hago concerts - 2006

11 March

We were pleased to take part in a joint Concert at St Philip's, helping to raise funds towards the provision of disabled facilities in this architecturally important building.

The first half of the Concert provided a showcase for the local and for the young talent within St Philip's and featured a variety of solo and accompanied solo performances on as big a variety of instruments. The programme tells the story.

Following wine in the interval and a raffle in aid of the Church appeal, hago took to the floor for a real variety of styles all played on our 4 sizes of guitar and featuring some items new for 2006.

The evening raised £202 towards their project.

Audience comments included....

The playing was so sensitive to the mood of each piece, it was a joy to listen to

It was lovely

Absolutely brilliant concert

Your unique and exciting sound was enjoyed by everyone

Great selection of pieces, something for everyone, and a fabulous sound

13 May

We were thrilled and delighted to team up with our good friends at West Sussex Guitar Club and with Amanda Cook for another Gala Guitar evening in the lovely and easily accessible St Paul's Church, Chichester.

WSGC's Artistic Director, Sasha Levtov, introduced a large and varied first half showing guitarists from the young and novice level right up to teacher status, and taking in solos, duets, trios, quartets and a massive ensemble with 25 players.

See pictures and hear soundclips in our WSGC Gallery.

Read a review of the event here...

10 June

Here in hago we've often said how miserable it can be, playing in cold damp Churches in the middle of winter. Well, we got it back in spades by playing on the hottest day of the year so far, up in the rafters of The Maltings Centre at Alton with the evening sun beating down on the roof! This concert raised £928.91 for Project Mali - a fantastic total. We think the secret was that it was held during World Cup 2006, ensuring an audience keen to watch something that wasn't connected with football...

Audience comments included

"A wonderful evening"

"Everyone enjoyed the music, from young to old"

"An excellent concert"

13 June

hago were delighted to be invited to perform at the very first of what is hoped to be a long-running and regular series of festivals organised by St George's Church and with the simple aim of raising the profile of live music in Waterlooville. Unusually for us it was a Tuesday evening concert.

We shared our concert with our good friends the Havant Clarinet and Saxophone Choir - HCSC 2, and the two halves of the concert were separated by an interval in which refreshments were available, courtesy of the many hard-working helpers that made the evening run so smoothly.

The festival had events at lunchtimes and evenings for the entire week - from June 11th to June 18th - and in addition to a wealth of good music there were superb floral displays and exhibitions to visit during the day.

Audience comments included

What a class act

I really enjoyed last night

Very entertaining

Press write-ups included

"HCSC had the audience tapping their feet, and HAGO provided a complete contrast ..."
We think it's a compliment!

8 July

July 8th saw a concert with our friends at Cambridge Guitar Orchestra in the visually stunning and spacious acoustics at St Agatha's Church.

St Agatha's has been described as one of the most magnificent hidden architectural gems in Hampshire.

This was the latest in our traditional "home and away" concert series with CGO. Our series began in 2002, and so this is our fifth celebration of music and friendship, which begins with a buffet tea and invariably ends at a local watering house.

Highlight of the concert for many people wasn't the massive contrast in styles and repertoire that the two orchestras bring to every joint concert, it was the surprise appearance of CGO's new mascot, Derek the Chicken, who, with manic eyes and an overly large beak was said to have more than a passing resemblance to hago's Musical Director, Derek Hasted.

Rest assured that hago will be exacting revenge, but revenge, of course, is a dish best served cold...

Indeed, the passage of time since this page was written does indeed show revenge, as you can see in our Cambridge Guitar Orchestra gallery.

10 September

hago were invited back to "Birdman" to provide music on the second day of the Birdman of Bognor competition 2006.

In 2005, hago played on the pier, but this time we ensconced ourselves in the bandstand on the promenade and enjoyed the splendid weather - with temperatures not far from 25 degrees.

Half a dozen microphones and some hefty loudspeakers ensured that we were audible and we enjoyed a constant audience who stopped by for several numbers on their way to the pier.

See photos in our Birdman Gallery.

14 October

hago were pleased to return to the spacious interior and generous acoustics of the Church of the Resurrection in Drayton, this time at the invitation of Age Concern, to play a concert in aid of their local fund-raising.

There's no truth in the rumour that we were simply planning for our own imminent future!

It was great to meet all the team at Age Concern and the staff and volunteers of the Church - what a super bunch. And we were so pleased to welcome a large audience who enjoyed our unusual mix of styles, and the concert raised many hundreds of pounds for Age Concern Portsmouth (ACP)

The concert featured the premiere, if that isn't too grandiose a word, of our latest addition to our repertoire - a real rock classic - Rocking All Over The World.

The Concert raised almost £400 for ACP. Their fund-raising executive writes

On behalf of everyone at Age Concern Portsmouth may I thank HAGO for the time and effort you put into the recent performance given in aid of our charity... we enjoyed the concert and I think it's fairly clear from the audience reaction that they did too, so hopefully they will help to spread the word about how good HAGO really is...

30 November

hago were delighted to play in aid of The Rowans Hospice, raising money towards its running costs.

The tiny church of St James Without-the-Priory Gate, Southwick was full to bursting - all seats sold!

The organiser writes:

I would just like to say a very sincere thank you to you, and to all your group, for giving up their time last evening to present the most wonderful concert in aid of the Rowans Hospice - it was absolutely brilliant and much appreciated.

The atmosphere and comments as people left the Church were very complimentary - I don't think anything quite like 'hago' has ever been performed in this Village before!

The Rowans Hospice Fundraising Director writes:

It really was a great night, thank you and all of hago once again

2 December

We were invited to help raise funds for St Nicholas's "Crisis at Christmas" appeal in a concert on December 2nd 2006, in the spacious church in Battenburg Avenue, North End.

An audience of about 70 people raised £340 for their charity, and it has to be said that their "spare clap" in Flingel Bunt was perhaps the loudest we've heard for ages! With a massive Christmas tree behind us making a rather pleasing backdrop, this was our first concert in 2006 featuring some of our Christmas music.

16 December

Hale Court is one of a number of superb, purpose-built, sheltered housing complexes situated on Portsea Island.

This was our second visit to Hale Court, to an audience that joined in with everything we played, whether we'd intended them to or not, and despite many of the pieces being in the wrong key to sing!