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Magical Musical Moments by Scott Dolling

If the rest of the season can be judged by the first event, the community will certainly believe that these concerts have that magical touch.

Saturday 8th November saw the first of these evenings and Highly Strung, a locally based string quartet, played host with an excellent set.

The players excelled in the wonderful ambience of Offton's beautiful candle-lit church and provided an enchanting mix of classical light and traditional music. The church was packed with both villagers and those who had travelled from further afield to enjoy the experience.

There were many notable moments during the event. The inclusion of the flute in the first half embellished an excellent classical session, that culminated in Mozart's flute quartet in D major.

After a fruitful interval, which saw a great range of cheese and wine available for all, the quartet's diverse ability struck home. The violinist solo was magical herself. Moving through some carefully crafted Celtic folk from Scotland, we travelled through some of Scott Joplin's work before finally resting with a superb arrangement of the first movement of the Brandenburg Concerto Number 3.
J S Bach himself would have been proud of this.

The concert was a resounding success and we look forward to hear how much was raised for charity. The Steering Committee will be rightly proud of their endeavours.

On Opus by Glenn King

For the third and final performance in the successful series of Magical Musical Moments concerts, Offton welcomed the Opus clarinet quartet to the church on Saturday 28 February.

Once again, tickets were sold out for this performance, although some empty seats were evident when the threat of snow discouraged a few visitors from further afield.

The cold evening was, however, immediately warmed by the group’s opening piece, their arrangement of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, a composer and theme that they would return to later in the programme with Summertime from Porgy and Bess.

The programme ranged from the smooth sounds of city jazz through to more swinging jazz numbers and the inclusion of popular compositions by Henry Mancini, Scott Joplin and Duke Ellington had feet tapping in the pews.

For those who would like to hear more of Opus, this wonderfully versatile group have recently recorded a CD which they plan to release in March.

The main programme was supported by local talent, Alice Porter, whose delightful playing at the keyboard both before the performance and during the interval added to the ambience of the candlelit church.

The interval provided the now familiar delicious spread of quality international cheeses, breads and wines and credit needs to be given to the team of volunteers who have so ably supported this programme of concerts in support of such deserving charities.

Perhaps we can look forward to more Magical Musical Moments next winter.

Magical Musical Moments Resume

The series has come to end. The audience liked what was offered and the musicians were unanimous in the view that the candle-lit church had atmosphere and was a pleasure to perform in. All three ensembles volunteered to return!

Comments received:

We are pleased to acknowledge the generosity of the audience (including those kind people who had to cancel without demanding a refund) ánd of the musicians, all of whom forfeited their fee.
Nett proceeds of ticket sales plus donations came to just over £ 1000. This was distributed as follows:

The remainder was equally divided between:

DOUBLE BILL CONCERT at OFFTON CHURCH by Brenda Durrant

The latest Magical Musical Moments by Candlelight Concert was a tremendous success. The Church was filled almost to overflowing and the audience was thrilled with the performances.
There was something for everyone, whether young, old or in-between.
By popular request Trio Ted, Cara & Scott returned and they delighted us with many songs, among which a beautiful rendering of 'Don't Stop Thinking about Tomorrow'.
Ted also presented a fourth edition of his popular Offton Song.

The interval was complemented by bubbly and an array of tasty nibbles.

The second half had a very different flavour.
Frits Piekema, a retired Dutch Cavalry Officer, had flown in at his own expense to participate in the concert as 'Frank Sinatra'.
He looked the part and convincingly delivered favourites such as 'New York, New York', 'The Lady is a Tramp' and of course 'My Way.'
As 'Frank' did not possess his own high chair, the one used that evening was presented to him after the show. The musicians received flowers and 'bottles' as appropriate.
We all had a thoroughly good time and a share of £525.79 was distributed locally to the fabric fund of Offton church, Offton & Willisham village hall, the Motor Neurone Disease Association and Alzheimer's Society. Further afield to Cancer Research UK and a children's home in India that took in 100 Tsunami orphans.

A date for the next concert has not yet been set, as repair work is being done in the Church, but will be announced as and when.

On 13th November, a cold and gloomy evening, we made our way to St. Mary's Church at Offton, not quite sure what to expect, but we knew we were going to listen to music...! As we approached, the church shone out warmly in the darkness heralding the warmth within. Candles glowed from every surface transporting us to a more gentle age.

Mixed Emotions lived up to their name and entertained us to a perfect mix of music, thoughtful, humorous and reminiscing. The cello, guitar and keyboard were an unexpected combination, and the range of music was equally unexpected, moving happily from classic to jazz with a number of original compositions thrown in for good measure.

We enjoyed a wonderful evening and although this was our first visit to both the church and a Magical Musical Moments concert we were made welcome and felt ourselves among friends.

We are looking forward to the next concert.

Allana & Ron Baxter
Shotley Gate