New Amici Concerts series for Chichester

The series is the brainchild of Chichester/Bognor area musicians Amanda Cook and Meg Hamilton who are delighted at how well and how quickly the Amici Concerts series has established itself. “The summer season (during the festival) was really fantastic. Some audiences were bigger than others, but with a big festival with a lot going on, that was always going to be the case. There was a lot of choice, but Amici is still growing, and we were really pleased. We were very heartened to see some of our audience coming back from last year. This is the beginning of a new venture with a new name, and the venue, St Pancras church, was great.” For the autumn, they will be taking in three different venues. José Antonio Escobar, Latin American classical guitar, visits on Saturday, September 19, 7.30pm, at St John’s Chapel, Chichester. Born in Santiago de Chile, José is the winner of 15 prizes in leading international guitar competitions. This concert marks a rare visit to the UK. His programme will include music from Brazil, Chile and Colombia, featuring works by Fernando Sor, Isáac Albéniz , Astor Piazzola and contemporary Chilean composer Javier Contreras, The season continues on Friday, October 2 at 8pm at the Chichester Inn in West Street when Bucimis performs the elegiac, mysterious music of south-eastern Europe, focusing on the ancient instrumental and vocal tradition of Thrace, the region linking Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. As Amanda says: “Expect an intimate and enlightening evening filled with stunning harmonies, electrifying rhythms, mesmerizing virtuosity and dance.” The autumn season concludes with pianist Julian Jacobson on Friday, November 20, at 7.30pm in the Chapel of the Ascension, University of Chichester. “It’s great to be kicking off in St John’s,” Amanda said. “St John’s has got a wonderful acoustic, certainly for solo guitar, and I thought it would be the perfect place for this. But St John’s and St Pancras don’t have a piano, so we are going back to the university in November. For October we will be using the Chichester Inn. We are just trying to make it the right experience for whatever artists we have got, but we are always going to keep it in Chichester. “Initially, the series was all about our friends and contacts (hence the Amici title) partly because of funds. We don’t have any sponsorship yet. But we use artists that we know we can trust, and they are all wonderful performers. We know they are going to give the audience a wonderful experience and also help to give us serious credibility. We will put on people that we think are really outstanding, regardless of genre or style. Audience members might not know some of them, but we are hoping they will know they can trust us and take some risks with names they might not have heard of.” The aim is to build up to perhaps about a dozen concerts a year, in summer, autumn and spring. Tickets from the CFT on 01243 781312 or www.cft.org.uk. Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live. Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on. 1) Make our website your homepage 2) Like our Facebook page 3) Follow us on Twitter 4) Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here. And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out! Always the first with your local news. Be part of it.