Las Cruces Friends of Chamber Music
“Musically Speaking”, 05/25/07
Hello, Friends!
Well, here it is Memorial Day week-end, the official “start” of Summer for
many. And it’s now just over 2 weeks until our guests, the St. Petersburg
String Quartet are in town! Ticket sales are off to a very good start, and we expect them to move more quickly now that our press releases are starting to come out. Just a reminder, “From Russia with Love” is set for 7:30 on Tuesday evening, June 12, at the beautiful Rio Grande Theatre. (Check them out at
www.stpetersburgquartet.com ). The quartet has a fabulous program planned: Borodin’s Quartet # 2, in D major, with its beloved Nocturne; two movements from the intense Quartet #8 in c minor by Shostakovich; and concluding with the “blockbuster” Quartet in F major (“American”) by Dvorák. Tickets are $20.00 each, and can be purchased at White’s Music Box or by contacting me. Please do help us continue to get the word out by passing this info on to others who might find it of interest, and be sure to get your own tickets before it’s too late!
Perhaps you read in this morning’s paper that John Pleasant, Joseph Sylvan, and I are to receive the Dona Aña Arts Council’s Community Arts Award. We are so pleased to be the recipients of this wonderful honor! Should you wish to celebrate with us at the Arts Council’s Awards Gala, you may make reservations by calling DAAC’s office, 523-6403,no later than May 31. Tickets for the evening are $40 per person, $75 per couple, which includes an elegant dinner and dancing until midnight. Of course, the guys and I would be enormously pleased to see some of our special friends there! We enjoyed a lovely visit this afternoon with some of the others who will receive awards this year, and are sincerely flattered to be in such august company!
Here are the newest dates for Every-Other-Tuesday at the Rio Grande performances: July 17, August 14 and October 23. I’ll update you about specific program as each date approaches. We are in the process of finalizing the date for the concert of 20th century music which will coincide with this Fall’s Las Cruces Museum of Art exhibit, “Dali Illustrates Dante’s Divine Comedy”. In addition, we will provide a 3-part lecture/recital series at the museum to complement the exhibit. We are thrilled to be partnering with the Las Cruces Museum Foundation in this endeavor, which we trust will be the first of many such collaborations!
I’ll close for now and in closing, I’ll tantalize you with this quote from the Washington Post about the St. Petersburg Quartet: “An impassioned
performance . . . unassailable technique and intonation . . . an astonishingly calibrated range of voicings and dynamics . . . luscious tonal blend and phrasing that surged with ardor . . . breathtaking assurance and laugh-out-loud wit!”
Hope to see you there!
Musically yours,
Barbara Toth
