Music for a Summer evening came to St. Sampson's, South Hill on 24th May thanks to the extraordinary generosity of a St. Sampson's Unlocked sponsor. Over 50 people filled the church to hear Cardiff-based string players, the Aderyn Quartet.Subtle coloured lighting and exquisite flowers enhanced the ancient setting and the CRUX team provided a generous supply of wine and canapes.The Programme, introduced by cellist Sion Dawson, started with Handel, an arrangement of an aria from Xerxes and moved on through the Baroque repertoire to Corelli, Pachebel and Vivaldi with the well-known "Four Seasons".The Aderyn's selection ranged widely including contemporary pieces by Max Richter and Carl Jenkins and a selection from the popular Bridgerton TV series. In a final flourish the Quartet gave us a traditional Welsh folk tune and a stirring gypsy dance.The overall musical spirit resulted in a very special evening for the delighted audience, which raised through donations over £470 for the St. Sampson's Unlocked campaign.
'Inspirations' was a very well-chosen title for a really original 'artsevening' at St Sampson's on 27th April. The chief organising spiritbehind it was a well-known member of our congregation, Jane Newberry,who drew together a foursome of people with varied talents and greatenthusiasm for their respective forms of creative art.Anthea Lay is a much-prized member of our congregation and localcommunities who became nationally known a few years ago through herinvolvement in BBC TV's 'Big Painting Challenge' - and many of uslocally have lived very happily for a long time with her lyricallandscapes, riverscapes, seascapes and skyscapes, executed inoil-paints. Anthea gave four truly illuminating short talks (illustratedby several examples of her work) about her development as a creativeperson.Jane, the literary member of the team, who has published several booksof poetry for children, likewise gave us four contributions, combiningreadings of well-known favourites (such as 'The Lion & Albert',Masefield's 'Sea Fever' and Shakespeare's 'The Tempest') with pieces ofher own composition. She focussed on the great variety of poeticwriting, including magic and dream worlds, children's fantasy - alsoreflections of people, places, holidays, and the 'bigger picture',involving history, emotion, and the infinite possibilities of life.The other two members of our quartet were a distinguishedorganist/pianist David Davies (who currently plays at Buckfast Abbey andExeter Cathedral) and his wife Rebecca, a physician at Exeter Hospitalwith a varied musical training who sings soprano with the St Peter'sSingers of Exeter Cathedral. David and Rebecca gave us together abrilliantly lyrical performance ('like wine and halva') of EricWhitacre's 'This Marriage', as a reflection with deep gratitude on thegreat joy they have found in their own marriage relationship. David alsogave us a dazzling piano performance of Debussy's 'La Danse de Puck'(which he takes be 'a fusion of the Bard and the world of FrenchImpressionism'. David also brought the programme to a magnificent close'on the shoulders of giants', migrating to the organ stool for a dynamicperformance of Buxtehude's Toccata in F, which he linked to the feelingsconnected with the deep emotion evoked by the destruction of war and thereconstruction which follows - in his phrase, 'Inspiration - Coventryand Dresden'.The evening was enriched by wine and refreshments, and inspired reallyenthusiastic appreciation.Our grateful thanks to the inspirer, the contributors, and everyone whohelped with the hospitality.Nigel Cooper
