a community of music since 1981 fine arts chamber players · yousef assi, french horn filip...
TRANSCRIPT
A Community of Music Since 1981
Fine Arts Chamber Players
Inside this issue:
Scholarship Fund update
2
FACP in the news
2
Upcoming Bancroft Family Concerts
3
Bancroft Family Concerts recap
3
Additional sponsors are listed
on our website,
fineartschamberplayers.org.
Fine Arts
Chamber Players
is supported in part by:
Bloomberg Philanthropies
Winter 2016
Alex McDonald named Basically Beethoven Festival Director
Fine Arts Chamber Players
announces that Dr. Alex
McDonald has been named
Festival Director for the annual
Basically Beethoven Festival
following his success as 2016
Guest Festival Director.
“We are thrilled to have
Alex on board,” said Board
President Celeste Yeager. “His
vision to make the Basically
Beethoven Festival intriguing
and entertaining for both
experienced concertgoers and
new audience members aligns
perfectly with FACP’s mission.”
McDonald added, “It is a
tremendous honor to connect
our region’s world-class artists
with our enthusiastic audience
and the timeless repertoire of
Beethoven and beyond.”
Begun in 1981, Basically
Beethoven Festival was the
inaugural program of FACP.
McDonald joins FACP Artistic
Director Rogene Russell in
providing artistic leadership for
the organization.
“If 2016 was a sample of
what Alex can produce, our
audience will be enthralled by
his fresh ideas and musical
insights,” Russell said. “Hurrah
for the future of Basically
Beethoven!”
Simplify the Season One easy way to tackle your
holiday shopping is to make a
gift to Fine Arts Chamber
Players in honor of the
people on your list. When
you make a tribute gift, we
send a holiday card on your
behalf to the honoree. Gift
amounts are kept
confidential, and donations
are fully tax-deductible.
Donations can be made
online or use the form on the
back of this newsletter.
Executive Director Rachel Assi, Festival
Director Alex McDonald, and 2016
ExxonMobil CSJP intern Carnell Simmons
Photo credit: FACP
The announcement of recent grants awarded by the Carl B. and Florence E. King Foundation
and the Fossil Foundation garnered press attention for FACP’s Music Residency program at David
W. Carter High School. Each foundation gave $15,000 to the program, spurring WFAA reporter
Demond Fernandez to visit the campus and report on FACP’s work in South Dallas. One Carter
student, pianist Kenoly Kadia, was featured as a “Class Act of the Week” on the CW33’s news
broadcast. Executive Director Rachel Assi was interviewed on WFAA’s “Midday” news program in
October to promote the season opening Bancroft Family Concert . To keep up to date on our press
coverage, visit our website at FineArtsChamberPlayers.org.
Local media covers FACP programs
Page 2
Fine Arts Chamber Players
Scholarship Fund update In June, longtime FACP supporters Don and Norma Stone made a $500,000 gift endowing a fund to benefit student musicians from DISD who have participated in FACP’s music education programs, or who have graduated from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. This endowment will provide college scholarships for the recipients to pursue degrees in music. Established at The Dallas Foundation, the fund is named in honor of Rogene Russell, the artistic director and co-founder of Fine Arts Chamber Players. Through generous gifts from
other individuals the Fund now exceeds $620,000 in scholarship money. Applications are available at DallasFoundation.org under “For Students” and are due February 3, 2017. FACP has selected a committee to review applications and award scholarship funds in early 2017. Committee members are: Don and Norma Stone; Rogene Russell; Rachel Assi, FACP executive director; Virginia Dupuy, professor of voice at Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University; Alex Kerr, Dallas Symphony Orchestra concertmaster; Lynsie Levine, The Dallas
Foundation; Gloria Stephens, former Director of Choral Activities at DISD’s Booker T. Washington HS (retired); and Karen Wiley, Dallas-based philanthropist. The Scholarship Fund is open for additional contributions. Donations to the Fund may be made online at DallasFoundation.org under “I’d like to Give to a Fund.”
FACP’s FAQs Frequently Asked Questions
Who plays for FACP?
We contract with
professional musicians in
the area. Though there is
no cost to attend, FACP
pays the artists a
competitive rate to
appear on our programs.
Wait – how does that
work? How do you pay
the musicians without
charging us admission?
Support from concert
attendees, individual
donors, corporations, and
charitable foundations
make it possible for FACP
to offer free classical
music programming.
What should I wear to
your concerts?
We encourage you to
wear whatever you’ll be
most comfortable in.
Maybe that’s your
Sunday best, maybe
that’s cargo shorts and a
t-shirt.
Darn it! Traffic was
backed up. Is there late
seating?
As long as the auditorium
is not full, we will seat
latecomers in between
pieces in the program.
There are exceptions to
this, mostly tied to if the
performers remain on
stage between pieces.
Can children attend?
Yes, please! We aim to
make classical music
concerts accessible to
ALL, and that includes
families. If your child is
getting fidgety or fussy,
you are welcome to exit
the auditorium after a
piece has concluded. If
your child is audibly
distressed, we thank you
for discreetly exiting.
Teacher Profile: Alfrelynn Roberts This is Ms. Roberts’ second year
teaching voice lessons for FACP. A
soprano, she earned a Bachelor of
Arts from Hampton University and a
Master of Music from Northwestern
University. Read the full interview
online at FineArtsChamberPlayers.org.
What do you love about teaching high schoolers? When the lightbulb goes off – when they grasp new things about their voices and hear what their voices can do.
What is a particularly memorable performance of yours? At Kalamazoo College, we were under a tornado watch and the sirens went off when I was in the middle of a song. We had to evacuate, so we took the recital to the basement.
What piece of advice would you give your 16-year-old self? At 16, I didn’t know the possibilities of what an opera
career could be, so I was hesitant about it. I’d tell her: don’t get discouraged – just keep singing. And have fun! I was too serious as a kid.
Don and Norma Stone with FACP educator
Gretchen Walz Gerard at a Dream
Collectors performance. Photo credit: FACP
2017 Preview
Page 3
A Community of Music Since 1981
January 28, Passing the Torch: Current and former DSO wind players and their protégés perform woodwind octets by Haydn and Mozart. Erin Hannigan, oboe Gregory Raden, clarinet Wilfred Roberts, bassoon Haley Hoops, french horn and their students February 25, Fragments of the Past and Present: Mozart’s bassoon and cello sonata is paired with a chamber arrangement of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 15 in A major. Ted Soluri, bassoon Nathan Olson, violin Jennifer Humphreys, cello Anastasia Markina, piano Doug Howard, percussion March 25, Brahms Trio: Come hear Brahms’ nostalgic Horn Trio in E-flat Major, op. 40. Yousef Assi, french horn Filip Fenrych, violin Zahari Metchkov, piano
April 15, The Cliburn in Concert: Erik Korngold’s dynamic Suite for Two Violins, Cello, and Piano (left hand), op. 23 is featured. Claire Huangci, piano Steven Li, violin Michael Shih, violin Allan Steele, cello
May 13, The Cézanne Quartet: The 11th annual Charles Barr Memorial Concert includes Schubert, Mozart, and Bartok pieces performed by the Cézanne Quartet, the Peak Fellowship Ensemble-in-Residence at SMU.
Our Mission Fine Arts Chamber
Players’ mission is to enrich and enhance the quality of life for North
Texas area residents, especially families and children, through free
concerts of classical music and educational
performances.
Board of Directors Celeste Yeager
President
Sally Smith Vice President
Cindy Vaughn
Treasurer
Catherine Burdette Secretary
Patricio Gallo Carolyn Hodo
Kimberly Rives Miers Stephen Perkins Donald Stone Barbara Sypult
Anne Witherspoon
Advisory Board Sue S. Bancroft Howard Hallam
Robert E. Hurtte, Jr. Larry Hutchison Lori Hutchison
Jessie Makil
Staff Rogene Russell
Founder & Artistic Director
Alex McDonald
Basically Beethoven Festival Director
Rachel Assi
Executive Director
Emily Guthrie Office Manager
Bancroft Family
Concerts recap
North Dallas High
School music
student
Susana Erazo
was presented
with a clarinet
donated by
Kathryn Lyle.
Kimberly Cole
Luevano, professor
of clarinet at UNT,
had the chance to
visit with Susana
before the Nov. 12
concert.
Photo credit: Bill Woster
Dallas harpist
Rosalie
Gilbert
brought her
lever harp for
patrons to try
playing on
Oct. 15.
Photo credit:
FACP
Haven Trio and composer Jon
Magnussen after the world
premiere of TWINGE, Nov. 12.
Photo credit: Bill Woster
A capacity crowd
eagerly filled the
Horchow Auditorium
for our first Bancroft
Family Concert of the
season, “Harps in
Harmony” on Oct. 15.
Photo credit: FACP
FINE ARTS CHAMBER PLAYERS SAMMONS CENTER FOR THE ARTS 3630 Harry Hines Blvd., Ste. 302 Dallas, TX 75219
A Community of Music Since 1981
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