We did justice to the late Suzi Gold with this Memorial Workshop. Our Kindergarden pupils justified Suzi’s insistence (back some twelve years ago) that we should incorporate such young classes into our BBCM work.

We also did justice to Bartók and Kodály, whose educational philosophy we try to follow. Kodály said that ‘if two fourteen-year olds can sing a two-part Bach invention, they achieved more than if they were hitting the piano from morning to night’. We did not sing Bach inventions but we sang in two, four, eight and nine parts. We premiered nine-year old Francesca di Cecio’s excellent, short quartet (with Francesca, Scipio Zamparo, David Franklyn and Gergely Madaras), and first year undergraduate biology student Conall O’ Neill sang Sarastro’s aria (movingly) to pay homage to Suzi Gold. Our family numbers included two charming songs from Ghana – a first in our BBCM history – presented by the three children and two adults of the Karikari family. We all pulled together in music and then we celebrated with our communal feast.

Below see the Setzer/Kuzuhara BBCM family’s recollection of the event:   

This was a great event at the home of Clair and Mogador. They were incredibly generous and we can never thank them too much.

It was our fourth BBCM Suzi Gold Memorial Workshop, and we are for ever learning to appreciate it. Music lies at the heart of it: from our son’s kindergarden group to older children and adult students, all took part at different moments. The Mosquito song, Ode to Joy, Mozart’s aria, Elsie the elephant, Francesca’s premiere, and many other musical numbers come to mind attesting the variety and quality of the workshop. It embodied music so much practiced at weekends throughout the year, for instance groups of children singing in many parts, while clapping and walking in circle. There were also the family numbers, and musical instruments - piano, violins, and flute – also participating.

However we realized that even if music is essential, there is more to it than just a sequence of songs. We have Agnes in mind: her commitment and love for music impregnates the whole event. It was a great pleasure to see children seeping from this source, for example, truly ‘singing’ and not just repeating notes. To our mind, this quality to transform music into a living language is a treat that we all shared at the workshop.

As Agnes reminded us, these gatherings were only possible thanks to Suzi Gold’s persistence. But it is also thanks to Agnes’s inspiration, passion, and musical sensibility that Suzi’s initiative lives on and bears fruits.

Probably not all children will be able to develop a talent for music as Francesca. Yet, seeing the quartet performing her own composition made us realize that all of us benefit from music in its capacity to move and inspire people.

Joana Setzer and Felipe Kuzuhara (parents of BBCM’s pupil Theo in kindergarten class + Felipe in adult group)