Category: entertainment and leisure news

WEDNESDAY, 14th March ? Gypsy Jazz ? Manouche Swing
AT Thame Snooker Club, St Andrews Court,Wellington Street, Thame OX9 3WT
Don?t Miss It!! -Suite Django ? a feast of Gypsy Jazz Guitar Picking.

PAUL VERNON CHESTER ? Flying Fingers of the Magical Manouche Wizard of Walsall

Featuring :- Paul on Solo Guitar Nick Mellor on Rhythm Guitar
Paul’s Duo will be playing ?A Tribute To Django Reinhardt’s Musical Legacy” including many of Paul’s own Manouche style compositions. Do not miss this rare opportunity to witness the amazing dexterity of this Wizard of Walsall playing magically on his Manouche Guitars ? displaying the passionate attacking style of Europe?s First Jazz Musician to be fully recognised by the Americans – the Belgian Gypsy Django. Reindhart. (1910-53) His Legacy lives on with each rising generation of fans and performers!

www.jazzeddie.f2s.com ? Keep Jazz live – download a Poster to stick in your Office, Shop, Car or Home Window ? this site gets bigger and bigger ? send us an editorial contribution!!

Tickets

ON TUESDAY, March 6, John Benjamin, the Antiques Roadshow jewellery specialist, will be at the Swan at Tetsworth, near Thame
John will take the audience through 18th century jewellery in the age of the faceted stone in an illustrated talk. Contact 01844 281777 or visit www.theswan.co.uk

THAME Players’ next production is Alan Ayckbourn?s comic comment on the English Class System.
Three successive Christmas Eves, three kitchens and three couples.
This dark comedy tells the story of the advance of one little man to prosperity and the stagnation and decline of his upper middle class neighbours. Bound together in unexpected ways the three couples often find themselves in hilarious conflict and companionship in equal measure. This is Ayckbourn at his best, ascerbic, witty and very very funny.

Directed by Yvonne Maxwell, the play runs from Tuesday 6th March to Saturday 10th March, at 7.45pm, at The Players Theatre, Nelson Street, Thame. Tickets are available from Tickets Anywhere, Greyhound Walk, Thame. Telephone 0871 2227232.

The Le Page Ensemble, one of the UK?s most exciting chamber groups, will be bring their music to St Mary’s church, Thame, on January 27, at 7.30pm.
Their extensive repertoire ranges from Purcell to the music of the 21st Century. During 2006 they gave a series of acclaimed concerts centred round the music of Mozart and Bach. This concert will be the beginning of a series to feature the chamber music of Franz Schubert.

The programme will include Joseph Haydn Quartet Opus 76 No. 1. Opus 76 which is generally reckoned to be Haydn?s greatest complete set of quartets. They dazzle and amuse; they contain moments of extreme lyrical beauty and confirm Joseph Haydn as the ?Father of the String Quartet.”

Franz Schubert Quartet D. 810 ?Death and the Maiden? is one of the most profound and dramatic works written for the genre. From the unforgettable opening bars, the mood is sustained through tense rhythms, bold harmonic progressions and stormy emotion.

Also on the programme will be music by J. S. Bach

David Le Page was born on the island of Guernsey and began playing violin at the age of seven. He gained a place at the Yehudi Menuhin School at the age of eleven, studying with Margaret Norris, Maurico Fuks and Sidney Griller. In 1986 he was a finalist in the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition. After the Menuhin School he continued his studies in Switzerland with Igor Ozim, after which he returned to England to begin a career as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher.

An eclectic musician, David has performed with the Kreutzer Quartet with whom he recorded and broadcast extensively, the Tippett Quartet, the Caractacus Quartet and the Osino Piano Trio. He has performed with the theatre group the Gogmagogs both at the Edinburgh Festival and in New York, and with Jazz pianist Keith Tippett.

In 1999 David was invited to become the leader of the Stratford ?upon- Avon based Orchestra of the Swan, with whom he performs as soloist and director on a regular basis. He retains strong links with the island of Guernsey where he returns to perform and coach frequently.

Tickets

LORD Williams’s Festival Chorus will be performing the Verdi Requiem on Saturday 24th March, at 7:30pm at Thame Leisure Centre.
The choir will be accompanied by the Ealing Symphony Orchestra under Musical Director, John Gibbons, with soloists from The Royal Opera House.
Tickets:

THIS YEAR’S Thame Annual Lace Day, will be held on February 24, between 10am and 4pm.
Around 200 lace makers from all over the country will gather at St Mary’s Church, Thame, to demonstrate their skills and to buy lace-making equipment, and members of the public can watch lace-making demonstrations, listen to live organ music and take advantage of the refreshments on sale throughout the day.
The proceedings from the day will go towards the restoration of the beautiful church windows in the church that are in need of some work.

THE last Hoodwink gig ever will be an accustic night, featuring ‘Tamarind Sun’ – an Anglo-Mexican mix of heart melting melodies and gentle, ethereal acoustic pop, and Thame’s very own jolly, hairy, home-brew-swigging folk prodigy of the Radio 2 Young Folk Award Finalist fame, Wilbur.
Included in the line up on February 15th, are David Steele and Keith Jones, and Dave Bradley and Grant Wilson.
The action begins at The Barn at the Three Horseshoes, Toweresey at 9pm and will end around 11.30pm.

EMINENT musician, Robert Dean, is to conduct another of his popular choral workshops later this month.
By popular demand, Thame Choral Society is to host the event, for which Robert, the Artistic Director of the Philharmonia Chorus, will work on the Verdi Requim, a magnificent work that is very popular with amateur choirs.

Robert Dean is an eminent singer and conductor. After an international singing career he worked for Scottish Opera before becoming a freelance conductor, working with orchestras and choral groups all over the world. His workshop on Mozart’s Mass in C Minor in Thame last season was a great success and was attended by singers from Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.

The Verdi workshop is being held in St Mary’s Church in Thame on February 17, between 2pm – 6.30pm. The event is open to all and will cost

IMPRESS your Valentine with a magical, musical evening
when the Oxford Philomusica will perform music from the movies.
The Oxford Philomusica is the City?s professional symphony orchestra, resident at The University of Oxford. They are holding a special event on Valentine?s Day at the MINI Info Centre at the BMW Group Plant in Oxford. The concert is supported by BMW Group Plant Oxford and all proceeds go to the Children?s Hospital charity.

The evening will include music from the movies and a guest appearance by the Blackbird Leys Choir. Earlier this year, millions of viewers tuned into Channel 5 to catch them on the `Singing Estate?. Tickets are on sale for

An Epic & Spectacular Production!
The Towersey village production of ?Snow White and the Seven Wonders of Pantomime? will be taking place in Towersey Village Hall from 14 – 17 February 2007. Written by local resident Les Lawrence, his aim is to include every villager who wants to take part, and this year there are over 60 members of cast on stage and screen. The panto always includes spectacular Ultra Violet scenes, a filmed section, fabulous costumes and inventive sets created by village residents.

This time, Les is exploring how many times the number seven appears in our popular culture, in history and in the arts, all wrapped up in an intriguing plot that will keep you guessing. Who knows, there may even be a sighting of BBC Radio 2?s Ken Bruce!

The village of Towersey has staged its own pantomime almost every year since 1977. Towersey village hall is transformed into a theatre for the occasion.

Performances take place from Wednesday 14 ? Saturday 17 February at 7.30pm, with an additional matinee on Saturday 19 February at 2.30pm. Ticket prices vary, but start from just