Las Cruces Friends of Chamber Music
“Musically Speaking”, 06/18/07
Hello, Friends!
What an eventful 2½ weeks this has been for our organization!
On June 1st John Pleasant, Joseph Sylvan and I, co-founders of Las Cruces Friends of Chamber Music, were honored at the Dona Ana Arts Council’s annual Awards Gala with their Community Arts Award. This award distinguishes individuals, who, “by possessing the highest standards of motivation and service and by their example have made a significant impact on the cultural fabric of our community”. How marvelous to have our peers in the cultural community bestow such an honor on us; and this after just a single year as an organization! We, along with the other recipients of DAAC awards, were “wined and dined” at an elegant evening filled with wonderful food, stimulating company, and heartwarming recognition of our accomplishments!
Then last week we enjoyed sharing the spectacular St. Petersburg String Quartet with our community! Because of the group’s fabulous reputation, we had extremely high expectations, but I can honestly say they exceeded even our highest hopes! The music was absolutely breathtaking! I’ve struggled all week with trying to find the right words to convey to you just how incredible the performance was, but find that I must bow to the concise comment made to me by an audience member: “The sheer emotion of their playing defies speech!” I simply couldn’t agree more! We were quite thrilled to have a sizable and very appreciative audience in attendance.
I also had the privilege of spending some free time with the members of the Quartet and found them to be delightful. Alla, Alla, Boris and Leonid have already written to me to say how much they enjoyed being with us: “We hope to come to Las Cruces many many times and to give its people as much music as we can. We are under incredible impression of being there and having a wonderful time.” We, too, hope this will be the beginning of a long and fruitful friendship! One gentleman, who has been active musically in Las Cruces for more than 50 years, told us it was the very best performance he had ever heard in our city!
The “From Russia with Love” concert was underwritten, in part, through the generosity of Bank of America, the Dona Ana Arts Council, Exit Realty, and Hotel Encanto. We are most grateful for these fine businesses and for their willingness to support us in this way. We are hopeful that future projects will warrant the assistance of these and other businesses and individuals in our community.
I would be remiss if I failed to mention those friends who have gone out of their way to help us get the word out about the St. Petersburg Quartet concert. We appreciate all of you who passed info on to family and friends about the upcoming concert. We are grateful, too, for the folks at White’s Music Box who helped by selling tickets and to Joel Courtney at the Las Cruces Bulletin. Last, but certainly not least, we are indebted to our friends at KRWG-FM who helped spread the word in a variety of ways. You’re the greatest, Carrie and Leora!
Keep and eye on our web-site for a link to Leora Zeitlan’s interview with the St. Petersburg Quartet recorded earlier on the day of their performance. Watch, too, for info about up-coming events at
www.lascrucesfriendsofchambermusic.org. 7nbsp; Of course, I’ll send you details as dates and programs are finalized.
Musically yours,
Barbara Toth
P.S. One of the next things on the agenda is to coordinate a Fund-raiser for late Summer or early Fall. I have lots of terrific ideas, but will need some help to pull it off really well. Please respond to this E-mail if you would be willing to help in any way, large or small. It’s a really practical way you can show your support for Las Cruces Friends of Chamber Music.
