Awards launch in support of Cancer Research UK. Plus concert news
The planned launch of the Pink Ribbon awards in Autumn 2018 will be held in association with Cancer Research UK, and the Mayfair and St James Committee.
Meanwhile, please find enclosed the below letter inviting readers to the Grosvenor Chapel Concert, London, 3 October 2017
August 2017
Dear Supporter
Grosvenor Chapel Concert on 3rd October 2017
The Mayfair and St James’s Committee of Cancer Research UK has great pleasure in inviting you to our annual October event. On Tuesday 3rd October 2017 at 7pm there will be a fine concert of music at the Grosvenor Chapel, South Audley Street, Mayfair. For those who are free to prolong the evening’s pleasure, the concert will be followed by dinner at the Naval Club, in close proximity at 38 Hill Street.
The concert will be performed by Belsize Baroque, one of the leading amateur orchestras in the country, using period instruments and comprising young professionals, students and top amateur performers. The Director of Music Catherine Martin is a talented violinist and has been leader of the Gabrieli Consort and Players since 2005, also leading Die Koelner Akademie in Germany and the orchestra of the Early Opera Company. True to its name, Belsize Baroque will treat us to a veritable European potpourri of music by Albinoni, Handel, Purcell, Telemann and Vivaldi. The programme will include the following. In the summer of 1695 Henry Purcell’s incidental music enhanced a revival of the play Abdelazar or The Moor’s Revenge, written by Aphra Behn (one of the first women in England to earn her living by writing – in addition, she was employed by Charles II as a spy). This evening we shall hear Purcell’s Suite which accompanied the (now largely forgotten) play. Tomaso Albinoni was during his long lifetime (1671 – 1751) most famous as a composer of operas but we now regard him most highly for his instrumental music. This evening we shall enjoy his Violin Concerto in A from the set of twelve concertos comprising Opus 9, which will give Catherine Martin the opportunity to display her talents as a solo violinist. Antonio Vivaldi composed his Concerto in D minor RV566 in the 1720s. It is scored for oboes (then known in England as hautboys), recorders, bassoon, violins and strings and you will greatly appreciate its tonal variety.
Many of you already know the Grosvenor Chapel. Completed in the Spring of 1731, it is striking for the simplicity of its classical form which drew on the contemporary examples of St Martin in the Fields and St George’s Hannover Square. In turn the Grosvenor Chapel was itself the model for many churches in New England, USA. The excellence of its acoustics make it a popular venue for musical events. The Naval Club is housed in an early eighteenth century townhouse built as part of the then new Mayfair development. Features now include fine nineteenth century Victorian panelling, mouldings and carvings on the ground floor, the grand staircase and the first floor Louis XVI style dining room.
The Mayfair & St James’s Committee of Cancer Research UK is – inevitably – in a period of reflection and consolidation following the demise of Brian Iverson. We are carefully considering our future role and how we may find a successor to Brian as Chairman. We are enormously grateful to John Bonham who is currently dedicating himself to the role of Acting Chairman. In the current circumstances, the Mayfair and St James’s Committee has to be realistic in its aspirations and planning. We have decided not to run the Auction in November 2017 but hope to re-schedule it at a date in 2018. Nor will there be a concert in April 2018. However we will keep you fully informed of future events when they are planned.
Please give us your continuing support for the October event. Cancer Research UK plays an invaluable role in society, and as you know, its work is wholly dependent on fundraising.
With every good wish,
Rebecca Bailey-Harris
Mayfair & St James Committee of Cancer Research UK
Please send, for the event on 3rd October 2017, …………..tickets at £45 for Concert, Wine and Canapes or £125 for Concert, Wine, Canapes and Dinner (£900 for a party of eight).
Or I am unable to attend but enclose a donation (each gift will be acknowledged). Please indicate if you are eligible for Gift Aid relief.
A cheque made payable to Cancer Research UK for…………..is appended.
Name:
Address and Telephone Number
Replies to John Bonham, 84 Westbourne Terrace, London W2 6QE
