Las Cruces Friends of Chamber Music

“Musically Speaking”, 1/14/07

Happy New Year!

I trust that 2007 is off to a good start for all of you. We at Las Cruces Friends of Chamber Music have jumped right in and are hard at work on some wonderful musical offerings for the months ahead!

First up on our calendar are Chamber Ensemble Master Classes that we will be making available to student musicians from the local High Schools during the month of February. We are excited about the opportunity to help equip these young musicians, providing small groups of instrumentalists the chance to prepare for Solo & Ensemble Festival with a master teacher, at no charge to the students. In addition, we plan to host a recital at the end of February where ensembles will be able to perform for the public. We expect this project to be only the start of a broader outreach to students. We are already brain-storming about additional classes and training sessions, and even a possible scholarship fund which would allow promising young people to attend a national or international chamber music workshop. Young musicians represent the musical future of our community, and we consider them an extremely worth-while investment!

We are already on the calendar for three Every-Other-Tuesday at the Rio Grande performances. You may wish to mark your calendar for March 27, April 24 and May 22. All performances are at 5:30 PM and are open to the public free of charge. I’ll send details of each program closer to the date of the performance. In addition, we are working with performers and with the wonderful folks at St. Andrew’s to finalize exact dates and programs for a “Friday Night with Friends” series. We hope to be able to kick that off sometime in February. Again, you’ll be the first to hear when those details are available.

2007 will hold 2 really big events, which we are most enthusiastic about! On Tuesday, June 12, we will host a gala fundraiser, “From Russia with Love”, featuring the internationally-known St. Petersburg Quartet! We are absolutely thrilled to be able to bring these extraordinary musicians to Las Cruces! We are going to make it a wonderfully memorable evening of good food, stimulating conversation, and world-class music! Also, in a joint project with Las Cruces Museum of Art, we will be presenting a full concert of 20th century music, as well as a number of smaller recitals, to coincide with an exhibit of the artwork of Salvador Dali! This should prove to be an amazing collaboration!

Just telling you about our exciting plans for this year gets my adrenalin pumping! Who could ever have dreamed we would have come so far when we decided to form Las Cruces Friends of Chamber Music last May? Of course, our ability to continue to move forward at this rate is largely dependant on support from those of you in our community who value what we are doing. We are very much in need of some extra helping hands. If you would be willing to volunteer in some capacity from time to time, please respond to this E-mail and I’ll pass your name and contact information on to our volunteer coordinator. We would also be very grateful for financial supporters. If you are able to help offset the expenses of these projects, please mail a check, made out to “Las Cruces Friends of Chamber Music” or “LCFCM” to 1230 Osage Court; Las Cruces, NM 88005. Our affiliation with Doña Ana Arts Council, a 501(c)3, not-for-profit organization, makes financial gifts to our organization tax-deductible. All gifts will be acknowledged with a letter of receipt for tax purposes. In addition, should you know of a business who might be willing to contribute financially to the work we are doing, please let me know and I will arrange to get a packet of information to them.

Thank you for your continuing interest in Las Cruces Friends of Chamber Music; you demonstrate time and again that 2006 was indeed the right time, and this the right place, for us to get started!

Musically yours,
Barbara Toth