Past performers say about Eelswamp...

Eelswamp inspires the best in a musician

Playing at Eelswamp is a unique experience for a musician. Everything mixes really well together to make the stay unforgettable:

Gregory, the owner, is an excellent musician with good taste and smart understanding of the music he wants to hear. He's also a very friendly host, generous and available, "there for us". His wife, Tuk, is as friendly, and above all an excellent cook.

The place itself is incredible. The acoustics of the hall are perfect, the Steinway very good, the audience is attentive and enthusiast. All of them are sincere music lovers.

I had the chance to meet you, Gregory, and would like to thank you very much for what you are doing for Music.

Dimitri Papadopoulos 

Lyon, France

Gregory’s concert venue, Eelswamp, appeals, first of all, by its amazing, intimate atmosphere. Performing there is like making music in 'old times'. It reminds me of a refined French salon of the19th century which used to gather an intelligent and elegant audience - people who were really interested in good music, and interested not just to enjoy the music itself, but also keen to discuss their impressions with other guests and the performer, to get the unique experience and to reveal and understand the deepness of the true music.

Eelswamp is located in a stunningly beautiful place, a feast for the ears and eyes. The acoustics of the salon are great and the Steinway piano is very responsive to proper treatment. It produces a deep and beautiful sound. Gregory is always concerned about the quality of performers and the quality of the performer’s repertoire, so the audience can be sure to get the highest possible pleasure from the music. After the concert you can enjoy the delicious buffet outdoors, have a glass of wine watching the sunset and replaying in your mind the wonderful music you just listened to.

Andrey Gugnin

Moscow

It was a great pleasure to have been able to enjoy performing with such a good audience at Eelswamp. The environment was very nice. I wish everyone to be happy with music and heartwarming cuisine also in the future. And i’m looking forward to seeing you someday again!

Maria Satomi

Japan

For me, chamber music belongs to a chamber, not a concert hall. Most of the great composers like Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Mendelssohn performed their chamber music works with their friends for a small audience. Eelswamp is the perfect venue for chamber music, with wonderful acoustics and cosy atmosphere. Pattaya is very lucky to have a musical/management figure like Mr.Barton. I would also say that the food and beverage during intermission at Eelswamp is first class. Thanks to Mrs.Barton too!

Tasana Nagavajara,
Bangkok

Playing at Eelswamp was an unforgettable experience: as a musician, everything is there to put us in the condition of performing. The audience knows a lot about music but more important, love it and we can feel it very strongly. The acoustics are amazing, and very warm; for a string player it is the best, you feel very comfortable. After the recital, or sometimes during the "entracte", you can eat some wonderful "amuse-bouche" and amazing food! There is no more effort, it just make you want to give your best and share your art.

Alexandre Vay
Munich

It was a great experience for me to perform at Eelswamp in April, 2014. The venue is equipped with a beautiful Steinway grand piano and was highly artistic with fine acoustics. The local audience, including some children, was very friendly and seemed very keen on classical music. In an at-home atmosphere, I felt a good connection with the audience as I was playing. Eelswamp is a perfect place to enjoy a piano recital and chamber music. Big congratulations and thanks to Gregory Barton for providing such a wonderful concert venue in Pattaya for classical music lovers and musicians.

Eri Nakagawa

Thailand

I would like to give a great thank you to Mr. Gregory Barton for his wonderful concert hall, Eelswamp, in Pattaya. The atmosphere and the acoustics of the hall are more than perfect. These allowed me a sincere communication with the audience through my performance. The Hamburg Steinway is very well taken care of and is in excellent condition. I had a wonderful experience performing here, one that will be remembered again and again. Thank you Mr. Gregory Barton again for his hard work and his hospitality!

Suvida Neramit-aram

Texas

One of the Krechkovsky/Loucks Duo's highlights from their recent 2014 tour of Asia was a recital at Gregory Barton's intimate concert venue, Eelswamp. The audience was receptive and warm while the host himself added a great deal of insight into the program that we presented. The salon provided an ideal atmosphere to experience chamber music up close, and we thoroughly enjoyed meeting and speaking with audience members at a lovely dinner reception afterwards. We'll certainly be back next season!

Kevin Kwan Loucks

California

Performing and staying at Eelswamp is unforgettable experience. It is a beautiful place. Here you can wonderfully combine different things: playing great music in a very nice salon-like room with a great Steinway in front of an enthusiastic audience; enjoying sumptuous tropical nature of surrounding landscape which helps you perfectly to relax, to rest (away from the big cities) and stimulates and inspires you for music.

The chamber music salon of Eelswamp and its intimate atmosphere in concerts allow you to be perhaps more trustful with the audience – to be more experimental and inventive in terms of playing totally different kinds of programs in front of your listeners. Here one can be bold enough to perform not only well known music and brilliant virtuoso pieces but also other great works which you sometimes wouldn’t prefer to play in a big concert hall. A storm of applause from the warm Eelswamp public can be a good reward for all your efforts to deliver personal ideas and your own musical interpretation to the audience's ears. 

The hosts Mr Barton and his wife are wonderful and very hospitable people. You can share and discuss your musical thoughts with Gregory as if with a real music specialist after the concert you’ve just played or while listening with him to any great music recording with a glass of wine enjoying Eelswamp at night. 

It is also fair to mention that Mrs Barton’s delicious food and outdoor “concert buffet” is beyond any expectations and one of the best I’ve ever tried. 

Thanks, Eelswamp, for the special union of music and nature. Thank you,

Mr Barton, for the opportunity to be the part of this union for a while!

Sergey Sobolev

Moscow

Eelswamp is always a unique experience. Indian classical music is supposed to be performed in intimate spaces where there's ultimate communion between artist and audience. Eelswamp is idyllic and intimate. So there, communion is three-way and nature is a participant. Its a delight to go back and perform there and I am really thankful to Gregory for making it happen.

Purbayan Chatterjee
Mumbai