Celebrate Lipatti's centenary in 2017

Dear friend As Christmas approaches, it seems a good moment to update you on our campaign to save the Lipatti family house at 12 Boulevard Lascar Catargiu. The house remains under official surveillance, pending the result of complicated litigation about its ownership. While this lawsuit runs its course, several parties have identified themselves as potentially interested in helping sponsor, or find sponsors, for the project of restoring the property, and eventually turning it into a museum. Although nothing is ever certain (and certainly not in Romania), I feel Lipatti followers can end 2016 in an optimistic frame of mind. If you are given a new diary for Christmas, I have a handful of dates you may wish to add. (Please let me know of any others you discover.) - London, 2 February 2017 - concert at the Romanian Cultural Institute, London SW1, including Lipatti’s Sonatina for violin and piano - March 2017 - Lipatti is Composer of the Month in BBC Music magazine, with recordings and performances of his compositions on BBC Radio 3 - Geneva, 22 March 2017 - Lipatti Centenary Concert at the Victoria Hall, featuring Nelson Freire playing the Schumann concerto - London, 28 November 2017 - Lipatti Centenary Concert at the Cadogan Hall, featuring Alexandra Dariescu playing the Grieg Concerto. I also managed to persuade BBC Radio 4 to record a programme about Lipatti for its ‘Great Lives’ series, which gave me the opportunity to champion our musical hero, and talk about the project to save the house. The programme will be broadcast on Tuesday 20 December 2016 at 4.30pm, with special guest Alexandra Dariescu, who plays an excerpt from Lipatti’s Sonatina for left hand. After the broadcast, you will be able to listen to the programme here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08587nx. I would like once again to thank you most warmly for signing our petition, which played such a significant part in this campaign, and to wish Lipatti admirers all over the world a richly fulfilling 2017, in celebration of the centenary of this great man’s birth. Orlando Murrin orlando.murrin@gmail.com