The wonderful pianist Margaret Fingerhut is busy with a huge charity tour at the moment, entitled Far from the Home I Love. She is raising money for refugee charities, in particular for City of Sanctuary and the West London Synagogue's Asylum Seeker Drop-In Centre, and so far her year-long tour of the UK has raised £60,000 out of a target of £88,000. Please come along and support her in the weeks ahead!
Five concerts remain:
Oct 28 - Oxford
Oct 30 - Durham
Nov 01 - Ripon
Nov 03 - London
Nov 06 - Sheffield
Oct 30 - Durham
Nov 01 - Ripon
Nov 03 - London
Nov 06 - Sheffield
Margaret writes:
“My ancestors settled here from the Ukraine, Poland and Ireland, so I have always been acutely aware of the plight of refugees and asylum seekers, never more so than today, given the climate of increasing hatred, intolerance and hostility to ‘others’.
I wanted to find some unique way of raising awareness as well as funds for UK refugees, so I was very excited to come up with this idea. It struck me that the landscape of classical music would be very different if composers had not been allowed to migrate. Many of the world’s best-loved composers had to move from their homeland, either because of war or fear of persecution, or they simply migrated for their work.
I have picked all the pieces for their association with the theme of migration, exile and homesickness. However, I have designed the programme to be by no means just sad! The music I have chosen is also uplifting, happy, even humorous, as well as emotional, dramatic, heroic and virtuoso.
I’m especially thrilled to have commissioned a new piece ‘Memories from my Land’ by the Kurdish composer, Moutaz Arian. This beautiful and and haunting piece has also now been released as a single track download, with all the proceeds going to City of Sanctuary UK. It can be downloaded on Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon or Google”.
Here's the full programme:
Handel (1685-1759) Minuet in G minor
Haydn (1732-1809) Sonata No.38 in F, Hob.XVI/23
- Moderato, Adagio, Presto
Grieg (1843-1907) Three Lyric Pieces:
- Solitary Traveller, Homesickness, Homeward
Francis Pott (b.1957) Farewell to Hirta
Rachmaninov (1873-1943) Two Etudes-Tableaux from Op.39
- No.8 in D minor, No.9 in D
INTERVAL
Moutaz Arian (b.1983) Memories from my Land (This commission has been
generously supported by Rob & Sara Lucas)
Hans Gal (1890-1987) Two Preludes from Op.65
Prokofiev (1891-1953) Two Pieces from Romeo and Juliet:
- The Montagues and Capulets, Romeo bids Juliet Farewell
Chopin (1810-1849) Polonaise in A flat Op. 53
And you can find all the tour details and booking here.
