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This is a very special and unusual opportunity to join a private house party for Kirker clients, hosted by Fernanda Giulini whose private villa is the base for our visit. It is also an opportunity to get to know the pianist Melvyn Tan who will bring the beautiful collection of keyboard instruments to life in three concerts and talks at both the Villa and Signora Giulini’s apartment in Milan. The development of the piano is vividly explained in the three included recitals.
We return to the Villa Medici Giulini, the home of Fernanda Giulini, in the village of Briosco between Milan and Como. The internationally known pianist, Melvyn Tan, introduced us to Fernanda Giulini and her matchless collection of historic pianos a couple of years ago. It’s a wonderful experience to hear the instruments played by a pianist of Melvyn’s stature in the magnificent rooms of the 17th century villa, simultaneously both grand and intimate. Three dinners are taken at the Villa and one in her apartment in the heart of Milan where her collection of virginals, harpsichords and harps are kept. Wines from the Giulini vineyards are served with every dinner. After dinner, postprandial drinks will be served in a different room each evening. The Villa is very much a private home, not a hotel and our clients are looked after by Signora Giulini’s own staff.
One of the world’s best known pianists, Melvyn Tan came to the UK from Singapore as a small boy and studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School and the Royal College of Music. He has played in concert halls around the globe. Melvyn writes: ‘Although I have been performing from the collection for the best part of 30 years, I am still discovering new musical miracles. With the instruments from Mozart and Haydn’s time we hear a brittle, glass-like sound which was very much the kind the composers heard, and was reflected in the music they wrote. Beethoven, of course, when he became the toast of Vienna a few decades later, disliked these instruments and encouraged piano-makers to strive for a fuller sound, so the player could achieve a ‘cantabile’, a singing quality to imitate the singers and string players of the day. The rest, as they say, is history, and the concept of the piano as we know it today was born.’
...when you travel with Kirker
Flights with British Airways:
Depart London Heathrow at 10.30 arrive Milan (Linate) at 13.30
Depart Milan (Linate) at 14.00 arrive London Heathrow at 15.00
barry.cheeseman@kirkerholidays.com
Barry Cheeseman has been the Manager of the Kirker Cultural Tours & Music Holidays programme for over 10 years.
Barry has been an opera lover for more than 40 years and has seen and heard every major singer during this period. He loves the challenges of organising complex arts events and working closely with the musicians. Out of the office, Barry manages to fit in time to organise his own Chamber Music Festival in North Norfolk where he lives
Melvyn Tan was born in Singapore. and came to England at a young age to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School and the Royal College of Music. He has appeared as a soloist with every leading orchestra, throughout Europe and the USA. The works of Chopin have always been central to his repertoire.
The recitals will be planned chronologically so that Melvyn will take you on a musical journey in which the development of the piano comes alive, in a setting of the utmost grandeur and intimacy.
Concert 1 on the five octave piano
Beethoven: Sonata in Op.10 No.1
Mozart: Sonata K. 576
And a sonata by Haydn
Concert 2 on the six octave piano
Two sonatas by Beethoven including Sonata in C op.53 ‘Waldstein’
Schubert: Sonata in A Op.120 D. 664
Concert 3 on the six and a half octave piano and the Birth of the Modern Piano as we know it today
Schumann: Sonata in G minor Op.22
Chopin: A selection of nocturnes and scherzos
Liszt: A selection of pieces
Cultural Tours Senior Executive
Barry Cheeseman has been the Manager of the Kirker Cultural Tours & Music Holidays programme for over 10 years.
Barry has been an opera lover for more than 40 years and has seen and heard every major singer during this period. He loves the challenges of organising complex arts events and working closely with the musicians. Out of the office, Barry manages to fit in time to organise his own Chamber Music Festival in North Norfolk where he lives
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