Kampala gets chamber music treat
Mar 27, 2003
THE great composers are dead and gone, but their legacy of classical and chamber music has inspired generations. Fiona Carr of Kampala Music School was last Sunday joined by Juliet Devey and Lucy White, professional chamber and classical performers from the UK, to revitalise their work.
By Cynthia Nankumba
THE great composers are dead and gone, but their legacy of classical and chamber music has inspired generations.
Fiona Carr of Kampala Music School was last Sunday joined by Juliet Devey and Lucy White, professional chamber and classical performers from the UK, to revitalise their work. The concert of chamber music was to climax Kampala Music School’s celebration of its second birthday.
Devey on violin, White on viola and Carr on piano, gave a balanced treat of chamber music by renowned composers from the 17th to the 20th Century.
The first part included pieces by renown European composers: Frederick Handel, famous for his Messiah work; Johannes Brahams, whose music was known to have a romantic flavour and classical austerity and Wolfgang Mozart, known as composer of the age.
At 7:30pm, the audience, predominantly European, waited anxiously. An air of serenity swept across Rwenzori Ball Room in Sheraton Kampala Hotel as the trio played Handel’s Trio Sonata in D Major. The piece began with a slow soothing tempo, increasing gradually and growing louder and sharper towards its peak.
Mozart’s Trio in E Flat Major had calming effect, typical of Mozart’s work. The air in the room instantly became subdued, falling to the sensational notes in the room. The piece created a birthday mood. The solo parts from the piano helped to break the monotony of the music played on the violin and viola, spicing up the rather long pieces.
Devey and White’s amazing expertise on the stringed instruments was a thing to acknowledge. Their lifting of the bows, the rests and movement of their hands had been perfected towards graceful uniformity. They sat facing each other as if to ensure harmony. Carr raced her hands with ease across the piano.
Her husband, Graham, sitting beside her, kept turning the score pages for her. Devey and Carr were contemporaries at the Royal Academy of Music, London from 1958 to 1963 and performed frequently as a duo. They were later joined by White in 1980.
Devey and White have performed in major orchestras like the Covent Garden Opera and the BBC Orchestra of London. Fiona Carr in 2002 received a Member of British Empire Award in recognition of her music services in Uganda.
On Sunday night, they performed for free in a fund-raising concert for Kampala Music School’s bursary scheme, which currently has 66 students of the 252 students. Entrance fee was sh15,000. Four years ago, the trio held a fund-raising concert in the UK for Pianos for Uganda.
THE great composers are dead and gone, but their legacy of classical and chamber music has inspired generations.
Fiona Carr of Kampala Music School was last Sunday joined by Juliet Devey and Lucy White, professional chamber and classical performers from the UK, to revitalise their work. The concert of chamber music was to climax Kampala Music School’s celebration of its second birthday.
Devey on violin, White on viola and Carr on piano, gave a balanced treat of chamber music by renowned composers from the 17th to the 20th Century.
The first part included pieces by renown European composers: Frederick Handel, famous for his Messiah work; Johannes Brahams, whose music was known to have a romantic flavour and classical austerity and Wolfgang Mozart, known as composer of the age.
At 7:30pm, the audience, predominantly European, waited anxiously. An air of serenity swept across Rwenzori Ball Room in Sheraton Kampala Hotel as the trio played Handel’s Trio Sonata in D Major. The piece began with a slow soothing tempo, increasing gradually and growing louder and sharper towards its peak.
Mozart’s Trio in E Flat Major had calming effect, typical of Mozart’s work. The air in the room instantly became subdued, falling to the sensational notes in the room. The piece created a birthday mood. The solo parts from the piano helped to break the monotony of the music played on the violin and viola, spicing up the rather long pieces.
Devey and White’s amazing expertise on the stringed instruments was a thing to acknowledge. Their lifting of the bows, the rests and movement of their hands had been perfected towards graceful uniformity. They sat facing each other as if to ensure harmony. Carr raced her hands with ease across the piano.
Her husband, Graham, sitting beside her, kept turning the score pages for her. Devey and Carr were contemporaries at the Royal Academy of Music, London from 1958 to 1963 and performed frequently as a duo. They were later joined by White in 1980.
Devey and White have performed in major orchestras like the Covent Garden Opera and the BBC Orchestra of London. Fiona Carr in 2002 received a Member of British Empire Award in recognition of her music services in Uganda.
On Sunday night, they performed for free in a fund-raising concert for Kampala Music School’s bursary scheme, which currently has 66 students of the 252 students. Entrance fee was sh15,000. Four years ago, the trio held a fund-raising concert in the UK for Pianos for Uganda.