CHAMPS Challenge Donation

I wanted to let all of you know that Ying Tang and Jamie Galbraith have made an incredible gesture! They have decided to match any donation, dollar for dollar, up to $1000 until April 14th. Please help us meet this wonderful opportunity. If only 50 people give $20 each then we'll have made our goal. Sounds a little to easy to be true but it is!

Together we can make a difference!

Jephta
Director of CHAMPS

FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Dear Music Lover, Our final Salon Concert of the season will bring violinist Elisabeth Kufferath and pianist Stephen Perry back from Germany to play two powerful works. Olivier Messiaen, a pianist himself, wrote his Theme &Variations as a wedding present for his wife, the violinist Claire Delbos. Messiaen's compositional style is always marked by a unique brand of coloristic and formal perfectionism. While this piece bears those characteristics, it also demonstrates a warmth and beauty that seem to have been inspired by Messiaen's love for Claire. While the violin sings glorious melodies, the piano provides a harmonic accompaniment that is rich in sonority and complexity. The language is expressive and emotionally varied. Within a span of just ten minutes, the listener is taken from a tender and melancholy theme to a rhapsodic variation, a dancing variation, a jocular variation, a breathtaking toccata, and finally an ecstatic recapitulation of the original theme. It is a remarkably compact, and completely compelling journey. Beethoven wrote his sonata for Op. 30 No. 2 in 1802, during a period in which the composer was struggling to come to terms with his quickly progressing deafness. While Beethoven's compositional abilities were in no way diminished by his condition, his emotional fortitude was severely tested. The c-minor sonata seems to have been an outlet for Beethoven's anger, frustration and fear. From the very beginning, it is overwhelmingly intense. After intermission, Robert Rudié and Douglas Harvey join Stephen for the Mendelssohn Piano Trio in C minor. In this glorious piece, it would seem as though Mendelssohn was determined to demonstrate that with just three instruments, he could achieve levels of drama and expressivity which equaled or perhaps even surpassed that of his magnificent symphonies and oratorios. This is a program you don't want to miss! Salon Concerts' intimate setting in a beautiful Austin home is the perfect venue for chamber music. Our sumptuous post-concert buffet with fine wines will make this a completely joyful experience for you. I look forward to seeing you there! Best regards, Kathryn Mishell Salon Concerts, Artistic Director

CHAMPS Kealing Quartet Donates to CHAMPS!

CHAMPS Kealing Quartet Donates to CHAMPS!

On February 15th, the Kealing Quartet performed for Immanuel Baptist Church at their Valentine's Day Banquet in Temple, TX! These students entertained their audience with a beautiful performance and received many high recommendations and congratulations from the various guests. We are very excited and gratified by reports from the church members that attended this performance! This is great publicity for our program, and a wonderful way to show off the skills of our CHAMPS students.

After the performance, the Kealing Quartet decided to donate much of their performers' honorarium to CHAMPS, and we are very greatful that they have decided that we, and this program, are worth it. Thanks Kealing! Keep up the good work!

The Kealing Quartet features:

Maddy Brotherton, violin I (8th Grade)
Priya Veeraraghavan, violin II (8th Grade)
Emma Strubb, viola (8th Grade)
Eve Galbraith, cello (7th Grade)

More information about CHAMPS can be found here.

Special Relativity, March 22-24, 2009

Special Relativity *Westwood Quartet to perform prior to main event* Sunday, March 22, @ 4:30 PM Monday, March 23, @ 7:30 PM Home of Dr. John and Gene Anne Sandbach; directions given with reservation Admission $35* To reserve tickets visit salonconcerts.org, email salonconcerts@gmail.com, or call (512) 989-0539. Please reserve by Friday, March 20th! Tuesday, March 24, @ 6:00 PM Rush Hour Concert - one-hour excerpt from program Armstrong Community Music School, 901 Barton Springs Rd. FREE; no reservation needed. Program: Olivier Messiaen: Theme and Variations for Violin and Piano Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op.30 No. 2 Felix Mendelssohn: Piano Trio in C Minor, Op. 66 Elisabeth Kufferath, violin Robert Rudié, violin Stephen Perry, piano Douglas Harvey, cello * Special Pricing for families with students, check Salon Concerts website for details.

CHAMPS Spring Fundraiser

Salon Concerts Inc.

presents:
CHAMPS Spring Fundraiser

PURPOSE: To support the Chamber Music in Public Schools (CHAMPS) program of Salon Concerts, Inc., a charitable nonprofit organization. CHAMPS provides weekly, professional hands-on chamber music coaching to about 60 middle and high school student musicians in three area districts. CHAMPS instruction is free to participating students and schools, and is funded by government contracts, foundation grants, individual donations, and net proceeds of this event.

THEME: "Heritage of Spain"

DATE AND TIME: Sunday, May 3, 2009 3:00 to 6:00 p.m.

LOCATION: A beautiful private home in Austin. Directions provided with reservation or ticket purchase.

ACTIVITIES
Wine Tasting: A group of Spanish and Latin American wines selected by a premiere local wine merchant will be available for tasting, drinking, and silent auction bidding.

Silent Auction: An array of wines, original artworks, home décor items, & gift certificates for restaurants, entertainment, personal services, and more will be offered.

Entertainment:
The versatile and exciting Javier Chaparro Latin music group, Los Romanceros, is featured. In addition, talented student ensembles of CHAMPS, the beneficiary of the event, will perform both classical and popular music. You'll be amazed and delighted at the performances of our "classical kids."
Buffet:
A sumptuous buffet catered personally by the confirmed "foodies" of the Salon Concerts board of directors, the food is always a fundraiser highlight in itself.

ADMISSION: $25 per person. Admission to this event is only by invitation. By receiving this newsletter, you are invited! Please contact Salon Concerts or register online to be added to the guest list.
Call 989-0539, e-mail salonconcerts@gmail.com, or visit salonconcerts.org.

Welcome!

Welcome to the Salon Concerts & CHAMPS Events blog! We want to keep you up to date on what we're doing here at Salon Concerts. We've had some spectacular concerts so far this year, the transition to new Artistic Director and CHAMPS Director has gone very smoothly, and our CHAMPS students have performed beautifully both at Salon Concerts and for the public in other venues. This blog, like our periodic e-blast newsletter has been created to keep you better informed so that you can either attend or get involved with Salon Concerts and CHAMPS as much as you would like. Please join us as we move forward with our mission to bring Chamber Music to Austinites in the intimate settings for which it was written!