As autumn begins to turn the leaves and drop temperatures, wedding events begin to trail off, but recently I performed for a wedding at an enchanting venue called ‘In the Forest’.
Imagine being on set filming a movie like Robin Hood or something along those lines, that is what this venue looks like. The ceremony was held under the trees with guest seated on hay bales. The reception was also under the tree canopy with twinkling fairly lights strung up. Oh so romantic!
In this set is a wide mix of classical miniatures, folk songs as well as a Jazz piece titles Pitlochry and The Muppets Theme Song.
Ashlea Martin (pianist) and myself have been recording the violin exam syllabus as reference material to violin students. We make a backing track of the piano accompaniment available for download and provide a quality audio and visual reference of the pieces.
https://kristelbirkholtz.bandcamp.com
ABRSM Grade 1 is just out, so please check out the following links if you are looking to learn some new pieces. The selection is lovely just great for listening.
These are two of our favourites.
As delicious coffee aromas hung thick in the air at Urban Grind Coffee Roastery in Parkhurst, a small film crew headed by passionate wildlife videographer Paul Mills, started setting up camera angles. The story for the shoot was to create a typical morning on-the-go scenario of a woman drinking a cappuccino.
The punchline of the shoot is that in the time it takes to drink a cuppa, an elephant has been shot. Paul, who directed and scripted the shoot is making the hard-hitting scene with the aim of shocking everyday people out of complacency. To preserve the future of wildlife for our children and their children’s children, it is important to act now.
It was fun to shoot the scenes drinking coffee, which is a pastime I enjoy, but to drink up for a good cause was even better.
The resident barista at the Urban Grind coffee shop has been practicing his latte […]
Cherry Pill took a detour this year and recorded an instrumental album titled Si Tu Savais. Si Tu Savais is a collection of well-loved standards that have helped shape Cherry Pill’s sound over the years, including rousing gypsy jazz inspired by Reinhardt and Grappelli, a touching rendition of Puccini’s O Mio Babbino Caro, and much more.
Kristel and Rory of Cherry Pill decided to record Si Tu Savais as a tribute to some of the composers and songs that influenced them when they first started playing together over 10 years ago, performing various styles of jazz standards as an instrumental duo at restaurants and craft markets. Their mutual love of the eclectic styles of music found on this album is what ultimately lead them to begin collaborating on writing original music together, culminating in their 2014 release, Chocolate Box. Although today their sound has evolved into something uniquely their own, much […]
The stately Northwards House in Parktown hosts regular classical concerts. The beautiful Sir Herbert Baker Home has a lovely acoustic and an inviting music room that takes one back in time. This as the backdrop for a concert I did with cellist Carel Henn a few weeks ago. Our first half repertoire consisted of a sonata for solo cello and violin and other adapted classical works for a duo format.
We had a surprise though for the second half. As not much repertoire is arranged for solo cello and violin, we decided to arrange some contemporary light songs for the duo and then to perform them on electric instruments.
The audience were delighted by the contrast and a favourite on the day was Sting’s “Fragile”
Colourful floaty dresses in silk and chiffon were on display at the Secret Room’s launch of the new summer range at Bryanston’s Riverside Shopping Centre. Each dress has been thoughtfully designed and made. The fabrics are high quality and imported.
It was a feast for the eyes to perform violin at this launch event with ladies whirling around the shop in various dress options! I have my eye on a few too. Visit them online at http://www.thesecretroom.co.za/
A special fund-raiser event that raised money for Anti-Rhino Poaching initiatives that was held at Kyalami Theatre on Track 15 October featured many talents to delight the guest. Fine artists’ work and photography was on sale. Musicians Samantha Peo, Andre Schwart, Saranti Rheerders, Kristel Birkholtz on violin in The Bubble and Rory Gaddin on guitar entertained the guests.
http://TheBubbleLive.com
The Mercedes Benz Long Service Awards was a touching event to sing and perform violin for. One particular prize-winner told this story as the highlight of his career. As part of a manufacturing plant for Mercedes Benz back in 1993, he and the other workers were excited about the upcoming release from prison of Nelson Mandela. They decided as a group to build a red Mercedes Benz for him upon his release. Without extra pay the workers added an additional hour to their working day in which to complete the car. This man has since stayed on at Mercedes Benz and worked in much higher positions. I was struck by how much a difference one’s actions can make, no matter how humble your station may be.
The lovely new range of L’Atelier de Givenchy fragrances had a very special launch in Sandton City this August. An engraver was on hand to personalise any perfume bottles or lipsticks bought at the launch. This was a wonderful touch and many customers bought gifts for friends or themselves that they could personalise. To add some ‘fragrance’ to the air, I was asked to play some mood setting violin music to entertain the customers while choosing their perfect perfume or having their names engraved.
As a violinist at a corporate dinner event, I try to keep my repertoire varied and engaging throughout the evening and as a singer-songwriter for my group Cherry Pill I try to include a few vocal numbers as well over the course of an evening to add a little something extra. So on this particular corporate dinner event on 11 August 2016 I decided to subtly slip in one of my original songs ‘The Call’ into the awards dinner line-up and was pleasantly surprised when this was the song that got the big applause.