hampshire guitar orchestra newsletter

This is a web-archive of the Newsletter we emailed to our subscribers in February 2008

The passage of time may mean that some links to external sites are out of date or broken

ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER

This free newsletter is a small-scale production to keep you in touch with what's happening in hago - we always include links into our main website where you can read more, see photos and explore still further, so do click when you see a link...
Welcome to the many people who have subscribed since last issue - here's where you find out what we're up to.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAGO

Allow us to celebrate in that understated way that only us Brits know how to do, and say a very quiet and slightly introverted Happy Birthday to ourselves; tomorrow - Monday - we shall be 9 years old. Not so far from double figures now, and every year even more exciting than the year just gone. Last year we raised over £4,000 for good causes, and we want to do even better this year. That means we need big audiences, of course, and that's maybe where YOU come in - word of mouth is our best advertisement, so if you've seen us, tell your friends about our concerts (keep reading - they're just below... the concerts, not your friends!), and if you haven't seen us, well, what are you waiting for? Well, some of you are waiting for a plane, I suppose - not everyone reading this is sitting in the UK!

CONCERT NEWS

Winter is the Close Season for hago - with many of our concerts held in Churches, it's too cold to sit in shirtsleeves and it's certainly too cold to expect our audiences to turn slowly blue as the winter chill seeps in.
But although we've nothing to report in the recent past, we have lots coming up, as you'll see in just a moment.

WHAT'S COMING UP?

What's coming up is a dozen concerts - more than ever before - and they start just as the evenings are getting a little lighter and the skies a little bluer.
Our first is on March 8th at the United Reformed Church, South Hayling, but hurry, there are not many tickets left!
Next, on April 12th, is a performance at St Cuthbert's Copnor. Now this is the most amazing venue - a domed room high in the roof of the Church. There's easy access by stairs and lift, and the some incredible acoustics. The concert is in aid of their regeneration fund, a regeneration that has already provided a nursery, a doctor's surgery and much more, all within what was a vast and empty Church. It's an inspirational project and you should come and see what's been achieved.
We have many more concerts too, but the one that's a real jewel in our crown this year is on June 21st at St George's Portsea. Part of the Portsmouth Festivities, this is our biannual concert with Peter Rueffer's Cambridge Guitar Orchestra and provides some glorious contrasts and a wonderful variety of sound. More booking information soon!

RECRUITMENT NEWS

Have you ever known us turn down a good player? No, that's right. And we've got space for one good player right now. There's more information on our website at a special page all about the opportunities we offer. But if you come and see us, you'll see a new face too - we have another fine guitarist in our midst.

REPERTOIRE

This is the bit you've been waiting for. Yes, we do have new repertoire. Four new pieces, in fact, and if you like them just half as much as we do, you'll like them a lot. But we are most certainly not going to let the cat out of the bag, nor even the catgut out of the packet, and tell you what they are. Let's just say that we think they'll be much enjoyed :-)

WEBSITE NEWS

Our website continues to grow - just today we've just added a new mini-article to the Hints and Tips section for budding guitarists - this time about venturing up the neck.

PUBLICITY

With our 2008 concert programme already pretty much finalised, we've sent out over 300 flyers to local musicians and music societies. The response has been, how to put it musically, er, muted, but with our first concert almost sold out, word is definitely percolating about. Or is percolating strictly a vertical sort of thing?
Future newsletters will be packed with concert news, and links to new pages and photos on our website, so as we emerge from hibernation and stretch our aching limbs accompanied by some cracking of the joints, we'd like to wish you a belated Happy New Year, and see you, we hope, very soon at our forthcoming concerts.

hago newsletter 24th February 2008