January 17th, 2012
A Happy New Year to everyone from all at Classical Partners!
As well as the Queen’s Jubilee and Olympics, 2012 is a special year for Classical Partners as we celebrate 20 years since our inception back in 1992. Since those early days we have instigated hundreds, or rather thousands, of new romances and friendships amongst music lovers.
The past twenty years have seen a massive change in people’s ideas and perceptions about love and relationships. The internet now offers endless new ways of communicating but our experience tells us that it isn’t necessarily the easiest or most successful way to meet genuine, intelligent, ‘nice’ people.
According to recent figures the number of single adults in the United Kingdom will rise to 15 million in 2012 and although the divorce rate has fallen slightly of late, the number of divorcees in the over 60s age group has increased by four per cent in the last two years.
At Classical Partners we welcome people in their 30s/40s seeking a life partner with similar background, interests and outlook, and also many people in their 50s/60s/70s who find themselves newly single through divorce or bereavement and would like to meet new like-minded folk with whom to share their enjoyment of the arts and perhaps find a new soulmate.
Last year we launched a new online dating service – www.classicalpartnersonline.co.uk which is proving very popular, however many still prefer the personal touch associated with our traditional introduction service and informal, friendly social evenings hosted by Caroline and Dan.
Upcoming social events early this year include evenings at Royal Festival Hall, Cadogan Hall and Royal Albert Hall, then later in the year our regular visits to the Proms, Opera Holland Park as well as theatre, exhibitions, drinks parties and much more. See our Events page – http://www.classicalpartners.co.uk/Events.html
Our first musical outing of the year to a packed Wigmore Hall on Sunday 15 January was hugely enjoyable, the audience seemingly mesmerised by the faultless and dynamic playing of young Polish-born string quartet Quatuor Apollon Musagète.
Wigmore Hall recital
After the recital we enjoyed a delicious Sunday lunch in the Wigmore Restaurant and people must have been getting on well as we were the last to leave!
Next weekend we’re looking forward to an evening of laughter at The Old Vic with Michael Frayn’s classic comedy Noises Off – http://www.oldvictheatre.com
Best wishes for now,
Dan and Caroline
Posted in Datng trends, Find Love, Live Music, Proms, Relationships, Safe Dating, Social events, Uncategorized, classical music, meet others, music | No Comments »
December 9th, 2011
Welcome to our final newsletter of 2011, marking the end of a very busy year for Classical Partners. Our main goal remains to bring like minded people together and help you find that special someone to share your life with.
Over the past year many members have met a new partner and interesting friends through our introductions service and social events. This week we heard of our latest success – John from the Midlands and Sarah from London who are moving to Bath together: we wish them every happiness in their new life.
During the year we have visited many leading venues for the Arts including the Royal Festival Hall, Barbican, English National Opera, Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, West End Theatre, Birmingham’s Symphony Hall, Cadogan Hall, Opera Holland Park, Hatfield House and the Wigmore Hall. As well as enjoying informal soirees in members’ homes.
Our regular monthly informal drinks on the South Bank continue to be popular with members and guests.
This year we also launched a new online service – http://www.classicalpartnersonline.co.uk to supplement our introduction service and events.
Classical Partners now offers something for everyone –
• personal introductions
• regular informal social events
• online dating service
We are looking forward to our last social outing of the year at the Royal Festival Hall this Saturday – Messiah by Candlelight – which should get us into festive mood. After the break we have lots of exciting events planned for the New Year (see http://www.classicalpartners.co.uk/Events.html) and look forward to seeing you.
Best wishes
Dan and Caroline
Posted in Datng trends, Find Love, Food, Live Music, Proms, Relationships, Safe Dating, Social events, Theatre and the Arts, Uncategorized, classical music, meet others, music | No Comments »
November 28th, 2011
Fourteen of us from Classical Partners enjoyed an all-Russian concert at the Barbican last Thursday, by the London Symphony Orchestra under their principal Russian conductor, Valery Gergiev.
After a delicious meal and couple of glasses of wine in the Barbican Lounge, we made our way down to the Stalls to enjoy this sell out concert. The programme was typical format – a rather strange modern work, Sofia Gubaidulina’s concerto for bayan accordion, sandwiched between two classics, Prokofiev’s ‘Classical’ Symphony and Tchaikovsky’s 5th Symphony.
Not everyone in our party enjoyed the Gubaidulina – in fact from the interval chat I gather only two of us did! But everyone agreed that the Tchaikovsky was thrilling, even though Gergiev’s variations in tempo can sometimes be a little bizarre, as the critics have made mention of I see in this week’s reviews:
“Gergiev’s way with Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony could not have been tauter or more darkly Russian in coloration. Most of the time he stood on the podium unimpassioned, seemingly bored. But the LSO’s superb players knew exactly what to do, facing the fate motif with fiery strength, neatly swelling and tapering phrases in the waltz, generally keeping the symphony’s neurotic display just this side of bearable” (Times)
Equally critical of the conductor – the Guardian’s critic, Ivan Hewett – “Gergiev’s performance had a bizarre mixture of impatience and sluggishness… the rare moments of genuine feeling were entirely due to the sterling players of the LSO”
Opinion often seems to be divided on Gergiev, but I’m sure everyone in the Hall last Thursday would agree that the LSO sounded magnificent. Our CP group certainly thought so and all had a thoroughly enjoyable evening, meeting new like-minded people and enjoying a memorable concert together.
We will be returning to the Barbican several times no doubt in 2012. Our next classical music outings will be at the Royal Festival Hall and Wigmore Hall. See our Events page for details – http://www.classicalpartners.co.uk/Events.html
Posted in Find Love, Food, Live Music, Relationships, Safe Dating, Social events, classical music, meet others, music | No Comments »
November 11th, 2011
Classical Partners, the No 1 Introduction Agency for people who love Music and the Arts, is delighted to announce an extension to its services.
Established in 1992, Classical Partners has enjoyed outstanding success in bringing people together using their well respected introduction service alongside a varied programme of social events.
The new online venture http://www.classicalpartnersonline.co.uk is part of Love and Friends database which has over 75,000 members of all ages and locations. But by joining Classical Partners Online you can search specifically for people with an interest in Music and the Arts.
You can sign up for Free, or take advantage of a special introductory offer of 3-months’ Full membership for less than £10 per month.
Or for information about Classical Partners introductions and events do give us a call on 01582 834334,
With best wishes
Caroline and Dan Boon
Posted in Datng trends, Find Love, Relationships, Safe Dating, Theatre and the Arts, Uncategorized, meet others, music | 1 Comment »
September 28th, 2011
The Daily Mail today reports on fraudsters who target ‘lonely hearts’ on dating websites.
Apparently as many as 200,000 people may have been persuaded last year to give money to fraudsters using false identities to pursue relationships with them. But because of the shame victims feel, fewer than 600 cases were reported.
The fraudsters, usually tied to organised crime and based outside the UK, often use pictures of models when making contact with their victims on dating sites and then act swiftly to move the ‘relationship’ away from the monitored sites to personal online services such as private email accounts to carry out the fraud. This would usually be claiming to be in need of urgent funds and asking for loans of money, or involving their victims in money laundering by asking them to accept payments in their bank accounts.
Recent research carried out by Leicester University – the first to measure the scale of this relatively new crime – found that in a YouGov poll of more than 2,000 British adults, one in every 50 knew a victim.
Of course it seems hard to imagine anyone handing over money to someone they’ve never met in person but these scammers are highly skilled in the art of manipulating vulnerable people.
Although awareness of online romance scams is increasing, millions of people in the UK remain at risk and the psychological impact experienced by victims can be considerable, even leading to suicide in some cases.
Of course there are plenty of people signed up to internet dating and social networking sites, who are genuinely seeking friendship or romance, but it can take time, a degree of nous and good luck to find the right people. Introduction agencies recommended by the Association of British Introduction Agencies (www.abia.org.uk) will have already screened members so are a much safer bet for those looking to find love or new friendships. To find out more about the sort of people you can meet through Classical Partners, see http://www.classicalpartners.co.uk/Member-profiles.html
Posted in Datng trends, Find Love, Relationships, Safe Dating, Society, Uncategorized, meet others | 1 Comment »
