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Monday 3 June 2013

The Quartet of Peace at Boughton House




On Saturday 27th April, Keiskamma Trust's friends and supporters, the Duke & Duchess of Buccleuch, hosted a very special concert at their home, Boughton House, in the UK. Carol & I, and other Keiskamma friends from both South Africa and the UK, were invited to attend, and it was a really wonderful and very memorable occasion, featuring both the Quartet of Peace and four special tapestries which the Art project have created to accompany the Quartet.

The Quartet of Peace is the name given to two violins, a viola and a cello made by master craftsman Brian Lisus in Cape Town in 2010, each dedicated to one of South Africa's four Nobel Peace Laureates: Albert Luthuli, Desmond Tutu, FW de Clerk and Nelson Mandela. The vision for the quartet is to promote the values of freedom, peace, reconciliation and hope promoted by these great men, using the power of music to inspire and uplift, as well as to make possible careers in music for young people who have the talent but not the means.

Now the quartet is to be complemented by four unique tapestries, designed and created here in Hamburg, which also focus on the lives of the four Peace Laureates. Carol 'unveiled' the new art works to the invited audience, and they were greatly admired, as were the other three large tapestries at Boughton which the Duke and Duchess commissioned in 2011.

The afternoon at Boughton began with a lovely lunch which was followed by a whistlestop tour of Boughton and its treasures. We then gathered in the Great Hall to hear the string ensemble (Jessica Bailey, Max Baillie, Simiso Radebe and Peter Thomas) play Mozart, Borodin and Dvorak on these exquisite instruments.

The Duke and Duchess welcomed us so warmly into their home and spoke with such pleasure about their association with both the Quartet of Peace and the Keiskamma Trust. I think we all left Boughton on that chilly but sunny spring afternoon, inspired by the vision which was captured in both the music and the art, and the magic of Boughton itself.


May the Quartet of Peace and the accompanying art works continue their journey around the globe with their message of peace and hope. 





The making of Boughton Music Tapestries