March 2008

March Agenda

Highlights

Jazz Concert: New Orleans Jazz Band (Sunday 2nd March)

The quality of the New Orleans Jazz Band can be judged by the fact that Mr. Acker Bilk toured with the band during his first visit to Portugal!

Formed in 1998 by professional musicians who had come to live in the Algarve, the group quickly became established as the premiere New Orleans-style jazz band in the area, playing at the Loulé International Jazz Festival and at the prestigious 'Cultergest' concert hall in Lisbon.

The band itself is international, lead by Tony Scriven from England on drums and vocals (and who, until moving to the Algarve, played regularly throughout Europe with the Monty Sunshine Band and before that with the Ken Colyer Band and Lonnie Donegan), and features fellow Brits John Ballinger on trombone/vocals and Dave Lawson on clarinet/tenor sax; Germans Werner Haag on trumpet/soprano sax and Heike Brockmann on guitar and American David Gausden on bass.

Tickets: 14 € in advance (Friends 10 €), or 15 € at the door (Friends 12 €). Bar & Refreshments available.

Sunday 2nd March, 8.30 pm.

Film Club: The Crime of Father Amaro (Monday 3rd March)

This Oscar-nominated movie (first released 2002) is based on an 1875 Portuguese novel by Eca de Queiroz, transplanted to modern Mexico. It is one of the most successful Mexican films in history, but is surrounded by controversy.

When the Catholic authorities in Mexico got wind of this movie, which tells of the affair between a young priest and a sixteen-year-old virgin, they threatened to excommunicate its two young stars. Bad move. A curious and aroused public turned out in droves to see exactly how Father Amaro (Gael García Bernal) and Amelia (Ana Claudia Talancón) would go about breaking the seventh commandment.

To be sure, there's a fair amount of steamy sacrilege, but it's not quite the last tango that this furore would lead you to expect. The director, Carlos Carrera, turns out to be a man of serious intent, portraying the Catholic church as a fallible institution, inextricably linked, for better or worse, to all levels of Mexican society. This is done mostly through the compromised life of an older priest, Father Benito (played, with dignity, by the veteran actor Sancho Gracia), who has a mistress and a cozy relationship with the local drug lord.

Entry: 2 € (Friends free). Monday 3rd March, 7.00 pm

Piano Concert: Quatre-Mains (Friday 7th March)

Four hands, two faces and one piano. The twins Amrei and Deborah Selbach will be playing works by Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, Ligeti, and last but not least Rachmaninoff at the Museum Gallery on Friday 7th March.

These two young artists studied in Munster, Germany and with Professor Peter Feuchtwanger in London. They have played in youth symphony orchestras both as solo artists, with two pianos and also together in quatre-mains performances. They produced a CD of their repertoire in 2003/2004 and gave their first concert in Portugal in Lagoa in September 2007.

Advance tickets 14 € (Friends 10 €) or 15 € at the door (Friends 12 €). Bar & Refreshments available

Friday 7th March, 8.00 pm

Jazz @ The Museum: A Whole New World of Jazz (Sunday 16th March)

Djazzperado (rides again!) is an international "pool" of professional jazz musicians dedicated to the most saxiest saxophone of the whole sax-family: the (nearly extinct) Baritone!

This time Djazzperado features Han Wezenaar (Holland) on baritone sax, David Gausden (USA) on bass, James Mellor (England) on piano and Ben Heinz (Germany) on drums.

Their very swinging performance will be focussed on compositions of barisaxophonists - A WHOLE NEW WORLD OF JAZZ!

Entry 7 € (Friends 5 €). Bar & Refreshments available

Sunday 16th March, 5.00 pm (doors open 4.30 pm)

Download a copy of the concert poster here

Agenda