September 2007

September Agenda

Highlights

Film Club: Mr Skeffington
(Monday 3rd)

Mr. Skeffington is a 1944 film which tells the story of a woman whose many love affairs cost her the love of her husband and her daughter. It stars Bette Davis, Claude Rains, Walter Abel, George Coulouris and Richard Waring. The movie was adapted by Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein from the novel by Elizabeth von Arnim. It was directed by Vincent Sherman. It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Claude Rains) and Best Actress in a Leading Role (Bette Davis).

Bette Davis plays the spoiled Fanny Trellis growing up in the early 1900s. She is a renowned beauty and has many suitors. She loves her brother Trippy (Richard Waring) and would do anything to help him. Mr. Job Skeffington (Claude Rains) is a stockbroker who employs Trippy. When Fanny learns that Trippy has embezzled money, she decides to marry Mr. Skeffington to save her brother. The plot centers around their loveless marriage and Fanny's aging. Her old suitors attend a party that she hosts and are shocked at the way Fanny has degraded in beauty. Fanny is distraught at losing her only real talent. Mr Skeffington loves Fanny, knowing all along that the feeling isn't mutual, but eventually divorces her. He leaves her and his daughter the house and starts a new life in Europe. Skeffington is Jewish and is imprisoned in a concentration camp, where he is blinded. He survives the war and goes back to visit Fanny and Trippy. He cannot see the effect of old age on Fanny and will only ever see her as the beauty she once was, which suits a wiser, more compassionate Fanny very well.

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

Acoustic Music - New Club at the Museum (Friday 14th)

David Littlewood, folk music aficionado, has realised his idea of bringing a different style of music to the Museum. David plans to run a monthly club of acoustic music and the first session will be on 14 September. Rather than inviting professional performers for this particular evening, he is involving talented amateurs to play, sing and recite poems and stories. Come and join us, share your talents with people who share your interests, in a relaxed and convivial atmosphere. You DO NOT have to perform to professional standards – all contributions are equally valued. This event will be held in the museum bar, where drinks will be available for courage and lubrication!

Already booked for later in the year are Graham Cooper (5 October), Belshazzar and Hoover the Dog.

This is a new venture. Please give it the support it needs!

Bar and light refreshments will be available from 7.30 pm. Entry 2 € (Friends free).

Ria Formosa Jazz Band (Sunday 16th)

When we hear the words “Big Band”, what immediately jumps into our imagination is the glamour of the 1930's and the Golden Years of the beginning of the 20th Century. This is but one of the possible journeys this Big Band can travel. A varied atmosphere is generated through a repertoire including Latin, Funk, Negro Spirituals, and Blues, with a characteristic sound where the colours of the woodwinds and brass come together to enchant us with its gentle ballads through to exuberant up-beat melodies.

Led by Edward Machado, the band comprises Petru Moroi, Rui Silva, Tony Hurley, José Barreiros and Henrique Correia (Saxophones); Albano Neto, Carlos Santos, Cláudio Wittmer and Marco Guerreiro (trumpets); Edward Machado, Vera Rocha, Ilse Brenner and Dawn Woodhurst (trombones); and Paul Silva and Daniel Meliço (rhythm section).

Entry: 10 € (Friends 12 €). Sunday 16th, 5.00pm.

Download Poster for this event

Concert for Piano, Cello and Violin (Saturday 22nd)

Friends of the Museum are delighted to start the new season of monthly classical music concerts with an outstanding trio: Raquel Correia (piano), Inês Barata (violin) and Miguel Rocha (cello) will be playing music by Bach, Haydn, Dvorak, Glazunov, Popper and de Freitas.

Raquel Correia began her music studies in Lisbon and Oporto, continued in Austria and Canada, and has performed all over Portugal;  she teaches full time at the University of the Algarve in Faro.  Raquel has performed as soloist with the Metropolitan Orchestra in Lisbon and recently performed with the Orchestra of the Algarve in Faro, Loulé and Lagos.

Inês Barata was a student of the Conservatory in Lisbon, and went on to further studies in Pecs (Hungary), Moscow and New York, where she studied with Viktoria Mullova.  She joined the Symphony Orchestra at the São Carlos theatre, and went on to solo performances with this orchestra and with chamber groups.  She has served on music juries for international competitions, and is much in demand as violin teacher in many locations in Portugal.

Miguel Rocha is another graduate of the conservatory of Oporto.  He has studied and competed in Lausanne, Paris, Prague, Basle and Manhattan, together with performers such as Tortelier;  he has performed in France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Brazil and USA.  Miguel returned to Portugal in 2001 and has performed often as solo cellist and in chamber groups.

Raquel Correia (Piano)	Miguel Rocha(Cello)	Inês Barata (Violin)

Click on each of the photographs above to see the full CVs of these artists.

Click here to see the Programme for this Concert.

Tickets 20 € (Friends 18 €). Saturday 22nd September, 8.30 pm

A Night At The Opera - Il Trovatore
(Sunday 23rd)

A video presentation by Helga Hampton of the 1988 production by the Metropolitan Opera, conducted by James Levine, with Eva Marton, Dolora Zajick, Luciano Pavarotti and Sherrill Milnes.

Set in the mountains of Medieval Northern Spain, "Il Trovatore" (the Troubadour) is a chanting warrior named Manrico. Manrico's enemy in the region is led by the Count di Luna. From the outset, these two opposing forces are in conflict. Count di Luna loves Leonora, one of the queen's ladies in waiting. Ferrando, the captain of the guard narrates to his troops a terrible happening of 15 years ago: an old woman, accused of casting the evil eye over the count's brother, was burnt at the stake. The subsequent disappearance of the boy, followed by the discovery of a child's skeleton in the ashes, led to the conclusion that the woman's daughter, who was present at the burning, had thrown him into the flames to avenge her mother. She was never found. For us, the spectators, she has not yet been found... Meanwhile, Leonora doesn't love the count, but the troubador Manrico, raised by the gypsy Azucena. Manrico is then not only the Count's rival, but as a follower of the rebellious Count d'Urgell, Manrico is also the Count's sworn enemy. In the Second Act, the gypsy Azucena tells Manrico her version of the "terrible" event of 15 years ago. She reveals that she is the daughter of the "old lady." And that she had promised her burning mother at the death pyre, that she would one day avenge her mother's death.

Entry: 2 € (Friends free). Sunday 23rd September, 6.00 pm

Programme of Events