Paxos Festival Trust

The 2011 Autumn Festival

The 2011 Anniversary Brochure (25-page PDF file, 5MB)

The 2011 Festival in early September became a truly festive occasion, marking the 25th anniversary of the Trust's conception with that first concert in John Gough’s garden in Paxos.

Lara Dodds-Eden as Artistic Director brought together four string players, soprano and her own piano playing to present three concerts of some of John’s favourites including Schubert’s Trout Quintet, Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik in its original scoring and Haydn’s Sunrise Quartet, coupled with a range of music celebrating nature and myths, and the joy of music making in a wonderful island setting.


Performers at the 2011 Paxos Autumn Festival

The Trust commissioned a new work from Michail Palaiologou with lyrics based on the island’s images for piano quintet and tenor. The Amethyst guitar duo joined John Bacon for the fourth concert, presenting a wide range of music to appeal to the island’s guitarists.

The special collaboration between the Trust, the Cultural Association and the Municipality developed a week of music workshops led by Natasha Zielazinski with Michail and the other concert musicians and teachers, to guide 40 young children to conceive, compose and perform their imaginary journey to Africa before a packed local audience.

The Festival had begun with a party to bring together many of those involved over the years in celebration of John Gough’s legacy, and included the unveiling of a portrait of John by Kalia Kouvia commissioned by the Mayor, and the exuberant playing of Variations on Happy Birthday.

The Trust’s Chairman produced "Paxos Music Festivals....the First 25 Years" with photos and contributions from many past participants and helpers. Download a copy (25-page PDF file, 5MB).

The festival was possible in this difficult economic climate through the attitude of the players, the collaborative efforts on the island, the enthusiasm of the audiences and the support of our funders, and in particular the donation from the Thames Wharf Charity.

The success of this year has enabled the Trust to be well advanced with detailed plans for September 2012, again under the musical direction of Lara Dodds-Eden, and Natasha Zielazinski for the community programme. We also anticipate a concert in Corfu in conjunction with the Philharmonia during the Festival.

Nicholas Thompson (Chairman)