ORCHESTRA's comments
Hi Ilaria
Just a short note to say thank you for organising a super trip to
France in July this year. Everything was great and we performed very well. The orchestra really
enjoyed it and now we must start to plan all over again.
I would like to also thank David for all his work and a personal
thanks to him... He was great.
So for now, I will say goodbye and I hope to be in contact with you in
the future to plan another trip (2014). I am thinking of a trip to
Lake Garda/Castlefidardo as I hear good reports of big crowds in the
Lake Garda veenues. I am also thinking of Poland and Switzerland. All
in the balance.
Thank you for your help
Gerry Kelly
Director of Music
K&S Accordion Orchestra
IRELAND
sept. 2012
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Dear Veronica,
we want to say thank you to you and your collegues.
Your organisation and preparation had been very fine and the concerts possiblities - especially the Loggia dei Lanzi and Montecatini Terme, but also Prato and Castel Rigone - they are all really great places - will be inforgettable for our musicians.
The Hotel Regina du Parc had been also a fine hotel. Our musicians enjoyed it there very much.
Some photos from our concert tour (they are for free use and can be downloaded in large size):
https://picasaweb.google.com/andy.ulm.2009/JungeBlaserphilharmonieUlmToscana2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCIj18fHMuMzvhwE&feat=content_notification
For the year 2013 (again end or July/beginning August) we make now our plannings.
You told me that your are expanding at moment also in the Provence/South France and Spain.
Which good concert possiblities would there be possible?
Kind regards
Josef Christ
Junge Blaeserphilharmonie Ulm
sept. 2012
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Dear Ilaria,
as promised I would send you some feedback on the HJSO tour to Spain.
As for me, this was one of the best if not the best HJSO tour since 2006.
With the HJSO I've been to the Provence (ASF), England (ASF), Sweden (Malmö Conservatoire), Latvia (ASF), Italy (ASF), Vienna (SummaCL Festival).
Great concerts, fine hotels, good food, excellent guide, nice weather, friendly people, no incidents.
So I would really like to thank the ASF and Ilaria for doing another great job for us. Most of all, thanks for giving us Nacho the sheepdog; without him I probably would have sent quite a different email. Nacho run the tour on the spot from the start to the end, filling in all the gaps. Never seen a better guide!
We really had a great time. Girona is a perfect, save place for youngsters. Thanks and see you again soon!
Best wishes,
Eduard Heyning
Haydn Youth String Orchestra
Sept. 2012
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Ilaria,
Muchas gracias por todo.
Los músicos y yo personalmente estamos encantados de la organización del Festival.
HASTA PRONTO!!!
Amadeou Urrea
Banda Municipal de Lleida
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Dear Ilaria,
Just a few lines to thank you for the wondeful time we spent in Toscana. Everything was fantastic: the concerts, venues, audiences...
We were sad to come back. We hope that we can visit you again sometime and hopefully we will do that concert in Menton and perhaps some more in Provence.
We would also be very interested in taking part in the Spanish branch of the Festival so keep us posted.
Anyway, have a great summer and hope to see you soon again.
Francisco Lara
Joven Orquesta Sinfonica de la Universidad de Valladolid
July 2012
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Hello Veronica
After a fine week in Tuscany and some nice concerts, we arrived well back home in Belgium. The concert in Firenze became for the ensemble an unforgettable event!
Thanks to you and to FOG for your efforts and your good organisation. Hopefully you are also satisfied about our performance on Piazza della Signoria.
Maybe we can come again once...
Kind regards
Bert Minten
Big Band&Jazz Choir of Academy of Arts Antwerp & Beringen
July 2012
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Ciao Ilaria,
Siamo tornati bene. E stato una tournée bellissima, tutti i musicisti erano contentissimi.
Grazie,
Rosalinda
La Philarmonique du COGE
July 2012
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Dear Ilaria,
This tour was YOBC's fifth in Europe, stretching back to 2002. On balance, we believe that all the participants saw this tour as a success.
Having been a participant in all five tours, I would concur in that view. We planned this tour with a primary goal of making the music our main focus and for the most part that goal was met.
The Master Class with Maestro Nicolas Simon was both educational and inspirational, and three of our performance venues were fantastic, and met all of our expectations.
Aix, Villefranche and Menton were outstanding all on their merits.
In the Cathedral in Aix we had about 180 people in the audience. The sound and the ambiance were characteristic of the best old European churches, resulting in a sublime and inspiring setting that required our musicians to use the structural reverberations to their advantage.
Villefranche was perhaps the most picturesque setting in which the Orchestra has ever performed. Starting with the people that guided our buses onto the fortress parking lot, the sound quality and acoustics, the professional sound setup and the sound crew they had on site, to the very place itself, the entire experience was memorable. We had over 300 sophisticated consumers of music in the audience.
Menton was special for some different reasons, given the decades-long history of the festival in Menton. We appreciated that the organizers hosted a reception for our group. Nobody will foget the standing ovations(yes, more than one).
The view was incredible, and people were able to wander around to see the stores and get refreshments before the concert. It was the perfect location for a venue, and I couldn't have anticipated a better audience response. We even had a police escort out of town when we left!
the concert organizer's efforts help made our trip to the hotel much faster. We had well over 800 people in the audience. In addition to the 300 chairs set up under the tent, they had chairs on the sides and back, and all of them were full.
There were even people on the side walls and on the seawall.
At the end the musicians received an open invitation to come back any time they wanted.
We only had praises from our group about the choice of the hotels, the food, and the transport."
Joseph Hochreiter, Jr., President, YOBC
YOBC, USA
July 2012
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Dear Ilaria
The WJSO orchestra spent a good time on concert tour in Provence. Ricardo was a good and realy friendly guide. He worked realy good so we had all we needed. And also the local personal at the concert locations was very nice and friendly. The concerts were well organized. So the orchestra could be focussed to the musical things. The only thing that wasn`t so comfotable was, that the concert in the abbay de Saint-Michel de Frigolet started on Thursday at 4 o clock. So it wasn`t possible to have as much people in concert as it could be otherwise. But the concert in Aix was well visited and the concert in Menton was an absolutly great success! I thank you, Ilaria, and the Accademia San Felice for the very good organisation of the concert tour. The orchestra and its musicians had so much pleasure and success. They are very happy about the concerttour! Thank you for all! I wish you a good summertime and say good by.
Kind regards,
Fridolin Gallati
Youth Symphony Orchestra Of the Winterthur Conservatory
July 2012
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Hello Tamsin and Ilaria,
... I would say the NEWS tour was a great success. Everyone seemed to have a really good time. I hope you have heard favorable things back from Stephane and Nacho. They were great! Both of them were so easy to get along with, and they worked so hard to make life easy for us. Excellent choices! I should also mention how good our driver Jaime was. If there were any problems or issues, we were kept unaware. They were a great team.
The first excursion, the boat trip from Cassis to see the 3 Calanques, was a big hit and this turned out to be the standard for all the excursions. All the tours were great – thank you! One of the guides was a little “less enjoyable” than the others (the lady that took us through the Sagrada Famiglia when we got to Barcelona) but overall they were very good.
All the hotels, breakfasts and all the other meals were great. The two additions to the itinerary were really good ideas. Thanks to Stephane for setting up our visit to the Dali museum in Figueres. It was amazing and I know it was one of the highlights for a few people on the tour. Also, Nacho’s suggestion to exchange the trip to Sant Cugat for a visit to Park Guell was brilliant. Everyone loved it. Even though we didn’t get to perform in the Barcelona area, the group really enjoyed their time there – almost like being tourists!! The concert venues and audiences were great (after the first one) and provided a nice variety of locations.
Thank you both very much for the hours of work you invested in making our tour such a success. Although I likely won’t be involved in the tour arrangements the next time we travel, I will certainly recommend ASF to whoever is in charge. I haven't spoken with many of the members since I returned, but if any other items of concern come up, I'll pass them along to you.
Enjoy the remainder of the summer and take care.
Ciao,
Roy
New Edmonton Wind Simfonia
July 2011
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Dear Sara,
TIYO 2011 project was very interesting and inspiring . I've never participated in similar project/performance like this so this was whole new experiance for me and I was pleasantly surprised.
Conductor was very precise, inspiring, professional and it was very pleasant to work with him. Whole organisation (people from organisation, hostel, food, rehearsals place...) was great...
I also enjoyed in free time with my orchestra friends.
Thank you Sara for everything, I hope that we will meet again in next projects.
With kind regards,
Nenad Mitic
TIYO - Tuscan International Youth Orchestra
July 2011
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Dear Veronica,
We'd like to let you know that last week's concert tour to Toscana was the most wonderful experience we ever did with our band!
Especially the concert venues were breathtaking.
And the audiences gave us the most warm welcome. Some people in the crowd even cried during our concerts, we've never experienced that before...
The police was even guarding our rehearsal and concert in Firenze. Great!
Everybody in our (big) group was very grateful to you all for leading us through this amazing week. Too bad we couldn't stay any longer.
Please send our special thanks to the Prato organization about the unexpected welcome dinner they offered us.
We're receiving lots of thanks and congratulations to Elena and Ricardo from our group. They liked you ;-)
Personally I'd like to thank Tamsin and Veronica for communicating so easily before the tour, and for just arranging everything we've ever asked.
You guys are doing a splendid job! We hope the festival will make many more dreams come true in the next years.
Keep up the good work!
Martijn Vanhees
Harmonieorkest Demer & Laak
Lummen, Belgium
July 2011
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Dear Ilaria,
Very great was the concert in San Damiano al Colle. If you have chance to communicate to local organizers, please send our best greetings to them and thank them all for so great organizing!!!! It was just perfect! Thank them for kindness and hospitality, so warm audience, everything was organized so well, the meals, changing clothes, parking etc. It seems that all the village was worried about our concert and involved with that and they did their utmost best for us! So warm and great feeling for this kind of lovely village, great people and great concert and we are so grateful!!! Just great!
By the way, in youtube you could find Wilhelm Tell fragment by us at this concert: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EM1gRIA2UQ
Estonian National Youth Symphony Orchestra
Jüri-Ruut Kangur (28 September 2010)
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Dear Ilaria, Sandra and Silvia,
we had a very good journey and yesterday we reached Göppingen around
midnight. Our orchestra is absolutely enthusiastic of the Toskana. The festival
and the concerts were very well organized of you. We had a wonderful
time in Italia.
On our homepage you can see some fotos following this link:
http://www.goeppingen.kdrs.de/servlet/PB/menu/1324683_yno/index.html
Thank you very much for all !
A lot of greetings from Göppingen Youth Orchestra
Martin and Thomas (2 August 2010)
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Dear Ilaria,
Saturday night 24th of July we arrived back in Rotterdam from a fantastic tour in the south of France. The concert locations were beautiful and many people visited the concerts.
We would like to send you our evaluation of the tour after our own tour organisation have met when the holidays are over. For now I would like to thank you very much for the organisation. I enclose a photograph of the RJSO in the cloister garden of the beautiful Maison Diocesaine in Nimes.
Kind regards,
Also from the tour organisation of the RJSO and the whole orchestra
Marjon Oolbekkink
RJSO Orchestra (2 August 2010)
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Dear Andrea, Veronica and Sara,
We would like on behalf of all orchestra and conductor Andris Veismanis express gratitude for very well organized concert tour to Florence and Sorrento. Thank you very much for very nice concert places in Florence Palazzo Pitti and in Sorrento Chiostro di San Francesco. We are very appreciate to Paolo for very well organized concert in Sorrento - concert was over crowded and welcomed us very good. There were television and photographer. The audience was very encouraging and supportable. Our way home was very good, we visited Venice and did very long way home, we arrived in Riga on Saturday after midnight. New musicians are very satisfied for opportunity to perform in such great places and are looking forward for next concerts.
With best wishes from Riga,
Ilze and Inese
International Projects Coordinator
Education, Culture and Sports Department
of the Riga City Council (1 August 2010)
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Ciao Andrea!
I wanted to thank you for everything you have done for us. I couldn't get a proper chance to thank you and congratulate you for this amazing event.
It has been a great journey and exprience for me and for all my friends... and I'm so glad I will be in contact with your through here and e-mail.
Hopefully we would be able to see you and get involved with the project next year... ( i will keep an eye on the webpage to catch up with the progress all year...)
Best regards...
Deniz Dogangün
TIYO | Tuscan International Youth Orchestra (21 July 2010)
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Dear Ilaria!
I'd like to say you manty thanks for a wonderful time in Italy! our stuff & orchestra was really happy participated in Florence festival! It was really good job and friendly collboration with you and all people who helped us. Specially thanks for Ms Ximena Zuniga and Ms. Yulia Knish for all carries about each person of orchestra, very operative job and attention for all details. Also specially thanks for our drivers Gennaro & Gaetano.
I hope our cooperation will be posibility in the future.
With all the best my wishes
Alina Akhmetova
Youth Symphonic Orchestra of Belarus and Russia (15 July 2010)
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Dear Andrea
I would like to extend my warm appreciation on behalf of Ealing Youth Orchestra for a very successful venture at Southwark Cathedral on Saturday. The players of EYO had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon and I’ve had many emails from parents expressing a similar view. I very much hope that you felt the concert was a success from your point of view as well.
I would certainly very much like to stay in touch with you. I am sure it would be worth our while revisiting the possibility of us participating in one of your festivals on the continent. Florence or Provence...
With kindest regards.
Trevor Watson
Ealing Youth Orchestra (6th July 2010)
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Dear Veronica,
thank you very much for the great time in Tuscany that you organized so perfect for us !
All orchestra members, our soprano-soloist and me - we are all really happy to have been at your festival.
Mille grazie per tutto ! Thank you very much.
All the best for you
Robert Fischer
MUSIKGYMNASIUM ORCHESTER GRAZ (17 July 2010)
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Hello all,
I send you a mail to thank you for the fabulous week we've passed last week. It has been a so great experience for us. The different places where we played were all beautiful. The atmosphere was really good and the return in Belgium is not so easy now. It's hard to be concentrated at work. Next tuesday we'll have the last concert in Louvain La Neuve, it won't be the same as the concerts we did last week and we'll always keep in mind what we experienced.
thanks for all.
Regards,
Bruno Defraigne
Orchestre Symphonique des Etudiants de Lln (Belgium)
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Cara Veronica,
è a nome di tutta la ns. Associazione che vorrei ringraziare te e tutte
le persone che hanno collaborato alla riuscita dei due bellissimi
concerti di Firenze e di Todi.
Come sai, la nostra è una realtà giovane e questa occasione, così
brillantemente supportata da Voi, è stata un’ottima opportunità di
crescita per i nostri ragazzi.
Tutto ha funzionato come previsto e questa cosa è stata molto apprezzata da tutto il nostro gruppo.
Di nuovo mille grazie e….. alla prossima.
Ciao, Loris
Orchestra Ghironda (Roma)
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An Extraordinary concert tour!
In September 2008 the Symphonic Orchestra from the Basil Music School (Switzerland) was given the chance to perform three concerts in Tuscany. More than 70 young musicians between 15 and 25 yrs old plunged themselves into la Dolce Vita of Italy and clearly loved it. The amazing venues where they played in Montecatini (Terme Tettuccio), Siena (Ssa Annunziata) and Florence (S. Stefano) had a very strong impression upon the young musicians. What's more the evident enthusiasm of the large audiences was felt by the musicians, encouraging them to perform at their best.
There was also scheduled one day of rest, which allowed for a wonderful trip to Pisa and Lucca and the chance to swim at Viareggio. Thanks to the faultless organisation of ASF with Andrea Cavallari and co. and the continued assistance of our kind and competent escort Sara, our trip was transformed into an extraordinary experience, which will stay with us all for a very long time. Thank you.
Anna Brugnoni
Basil Music School Symphonic Orchestra
20/10/2008
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Hi Tamsin,
I hope you had a well-deserved break! The Festival was really a wonderful experience for both our orchestra and the officials. We agree that we have worked and played very hard throughout our Italian journey.
This concert tour would not have been such a successful one if we had not been treated to the hospitality, good organisation and warmth of the Festival organisers (yourself included of course) and our Italian counterparts.
We hope to be able to create more opportunities for our Singapore youth to be in touch with like-minded talented musicians from Italy, so let's look forward to collaborations in the future!
In the meantime, do take care and keep in touch!
Best regards,
Wang Siao Hua
Co-curricular Officer (Music), Education Programmes Division
Ministry of Education Singapore
Singapore National Youth Orchestra
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Dear Tamsin,
On behalf of the AJO we would like to thank you for the fantastic tour that
we have made in July. The AJO members have enjoyed it so much! We've noticed
that there was a very good communication with your organisation and that all
our questions and whishes could be managed. The extra rehearsel with the
Singapore orchestra, that you've arranged, is a very good exemple. The joint
concert in Florence really was the highlight of our tour....
We hope that you are also saftisfied about the tour and that other participants have enjoyed it as much as we did....
Kind regards,
Antoinette van Rijn
Amersfoort Jeugdorkest Utrecht
17/09/2008
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Dear Clara
A very big thank you for a wonderful week in Italy. We had such a wonderful time and will remember Tuscany with fondness. The tour was exactly right - the right amount of rehearsal, free time, sight seeing and concerts. A fantastic experience for every member of the choir.
...
We had such a great time.
Thank you and I hope we can work together again in the future.
Liz Wilde
Chief Executive
Northern Orchestral Enterprises Ltd
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Hi Tamsin,
The tour was great - thank you so much for everything you and your team did for us. I have only heard positive comments from those that I have been in contact with. The concert venues were great. Each one so different and so fun to perform in. I think my favorite was Gemenos. What a beautiful setting - and great acoustics. The accommodation and meals were wonderful.
Paulo was great - what an amazing driver. He took us where coaches shouldn't be allowed to venture. And always with a smile on his face - although we did hear a "mama mia" when he was first loading the coach in Paris. But somehow, after two weeks of shopping we were still able to fit everything into the coach. Gilles was terrific. Always everywhere we needed him to be (even before we knew we needed him there) and so helpful with the equipment and the logistics of the venues. Anne and Patrizia were great. They sure worked hard to keep the "issues" invisible. Patrizia was so helpful and it was nice to get her perspective on Italy in the stories she related as we passed through the various regions. She really seemed to become part of the family...
Until the next trip, I wish you all the best, and thank you again for everything.
Cheers,
Roy Townend
New Edmonton Wind Sinfonia
12/08/2008
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Hi Tamsin,
I had a really good chat with Brighton director Andy Sherwood yesterday and he was really thrilled with his tour & said that the concerts were brilliant and the tour managers excellent.
best wishes,
Pippy
OneStage Specialist Concert Tours
24/07/2008
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Hi Tamsin,
Thanks for the articles! I'm very delighted that the concerts were much appreciated!
During the tour there were no difficulties whatsoever ... I really enjoyed the smooth ongoing during the week and around the concerts. Peteris was a great help, especially with the Bauska concert. He managed to arrange two public transport busses to bring us from the culture hall to the restaurant. That was a welcome surprise, as the orchestra was really tired after the concert and the whole tour. I have not heard a single negative sound from our orchestra members nor Daan. He appreciated the rehearsal room, which was perfect for this purpose.
I was also very pleased with the concert venues. Everywhere we arrived, we were welcomed with open arms, food (toast with caviar in Bauska) and drinks. Everyone was so warm and pleased to see us. All four concerts were well attended, which is also good for the spirit. Even our bus drivers enjoyed every concert, and the whole tour as well.
It's hard to express how much we all enjoyed it, but we are very greatful for the effort you have put into organising this tour!
Thank you so much!
Martijn Verger
VU ORKEST of AMSTERDAM
19/07/2008
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Dear Tamsin,
We are safely home after a wonderful tour that reached a real climax in our concerts in Florence and Montecatini on Monday and Tuesday.
I'm sorry that I wasn't able to visit more with you and Andrea Cavallari on Tuesday evening. I hope that you enjoyed the concert as much as we did. The Terme Tettuccio is a very special place to play and we thoroughly enjoyed performing with our colleagues from Extremadura. They are an excellent orchestra. I think that I have made a genuine friend in Miguel Romea and we are talking seriously of ways in which we can collaborate again in the future.
I would like to thank you and everyone there involved in making our participation in the Festival such a satisfying experience.
With very best wishes to you all,
Yours sincerely,
Stewart Grant, Artistic Director
West Island Youth Symphony Orchestra (Canada)
13/07/2008
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Dear Giulia,
On behalf of the orchestra and myself I wish to thank you for all your
hard work in planning our trip to Italy. It was a "dream trip". There
is little doubt that the planning that you put into the trip really
paid off. ASF are very lucky to have you, I wish you were here in
Ireland and all our concerts would be such fun. You will never know
how grateful we are.
Hotels were super. The second hotel was very kind to us and made
provision for extra time in the pool etc.. The guide was great and we
clicked from day one.
Concerts were a dream. Each one was excellent and while we had a
problem on concert two in Florence we got through it and the remaining
concerts were super.
So all in all it was a fantastic trip and all thanks to you.
Love from the K&S Accordion Orchestra (Ireland)
11/07/2008
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Dear Andrea Cavallari, a short mail to let you know that we have had a wonderful time in Italy. From the members of the orchestra only positive reactions, the same from the team that accomponied the youngsters. The help of Patrizia Smerzu turned out to be very much to the point. Two highlights: the rehearsel and the concert together with Corvallis Camerata on Tuesday and the concert on Thursday in Montecatini Terme: beautiful ambiance and wonderful acoestics.
We all wish you/the festival for the coming days beautifil concerts and a good audience.
With kind regards,
Hein Spanjaard
chairman of the board of JSO De Vuurvogel (Holland)
09/07/2008
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Dear Giulia,
Many, many thanks for the superb organisation of our recent concert tour of Tuscany. It was lovely to meet you and we are especially grateful to Sara and Daniele who both made us feel at home in Tuscany and took great care to ensure our journey was fulfilled.
Everybody had a wonderful time – I am sure we will return to explore more of this delightful part of Italy.
Once again many thanks.
Yours sincerely
Tim Speakman
Burton Concert Band (UK)
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Cara Tamsin e caro Andrea
dopo il vostro grande lavoro della settimana piena di concerti e l'organizzazione dovete essere distrutti! Spero che dal vostro punto di vista tutto sia andato bene. gia 10 giorni fa sono ritornata in germania e nel frattempo ho passata una settimana intensa. Nonostante penso spesso e con tanto piacere al soggiorno dal vostro festival col coro mio. Ci siamo trovati molto bene e anche il coro ne parla con tanto entusiasmo. vi ringrazio per l'invito e il vostro impegno e per la vostra ospitalita. il festival mi e molto piaciuto e l'idea della settimana di musica dal mondo stimo molto. sono molto contenta che potevo partecipare e che la collaborazione coll' orchestra rumena e andata in grande sintonia. secondo me loro sono molto in gamba. mi farebbe tanto piacere fare un nuovo progetto assieme a voi. in tanto sono curiosa cosa scrivevano i giornali sui concerti e sarei contenta se melo spedissi.
tanti baci
Tabea Fischle
Hannover Chor
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Dear Giulia,
We really enjoyed the tour and are very satisfied with the organizing you have done for us. All the children as I know and the parents were happy with the stay in italy.
We had a good rehearsal the first afternoon at the hotell. The next day we visited Lucca (beautiful town!) in the morning before going to Corsanico in the evening. We were heartily welcomed and the church was nearly filled up with people for the concert.
Next day some of the girls wanted to go shopping in Montecatini. After the lunch we went to Fiorenze. We visited the Uffizi gallery, but we arrived late and were short of time for that visit. After the concert in Florenze we went to a nice pizza-restaurant close to the church. The next day we left for Siena after breakfast and brought with us the lunch. We placed the instruments in a room belonging to the Cortile del Podestà and went sightseeing in Siena. It was nice to play in Cortile del Podestà, the sound was good and the walls gave an excellent resonance for the music we played. On Sunday we visited Pisa and went afterwards to the beach. In the evening we watched the footballmatch between Italy and France. We went to the citycenter of Montecatini to look at the celebration of the championship.
It was a great experience! Monday we travelled to Perugia and the agriturismo and went to Passignano after lunch. It was a beautiful place and we played the concert outside in a ruin. We found a corner between two walls where we could stand playing. Concerning the sound it was not the best solution to play outdoors, but it was a nice atmosphere with the old ruins and a dark heaven with stars. The last day we reached to visit Assisi in the morning and after lunch we went to Torrita di Siena where we had a look on the city before we went rehearsing. The local arrangement-committee offerred us dinner before the concert and we were very warmly welcomed. I think there were about the same number of people listening to the concert as in Florence, maybe a few more. We were very satisfied with both the hotel and the agriturismo and our guide was superb. Give greetings to Aloisia and say she did a great job! Nice to meet you in Florence by the way.
Thus as a conclusion it was a great experience for us to go Italy and for sure we will keep a good memory of it. Maybe it ad been enough for us playing only 4 concerts. The program for the tour was quite dense so some of the younger children got a bit tired at the end of the tour. But at the same time they got a lot of nice impressions from all the places we visited.
We will not hesitate to recommend other orchestras to participate in your festival the coming years.
Best wishes from
Svein Egil (Norway)
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Dear Andrea, Tamsin and Emanuella,
Just a brief note to thank you for organising our tour last week. Everyone without exception, had a fantastic time and the whole affair has boosted the choir's confidence and friendship In a most positive way.
I know how much time and effort goes into organising events like this. The travel arrangements, accommodation, publicity and venues were all superb. This is a great tribute to you all and to your efforts and commitment to a festival which deserves national and international support.
Please let me know about future plans as I'm sure the choir would be willing to return. Our 04/05 season includes Paukenmesse -Haydn, The Armed Man -Karl Jenkins, Messiah -Handel plus a programme of English music from Purcell, Parry, Vaughan Williams, Chilcott and Rutter.
In the meantime, I look forward to seeing you again in July.
With best wishes,
Richard Dacey
Derby Choral Union (UK)
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Cher Andrea,
Je viens d' arriver de Grèce où je suis parti dès notre retour de Toscane.
Un grand MERCI et BRAVO à toi, à Tamsin, Vanessa et Davide et à toute
l'équipe du festival ! Tout s'est très bien passé et l'organisation de la
tournée a été parfaite.
Les 140 collégiens ont été enchantés par l'expérience et ne sont pas près
de l'oublier !!
Une belle production réussie est toujours une grande satisfaction.
Les lieux des concerts étaient tous magnifiques et cela a été un réel
plaisir pour moi comme pour nous tous de venir en Toscane pour donner ce
programme.
Je te souhaite, ainsi qu'à toute l'équipe du festival, une bonne
continuation et un excellent été.
Très amicalement et a presto, spero
Philippe Béran
Choeur et orchestre des colleges de Génève
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Hi Tamsin,
we've had a wonderful concert-tour in the Provence. Thank you and the
Accademia very much for planning the tour, which unfolded almost
completely according to plan. Where would we've been without you!
Although it was terribly hot, the orchestra played very well, the last
two concerts of the tour being considered the best of all the season.
Especially the people at Bagnol, Aix and Anduse were very nice to us.
Everywhere audiences expressed their amazement with the level of playing
and bought a lot of CD's. The orchestra members where very happy indeed
with the tour, had a lot of fun and are looking forward to the next!
Thanks and hope to see you again,
yours
Eduard Heyning
HYSO (Holland)
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Dear Giulia,
I was sorry not to meet with you, as you did a wonderful job arranging everything. Everyone had a great experience and the group opinion was that it was one of our best tours. I enjoyed seeing some of the small Tuscan towns I hadn't seen before, and the places I have visited many times are still wonderful to see again.
The escorts Katerina and Cloe were exceedingly helpful and friendly, as were the drivers. You are to be commended on the success of the Festival.
Best regards,
Margaret
Maryland Youth Orchestra (USA)
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Dear Emanuela
We had such a marvellous time in Florence and Lucca and I must thank you for arranging everything. Everyone thought the trip was just fantastic with your organisation being superb!
We were so glad to have the chance to go to Lucca as well as Florence. We thought it a lovely town and enjoyed the venue very much. If anythihng, the audience were even more enthusiastic than in Florence giving us several 'curtain calls' and we had to do an encore! When we left to go home we were all on cloud 9 and we are still singing in our heads!
We enjoyed looking at Pisa and the leaning tower but found the airport very slow but even so we managed to get home almost on time! We now have wonderful memories and photos, posters etc.
Thank you again and hoping that you had a thoroughly enjoyable Easter.
With love
Janet Hammond
Leicester Choral Society
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Dear Luisa,
Now being back for more than one week I want to contact you again, mainly
to say thank you soooo much!
For us it was the first time that we were on a tour with a help like the
one offered by the Accademia San Felice. You all in the office and Catarina
on the tour did a wonderfull job.
You organized everything very good
- venues, where it was especially wonderfull to play in Urbino and Firenze
- Hotel
You offered us help in different questions
- horn player, who was really phantastic and at the same time a nice person
- the fine restaurants, which offered meals for a reasonabole price.
- the guides
All went home full of very good memories... So I want to thank all of you
very much, especially you! Give my thanks and best greetings to everybody
(Caterina, Emmanuela, Tamsin and Andrea)!
With best wishes
Hermann Ostendarp
Mosaico Youth Orchestra (Switzerland)
