdanos to the local artist, Kalia Kouva will be unveiled. 

A collector's item, a booklet on the 25 years of the Paxos Festival will also be presented for the first time during this celebration and it will be sold also at the door of the Old Loggos School house before each concert. It is a special anniversary edition full of personal memories, illustrations, historic data and many rare photos tracing some of the most important moments of the Paxos Festival throughout its 25 years of existence.