Half the year gone, but a very fruitful and happy time for us.  We have just returned from a ten recital tour of Japan and what a wonderful time it was.  The Japanese audiences remain so loyal and appreciative and David is always so touched by the huge amount of flowers, gifts and lovely letters.  He seems to reach very much into the hearts of the people.  The other exciting thing about the Japanese recitals is the number of young people who attend.

This year, we went up to Sapporo, on the north island of Japan and it was so beautiful.  The Winter Olympics of 1972 were held there.  High mounts surround the town and the scenery was lovely.

Whilst in Japan we met up with Diane Schuur, the blind jazz singer from California.  We had met her during the time of the Academy Awards in 1997, so were delighted to find she was performing in Tokyo.  We went to her concert, and what a great performer she is and such a fun person.  It was a highlight for us.

We are back in our paradise, though briefly.  We are definitely touring England and Scotland this year.  We start in Bradford on the 10th of October and will be in the UK until the 2nd of November.  David will be performing in Aberdeen and Edinburgh.  We have never been north of Edinburgh, so to go by train to Aberdeen will give us the chance to see the Scottish scenery...  We will then go to Switzerland in November and Munich.

David hopes to release a new CD before the end of the year.  It will contain the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 and also the Rachmaninov Variations on a Theme of Paganini.

We will return to Japan in June/July 2001 and are keeping our fingers crossed that a tour of the United States will work out for 2002.  We certainly have to plan well ahead.

Tour details for the United Kingdom will be listed very soon under our tour schedule.

We love receiving e-mails from all around the world.  What a wonderful way to communicate--so much easier than putting pen to paper and finding a post box!

With our warmest greetings to all our web page readers!
 
 

                                          ------David and Gillian Helfgott