The Alphabet Concerts started as a 2 year project. We presented 23 concerts in 2010-2011 with composers names representing every letter of the alphabet (ok, 2 months will double-up).
The fun was finding more repertoire than we had known before, and just putting more music on the map! It stared in January, 2010, with composers whose last name (or lack of one, Anon) starts with "A".
And......everyone who came to that got a card with a lovely "A" on it. In February a "B" card.... The cards are designed by different local artists starting with Andree MacColl, Bonnie Boren......and Bonnie is also designing the "U" card. "V" was designed by Victoria Ehrlich, and "W" by Emily Roeder. "XY" was by Elly Lichenstein and David Bowes supplied the last card;"Z".
At the final concert and party, we ate alphabet soup and zwetschendatschi, drank wine from the A-Z winery, and gave prizes for the best collections of letter cards. In April, Roger and Eileen Weeks, Paul Besco and Gary Shepard were our guests for a very enjoyable lunch at Chez Panisse. VERY enjoyable!
It was all so much fun that we decided to continue the frivolity with A-Zed through the centuries. This time we are collaborating with Cinnabar Theater and we very much appreciate their support! After the September concert, all others will be held at Cinnabar Theater. We look forward to seeing you there!
Well...the backround for the a-zed concerts...
After many years of playing opera (SF) and Symphony (SF) and various other orchestra, solo and chamber music concerts, it seemed time for a substantial project that involves lots of playing, lots of friends, and searches for music that we had not known before.
Now, more than half way through, it turns out that all those things are happening and it is even more fun than we had imagined. So many wonderful musician/friends are jumping in with ideas and a willingness to play for, frankly, very little renumeration. And the audience is a gas! So great to see friends on a monthly basis!
So...more ideas are always appreciated! And thanks to all!!