I am visiting Pretoria for two weeks to help my mother re-locate to Lamenier retirement village.
So Anneke Lamont invited me to Salon Music's Brooklyn Baroque in Salon Music's new Brooklyn Theatre.
The programme was, indeed as the website said "A concert featuring highly palatable 17th century instrumental music", opened by a splendid performance by 10 year-old Landi Schaap of a Bach Piano Concerto - amazing.
But more amazing than that is the very concept of Salon Music. It is hard to beleive that they have been around for 15 years already - or maybe it is hard to believe that they haven't just always been there. How well I remember those early concerts in the Musaion, complete with "best of" opera, string quartets and all sorts of great fun classics. They filled the gap left when the State Theatre sort of gave up on classical music, and they developed an audience for themselves.
And that was what made Sunday afternoon so amazing - just seeing the relationship between the audience and the company, represented as usual by musical director Willem Vogel. The intimate nature of the new theatre makes one feel like a house guest in Willem and Daniel's living room - and one really appreciates the delicate tact with which Willem reminds us that it is actually quite in order if we don't applaud between the movements.
Thanks to the 10 year-old opening soloist the concert was attended by a number of younger patrons - and their somewhat younger parents. A new generation of Salon Music patrons are being raised.
So, well done Willem Vogel and Daniël Vos and may Salon Music grow, and the Brooklyn Theatre prosper
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