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CON ON TOUR

The Camden Haven Music Festival Inc proudly presents

CON ON TOUR

Star-on-the-Rise baritone Rob McDougall of Schools Spectacular fame brings with him an exciting mix of musicians from Sydney Conservatorium including GUITAR , HORN, CLARINET, PIANO, CELLO and VIOLIN with a variety program of musical theatre, songs, classical solos and ensemble pieces to provide you with a wonderful afternoon’s entertainment, followed by a delicious afternoon tea.

When: Sunday 15 August 2.30pm
Where: Kendall School of Arts Hall Comboyne Street
Tickets at Door from 2pm Adults $20 School Children $5 Includes afternoon tea following the concert

Enquiries Alvena Ferguson 6559 6874 or Adam Bishop 0418152127

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Next Years Festival Dates

We are proud to announce that you can lock in next years dates of Friday 6 to Sunday 15 May to come and enjoy the 16th annual Camden Haven Music Festival.

Alvena Ferguson, Festival Director
Ph 65596874/Mob 0401608240
Email: chmf@tsn.cc

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Focus Mag Interviews

We have attached interviews with Pugsley Buzzard and Ami Williamson taken from our sponsors Focus Magazine.

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19 April - Cancellation of Drumming Workshops

We have reluctantly decided to cancel the Drumming Workshops (Friday 30 April and Saturday 1 May) due to the State Government not announcing successful grant applications in time for us to promote the workshops.  We have been advised that decisions on the successful applicants were made in February, announcements and payments were to be made in March, however most recent advice is that the Minister Paul Lynch is not prepared to give any indication when announcements will be made. We apologise for any inconvenience, we are just as disappointed as many of our customers are.

The African Drumming & Dance concert is still on Saturday 1 May at 3pm in Laurieton School of Arts Hall.

Enquiries to Festival Office on 6559 6874 or 65596874 or chmf@tsn.cc.

Alvena Ferguson, Festival Director
Ph 65596874/Mob 0401608240

INAUGURAL LAURIETON LANTERN PARADE

Saturday 1 May at 7pm - Seymour Street Wharf Laurieton (at rear of Laurieton United Services Club)

This year’s Camden Haven Music Festival will feature a Lantern Parade on the Camden Haven River. The lanterns, created by school children and by up to 20 community groups from around the Hastings. will be mounted on various vessels which ply the Camden Haven River, from sailing boats, motor boats, punts and old fishing boats. The Lantern Parade will leave from the Sea Rescue Wharf at the end of Tunis Street, and sail up the river to the Dunbogan Bridge, and then return. Recommended vantage point to view the Parade is the Seymour Street Marina behind the Laurieton United Services Club

Read more on the attached PDF.

Enquiries to Festival Office on 6559 6874 or 65596874 or chmf@tsn.cc.

Alvena Ferguson, Festival Director
Ph 65596874/Mob 0401608240

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For 14 April edition
Music Festival pianist offered overseas study opportunity

Maxwell Foster, winner of the 2008 Young Performer Award, has been offered two overseas study opportunities.  Max will perform in concert for the Camden Haven Music Festival on Saturday 24 April at Kendall School of Arts.

Now Max has to make a very important and difficult decision, as he prepares for his Festival concert; a decision with wonderful implications for his future as a concert pianist.

As his mother and manager Kathryn recently advised the Festival  “We received great news today - Max was accepted into the Juilliard School of Music and the Manhattan School of Music so he has to choose which he would like to study at...”

Max has to make his decision by 1 May and take up study in the United States at the beginning of August. We are indeed fortunate that Camden Haven Music Festival audiences will be able to hear the skill and virtuosity that won Maxwell the Young Performer Award and now study offers to two of the most prestigious music academies in the world.

Tickets to Maxwell’s concert and all Camden Haven Music Festival events are now on salevia our order form, or by filling in our order form and faxing or posting it to us using the details on the form.

You will also be able to purchase Festival tickets at the Laurieton Riverwalk Markets on Sunday 18 April, either with cash or credit card.

Enquiries to Festival Office on 6559 6874 or 65596874 or chmf@tsn.cc.

Alvena Ferguson, Festival Director
Ph 65596874/Mob 0401608240

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30 March 2010 “Sweet Songs” are sweet indeed

Nothing beats a lovely female voice accompanied by the strains of beautiful melodies played on the piano.  In their “Sweet Songs” concert at Kendall on Wednesday 28 April, Sue Carson from Newcastle will be accompanied by renowned pianist and orchestra leader Ross Fiddes.

Sue and Ross have planned a very appealing program of music by Mozart, Brahms, Schubert, Grieg and Ross Fiddes himself.  Including songs, lieder and solo piano pieces, this concert has been included in the Camden Haven Music Festival to appeal to those who enjoy daytime, low cost but high quality light musical entertainment.

To be presented in the heritage Kendall School of Arts hall at 2.30pm, tickets for Sue and Ross in concert are on sale via our order form, or by filling in our order form and faxing or posting it to us using the details on the form.

Enquiries to Festival Office on 6559 6874 or 65596874 or chmf@tsn.cc.

Alvena Ferguson, Festival Director
Ph 65596874/Mob 0401608240

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30 March 2010 Ilythian Ensemble with William Barton

They are dubbed as “classical girls with attitude” and the Ilythian Ensemle is re-casting any preconceptions about the classical ensemble.

With the sensual Chloe Charody as its Artistic Director and composer, they are young, glamorous and polished. Trained at the Sydney Conservatorium Ilythian Ensemble is Sonja Schebeck (violin), Lindsay Gilroy (piano) and Simone Easthope (soprano).

The connection with William Barton, himself a giant on the international music scene, came through Sonja Schebeck, when they were both representing Sydney Conservatorium in the 2008 Beijing Musicathlon cultural festival.

Chloe Charody’s own compositions stand up extremely well alongside the most famous of the classical composers of last centuries and the Ensemble’s desire to make classical music more accessible and appealing to young audiences means that they imbue their performances with energy and style.

Catch them on Friday 30 April 8pm at St Columba Anglican School Port Macquarie. Tickets are available via our order form, or by filling in our order form and faxing or posting it to us using the details on the form.

Refreshments follow the concert.

Enquiries to Festival Office on 6559 6874 or 65596874 or chmf@tsn.cc.

Alvena Ferguson, Festival Director
Ph 65596874/Mob 0401608240

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27 March 2010 Bill Simon’s Story

If there is one thing Bill Simon knows about it is trouble.

Born on the Purfleet Mission outside Taree, with his 3 brothers Bill was taken from his Aboriginal mother and sent to the notorious Kinchela Boys Home at the age of 10. His 2 year old brother was sent elsewhere and Bill didn’t see him again until the toddler was sent to Kinchela as a five year old. No on in the family knows where that little boy spent the three years of his babyhood.

Before losing their children to “the system” Bill’s parents had tried to start a better life for their family away from the strictures of the mission, by moving to Kendall. His father got work as a forester and they lived a poor but happy life for a few years.

One day while Bill’s father was at work, the “welfare” arrived and took the four children away in a car. For Bill and his brothers, the next eight years were a time of deprivation and abuse, known only by the number “33” to other inmates and staff, denied any contact with parents or other family members, institutionalised and alienated from society.
Bill Simon’s story of his life after release from Kinchela when he was 18, will be told at a Reconciliation Lunch at Laurieton United Services Club on Tuesday 27 April.  It is a story not only of survival but triumph over the odds. While it was far from plain sailing with many falls by the wayside, Bill was eventually rehabilitated from a life of crime and violence, to become the first ordained Aboriginal minister of religion in Sydney.

His book “Back on the Block” about his long road to success is an inspiring record of one man’s experiences fighting injustice and cruelty on behalf of his people.

Tickets to Bill Simon’s Reconciliation Lunch are available via our order form, or by filling in our order form and faxing or posting it to us using the details on the form.

Bookings close on 23 April, tickets are $28 and include lunch.

Enquiries to Alvena Ferguson 65596874 or chmf@tsn.cc.

Alvena Ferguson, Festival Director
Ph 65596874/Mob 0401608240

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1 March 2010 LAURIETON LANTERN PARADE

Working away quietly in the Camden Haven are community groups making huge lanterns to take part in the inaugural Laurieton Lantern Parade, a feature of the upcoming 2010 Camden Haven Music Festival.

With a grant from Festivals Australia, four lantern makers lead by master artist Claude Teyssier are teaching children and adults how to fashion bamboo into a range of marine and land animal shapes, cover them with muslin and paper, and then paint them.  The results are a range of images, including a dragon, swordfish, whale, dolphins, jellyfish, and the NSW state emblem – a waratah.

Twenty local vessels from fishing punts to motor boats will carry the lanterns up the Camden Haven River on Saturday evening 1 May, in the culmination of months of creative planning and design.

Camden Haven Music Festival director Alvena Ferguson has praised the lantern making groups, saying they were absorbed and dedicated to the task, and that a great opportunity for community organisations to work together on a common goal was realised. “Local boaties have also been wonderfully supportive, agreeing to use their boats as lantern-carriers” she added.  “At the Festival Finale to be held at Bago Vineyards Wauchope, the large lanterns will be auctioned to the highest bidders.  Small lanterns made by school children during the January holidays will be used to decorate the Seymour Street Marina at Laurieton on the night of the Parade, after which the makers of these lanterns will be allowed to take them home” Alvena said.

The 15th Camden Haven Music Festival kicks off on 23 April and runs until 2 May. Tickets will go on sale from mid-March and the program can be viewed from the link on the left. Enquiries to Alvena Ferguson on 6559 6874 or email chmf@tsn.cc

Alvena Ferguson
Festival Director
65596874 or 0401 608 240
Email chmf@tsn.cc

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9 November 2009

Award Winning Pianists to Feature in Music Festival

The 15th Camden Haven Music Festival next year will feature recitals by two young and exciting pianists as part of the Festival’s classical music component.

Winner of the Sydney International Piano Competition Konstantin Shamray has been invited to perform at Kendall School of Arts Hall on Sunday 25 April in an afternoon concert. Konstantin walked away with a bagful of prizes at the 2008 SIPC including overall First Prize, People’s Choice Prize, Best Performance of a Mozart Concerto, Best Performance of a work by Beethoven, Best Performance of a work by Mozart (excepting Concertos) as well as the ABC Classics and Naxos Recording Prizes. This year Konstantin has been in Australia on a national tour with the Australian String Quartet, another of the prizes he won at the Competition.

“The Sydney International Piano Competition is held every four years and is recognised as one of the world’s most important competitions for pianists” explained Alvena Ferguson, Music Festival director. “It is something of a coup to be invited by SIPC to host a recital by its most recent winner, and confirms the Camden Haven Music Festival’s place as one of Australia’s most respected regional music events.”

Seventeen year old Max Foster, the ABC Symphony Australia Young Performer of the Year in 2008 has also been invited by the Music Festival to bring his exhuberant piano style to the 2010 Festival. At the Award Finals Max played to a capacity crowd at the Victorian Arts Centre last year. He received a $20,000 cash prize, the Sir Charles Moses Trophy and concert engagements with major Australian symphony orchestras, as well as his own recital in the Sydney Opera House's Utzon Room. He was also presented with the 2008 David Paul Landa Scholarship.

The ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards is an annual competition which encourages the talent and ambitions of Australia's young musicians. Inaugurated in 1944 the Awards have provided opportunities for an extraordinary number of our finest classical performers, including many past performers at Camden Haven Music Festival.

The 15th Festival will run from 23 April to 2 May inclusive. The full program will be posted on the website once all performers have been confirmed. Enquiries to Alvena Ferguson on 6559 6874 or email chmf@tsn.cc, or check the website www.chmf.org.au.

Alvena Ferguson Festival Director
Ph 6559 6874; Email chmf@tsn.cc

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18 July 2009

LAURIETON LANTERN PARADE

Festivals Australia has granted funding of $15,000 to Camden Haven Music Festival Inc to hold a Lantern Parade on the Camden Haven River at Laurieton as part of its 15th Festival celebrations in 2010. “We will soon be inviting community groups, schools and individuals to participate in workshops to be held early next year, which will design and manufacture a series of lanterns depicting the importance of the environment generally and our River especially” explained Festival Director Alvena Ferguson. “This is a large project which we anticipate will bring all sectors of the community together in a celebration of where we live, our beautiful environment and the importance of protecting our natural assets” she added.

Camden Haven Music Festival commenced in 1996 and has been held annually to “celebrate the spirit of music” in venues across the Hastings, providing a wide range of music styles performed by well-known Australian musicians. “Our 15th Festival is an important event for the community, and we wished to mark it with a special project which will attract visitors to the area and hopefully provide a much-needed economic boost” Mrs Ferguson said.

To guide the 2010 Music Festival, the organisation has recently held its annual general meeting at which some new faces joined its Management Committee. Joy Walker steps up from the committee to the position of president, with new members Kim Madden (Bonny Hills), professional musician Adam Bishop (Kew), former ABC Classic FM producer and presenter Jaro Kovaricek (Dunbogan) and music buff and long-time Festival sponsor Gavin Rippon (Laurieton) adding their substantial expertise and dedication. Joan Newton retains the position of vice-president, while Ian Ferguson and Alvena Ferguson remain as treasurer and secretary respectively.

Next year’s Camden Haven Music Festival is planned to commence on 23 April and run for 10 days until 2 May. A special music program is already well advanced in planning, with some exciting new and favourite repeat performances likely to be part of the celebrations. Enquiries are welcome to Alvena Ferguson on 6559 6874 or email chmf@tsn.cc.

Alvena Ferguson Festival Director
Ph 6559 6874; Email chmf@tsn.cc

2010 Management Committee for Camden Haven Music Festival

(l to r) Kim Madden, Joan Newton, Alvena Ferguson, Jaro Kovaricek, Adam Bishop, Ian Ferguson, Joy Walker, Gavin Rippon (absent)