Las Cruces Friends of Chamber Music
“Musically Speaking”, 04/22/07
Hello, Friends!
I wanted you to be among the very first to know how to get tickets for our up-coming concert, “From Russia With Love”. Las Cruces Friends of Chamber Music is delighted to present the world-class St. Petersburg String Quartet on Tuesday, June 12, 2007 at the historic Rio Grande Theatre. Widely recognized as eloquent and insightful interpreters of a vast array of repertoire for the string quartet, the group has performed in 46 states and on 5 continents. They consistently receive superlative reviews: “Despite their technical perfection, they are not careful or inhibited, but vibrantly human, with a youthful exuberance and romantic passion.”[Strings Magazine] “An edge of the seat experience as the Russian quartet hurls itself headlong into the scores!” [BBC Music Magazine] “One of the most spectacularly well-knit groups in the world…...literally breathtaking!” [Miami Herald] “Simply fabulous…with their elegant style and deep emotional involvement, the St. Petersburg members burned their performance into my memory!” [Houston Chronicle] The quartet has garnered noteworthy awards from a number of prestigious competitions; among them are 1st prize at the All-Soviet Union String Quartet Competition, 1st prize and both Special Prizes at the International Chamber Music Competition in Florence, Italy and 1st prize and “Grand Prix” at the Australian International Chamber Music Competition. You can read all about them at www.stpetersburgquartet.com. Las Cruces Friends of Chamber Music is very fortunate, indeed, to be able to bring these extraordinary musicians to our community!
We feel certain that they will be performing to a sold-out house, and are suggesting that you purchase tickets well in advance. Tickets are $20.00 per seat and are available starting tomorrow morning (Monday, April 23) at White’s Music Box or by contacting the Friends of Chamber Music at 523-7714 or 571-1000. To order tickets by mail, please send your check for the total cost of the tickets ordered along with a self-addressed stamped envelope to:
Las Cruces Friends of Chamber Music
1230 Osage Court
Las Cruces, NM 88005
We are also actively seeking individuals or businesses who would help underwrite the expenses related to this concert. The greater the number of supporters who are able to help in that way, the larger the percentage of the profits from ticket sales that we can put toward future concerts, etc. Perhaps you would consider making such a gift, or know of someone you or I could approach about doing so. All financial gifts will, of course, be tax-exempt; I would be most happy to tell you more, if that’s something you’d like to consider.
Many of you are receiving this because you have asked to be on our E-mail list and have been receiving periodic notification about up-coming concerts, etc. If you are one of those people, would you be so kind as to forward this to any friends and family locally that you think would want to have advance notice about the June 12 concert? If you are one of those persons who receives this by way of a “forward”, you are not currently on our list nor do I have any way of knowing who you are. However, I would be glad to put you on our mailing list and include you in these monthly E-mail up-dates from our organization Simply respond to me at jbtoth@aol.com or submit your contact information on our website, www.lascrucesfriendsofchambermusic.org.
Coming up on Tuesday (April 24), the Friends of Chamber Music will be providing the program for Every-Other-Tuesday at the Rio Grande. The
concert is at 5:30 and open to the public at no charge. I will accompany soprano,Irene Brink, as she brings vocal selections from Debussy and some wonderful settings of selected poems from Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “Sonnets from the Portuguese”. The performance will also feature Rhonda Taylor, saxophone as well as John Pleasant and Nathaniel Berman on clarinets. We are proud to participate in this series on a regular basis, and wish to congratulate the Dona Ana Arts Council on the first anniversary of their Every-Other-Tuesday venue. By the way, tickets for the St. Petersburg Quartet will be available that evening, should you wish to secure yours at that time.
On a personal note, although it is not sponsored by the Friends of Chamber Music, I will be playing a recital on Friday evening, May 4th at 7:30 PM, to be held at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church at the corner of Alameda and Mountain. It is being presented by a wonderfully talented junior in vocal performance at NMSU,Sophi Grieb, and I want to extend a personal invitation to any of you who might wish to come. She is quite an amazing musician, and of course, I would very much enjoy seeing any of you who are able to attend.
I’ll leave you with a thought from Robert Browning: “There is no truer truth obtainable by man than comes from music.”
Musically yours,
Barbara Toth
