eNotes :: Musical Holiday Gifts!

December 2020 eNotes

Dear Friend,

As 2020 comes to a close—clearly, a year like no other—we at the Auburn Symphony are filled with optimism, hope, and a passion for bringing music to our community that does not wane. Our partnership with you, our loyal supporters and members of the Symphony Family, has been the backbone of the year and our strength to surviving precarious times. Thank you. We are all craving a bit of tradition, so I’ll frame this month’s news as a visit from Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

Our first stop is Christmas Past! Over the last few months, we have sent you virtual gifts of music. Get ready for the next one! We have saved our most extraordinary look at the Auburn Symphony’s past to be delivered to your inbox later this month. Our gift to you--in thanks for everything--is a new hour-long documentary titled Auburn Symphony: Scaling the Heights! It will debut just in time for Christmas and you can watch it free online, from the comfort and safety of your own home. It is a true labor of love from Maestro Peter Jaffe, members of the Auburn Symphony Orchestra, staff, and community partners, and chronicles the continued growth of our beloved orchestra on its 30-plus year journey. The title harkens back to our fabulous Mother’s Day 2019 performance of An Alpine Symphony on the Mondavi Center stage, and is a (SPOILER ALERT) highlight of our film.

New! Special Limited-Edition CD

Autographed by Maestro Jaffe

Adding to our cornucopia of musical riches this month, we are offering a limited-release CD of our 2019 Mondavi performance of An Alpine Symphony, by Richard Strauss, including full program notes by Jane Vial Jaffe. These are wonderful holiday gifts, so purchase yours while they last! Thanks to Victor & Jeanne Pietrzak for bringing this project to life.

Order your CD Today!

Coming into Christmas Present, we have lots going on right now even though our traditional Messiah performance is on hold 'til next year. (If you need a Messiah “fix” this year, check out the Oratorio Society of New York. For the climactic “Hallelujah” chorus, Society members will join in remotely. Livestream on December 21st at 8 p.m., on demand through January 10 at osny.org.) Our “Musicians Play at Home” YouTube playlist continues to show you how our orchestra members are faring. The latest addition from first violin Michelle Martin and her husband Steven on the mandolin playing “Lean on Me” includes a heartwarming thank you to the Auburn community. Our Education and Outreach team is busily working on curriculum-based virtual tools that will be packaged and distributed to Placer County preschools and elementary classes during the spring. The projects carry out our mission of music education, and we’re hearing wonderful words of gratitude and excited anticipation from local teachers. More on this in the coming months.

Another silver lining of our present reality has us keenly bolstering relationships with our arts partners in the region. We recently had occasion to share some of our CDs with Keith Porter of radio KVMR (89.5 FM) serving Sierra Foothills communities. Keith’s show is “Classics Declassified", and on the December 13th show at 5 p.m. he’ll be celebrating Beethoven’s 250^th birthday and airing the finale of the Auburn Symphony’s performance of the Ninth Symphony from April 29, 2007, with conductor Michael Goodwin! (We have CDs for sale if you need more stocking stuffers!)

It is no surprise that we think our Christmas Future looks bright for the Auburn Symphony. Our search for a new Music Director will play out as soon as it’s safe to gather for our Finalists Showcase Series. In the meantime, our three finalists have created delightful videos to tell us a little bit about themselves and the music they have chosen for their programs!

Click here to watch!

Of course, our future also lies with our children, so please help us pass the word along that the 2021 Young Artists Competition applications are now being accepted and due by 2 p.m. on January 7, 2021.

Until our January eNotes ushers in the news of 2021 (and the continuation of our enlightening Board Member Spotlight series), thanks again for coming along this journey with us this past year. If your heart is moved to make a year-end gift to the Auburn Symphony, we can help make that happen here:

Join our Circle of Friends!

Join us as the year winds down by enjoying a virtual gift from guest artist and special Auburn Symphony friend Jeffrey Tobin. Jeffrey entertained us with his theremin at our “Symphony in Space” Masterworks pops concert in 2019.