Bruce Paine in Concert with Hampshire Guitar Orchestra in Portsmouth 2005

hago in Concert with Bruce Paine - Thursday July 7th 2005

hago were delighted to be hosts for a real once-in-a-lifetime Concert featuring the very special talents and musicianship of New Zealand's most expressive and romantic Classical Guitarist - Bruce Paine, on his second UK visit. The Concert was at St Agatha's Church, Portsmouth, recently described as one of Portsmouth's hidden architectural gems, with a massive interior, a cathedral-like acoustic and one of the finest decorated apses in the UK.

Bruce opened the concert with a delightful selection of solos, including music from his homeland - Duarte's arrangement of Hine e Hine. His encore - the well-known and instantly appealing "Recuerdos de la Alhambra" - saw a massive queue in the interval for his latest CD, and the signed copies sold out completely! You can order a copy at guitarCDs - it's entitled "Guitar@Museum".

Bruce played a Rod Capper guitar that he brought over from New Zealand, and it was a great pleasure to welcome Rod to the concert - see Rod and the guitar in close-up in the photo below.

hago played their new 2005 repertoire, including some new pieces that require you to see us in concert to find out why the audience laugh!

The concert took place on the day of the dreadful London terrorist atrocities, and the final item - Schindler's List - brought together Bruce and hago. The music, dedicated to those caught up in the awful events earlier that day, was played to a hushed audience.