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Skiing or walking in the beautiful mountains of the Swiss Alps, away from the crowds of the big cities can in itself be a soul-cleansing experience, but hearing beautiful music played in the quiet stillness of the snow is an unbeatable experience.

My family and I are very much in love with Lauenen's peaceful church and we often pondered over the idea organising a concert or even a small festival in this intimate setting. When I first discussed the idea with Joji Hattori, he immediately and very generously offered to play himself and to take over the Artistic Direction of the first concert in February 2003 that saw a magnificent interpretation of Schubert by Maria Joa Pires amongst other delights.

It proved such a success that we were in no doubt about organising a similar event in February 2004, this time with two evening concerts and an informal concert for the children. We might have thought that the first edition would steal the magic forever: we were wrong !

The third edition (2005), that started with a concert in the church of Rougemont on February 4th and in the church of Lauenen on February 5th provided for varied composer's delights: Brahms, Mendelssohn, Wolff, Beethoven, Purcell all contributed to new (re)discoveries and, we hope, much pleasure to all guests. Joji Hattori’s dedication coupled with his great friendship with pianist Maria Joao Pires met Andrienne’s enthusiasm when the idea emerged to bring the 35-strong Belgais childrens’ choir to Lauenen: two concerts as well as interpretations of Beethoven and Mozart made this summer a very special one in our history.

The fourth edition (2006), in Gruyère and Lauenen was mostly dedicated to W.A. Mozart. The public was treated to the special delight of Mozart’s String Quintet (K515) and Divertimento in E flat major but also offered a fantastic interpretation of Bach’s English suite by Piotr Anderszewski as well as Bach’s Coffee Cantate.

2007 will develop delicate interpretations of Schuman, Beethoven, Brahms and Szymanowski amongst others, by 8 internationally renowned musicians.

We are truly grateful for all Joji's endeavours in bringing together such carefully chosen musicians and we are greatly honoured to be joined by such prestigious and internationally-renowned artists.

We are thrilled that the Berner Oberland can give us the opportunity to host these concerts in such charming settings and we look forward to our association’s 5th anniversary in 2008 !

I wish to thank our sponsors Mirabaud & Cie, the Arenberg Foundation and of course our generous anonymous donors as well as Friends of the Lauenen Chamber Concerts, without whom these concerts would not be possible.

On behalf of the Lauenen Chamber Concerts Association,

Etienne d'Arenberg