Quarter notes

FASO’S Quarterly Newsletter Published by and for Friends of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra

DECEMBER 2013

From the President

Greetings FASO Members:

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and are looking forward to the holidays! As those of you who attended the Concert of Tastes on Nov. 3 know, it was a lovely event. We all enjoyed the new venue at the DoubleTree Hotel, the fabulous food, open bar, and the music of the Chesapeake Greys. Personally I think the restaurants outdid themselves this year and presented a variety of delicious foods. No place for a diet there! Instead of a silent auction this year, we tried an Artisans Gallery with varied offerings of artwork, jewelry, pottery, and much more. A HUGE thanks go to all the vendors and volunteers who made this such a nice event. And here’s the good news. On Dec. 3, FASO presented a check for $10,000 to the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, essentially the proceeds from the COT. Jeth Mill, the ASO’s new executive director came to the FASO board meeting and was delighted to receive the check. Just a couple more comments about the Concert of Tastes: We continue to benefit from the generosity of Donald MacMurray, owner of Port Tack Ltd., who has provided the open bar for FASO events for so many years. I hope you will stop by Port Tack when stocking up on your spirits, 1264 Bay Dale Drive, Arnold. We hope to see many of you at the ASO Holiday Pops concert on Dec. 20. You may want to drop your coats off at the FASO coat check room (in the Box Office). Any tips we earn that night go directly to the ASO. And a friendly reminder: If you have not yet paid your FASO membership dues for the current season, now is a good time to renew. FASO exists because we care so much about the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra and helping it achieve new heights. It is very rewarding and fun to get involved. Enough said, we do appreciate your support.

---Paula Abernethy, president

IMAGES FROM THE CONCERT OF TASTES

Hundreds of people filled the ballroom at the DoubleTree Hotel on Nov. 3 for our Golden Anniversary Concert of Tastes. More than 20 restaurants signed up to bring free tastings of their specialties. An open bar kept the drinks flowing. The Chesapeake Greys played Big Band music and, on the hotel concourse, 16 artisans sold their locally hand-created wares, perfect for holiday gift-giving. And don’t forget the Golden Chance Raffle, a new event, sort of a cross between a silent auction and a drawing, that proved very popular. The top photo shows a small corner of the event. Above left, ASO maestro José-Luis Novo, chats with Julie and Charles Grudzinskas. Above right, Bill and Connie Scott enjoy the bounty.

--Photos by David Spikes

Meet the Musician Not long ago, the ASO was in search of a new principal

trumpet player. More than 30 trumpeters showed up for the audition -- 30! -- which gives you some idea of the regard in which the ASO is held by professional musicians around here. They all want to join. The winner of the position was Chris Sala, who moved up from second trumpet, and who also plays trumpet in the U.S. Navy Band. You’ll hear him Dec. 20 when he plays Leroy Anderson’s “Buglers Holiday” at the ASO Christmas concert.

Chris started playing a cornet when he was 10 after his mom refused to let him go with his first choice, the drums, because of the racket they would cause. He lives in Arnold with his wife, Deanne, a bassoonist, and two musical daughters, Sophia, almost 11 and Gianna, 8. Sophia plays the harp; Gianna the violin. No drum racket in their house! When Sophia practices the harp “we don’t mind it at all. It sounds gorgeous whenever she plays.” Do he and his wife ever perform together? Turns out there are virtually no compositions written specifically for trumpet and bassoon. When they found one, by modernist composer Paul Hindemith, it wasn’t any fun to play. “It was the most stressful part of our marriage.”

An Upstate New Yorker by birth, Chris earned his bachelor’s degree from the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester. He got his master’s in trumpet performance from Florida State University. And he has taught for years at the Washington Conservatory of Music. But his biggest inspiration came from Wynton Marsalis. “Hearing him play and getting his recordings was probably the single most important factor in my becoming a musician,” Chris said. “I would play along with him, and that is how I modeled my sound.” In ninth grade, Chris went backstage to meet his idol after a performance in “The Egg,” Albany’s state theater. Marsalis gave him a lot of personal attention and some good advice. Chris said, “He signed the program, ‘Practice every day.’ I still to this day try to live up to that.”

Every day, Chris commutes into Washington for rehearsal with the U.S. Navy Band, where he is assistant principal trumpet in the Concert Band. Every year, he goes on tour for a month with the band, this year to Texas and the Gulf Coast. The concerts are always free and Chris says they are “pretty awesome.” But the ASO gives him the opportunity to play great orchestral works and perform with other amazing musicians from the DC-Baltimore Area. “I love playing with the ASO so much that I moved closer to Annapolis,” he says. “The U.S. Navy Band is how I make my living. Playing with the ASO is like the icing on the cake.”

--By Carol R. Richards, editor

The Inside Scoop

New ideas for remodeling Maryland Hall’s Auditorium

It is common knowledge in the Annapolis musical community that the auditorium of Maryland Hall has, shall we say imperfect acoustics. When the ASO played its two 50th Anniversary concerts last season in two different venues – the Clarice Smith Center at the University of Maryland, and the auditorium at Maryland Hall, Music Director José-Luis Novo, pointed out to audiences the difference in sound. The ASO sounded better in College Park.

It’s also known that serious and interesting plans are afoot to improve the sound in Maryland Hall. Funds are being raised. Pictures of the proposed changes can be seen in the lobby. And now a new idea has been proposed.

Jeth Mill, the ASO’s new executive director, came here straight from Windsor, Ontario, where an historic building with an inadequate auditorium was successfully rehabbed to the satisfaction of musicians, acousticians and people interested in historical preservation. With that experience behind him, Mill is suggesting that the priorities of existing plans be changed and that Maryland Hall proceed immediately to the creation and installation of a new acoustic shell on an expanded stage with a small orchestra pit. Once patrons hear the improved sound, he reasons, they will be more willing to donate needed funds.

His plan, which he has presented to the Annapolis Opera, the Chesapeake Youth Orchestra, Live Arts Maryland (which includes the Annapolis Chorale) and of course the ASO, would actually move five items to the front of the priority list: First, build and install an acoustic shell that would move sound out toward the audience instead of in to the dead zone of the wings; second, build an extension to the stage so that the strings, for example, would move out of the current too-tight stage and closer to the audience; third, build a shallow orchestra pit under the stage extension; fourth add lighting over the stage extension; fifth install proper orchestra risers. These ideas were to be presented to the Maryland Hall board of directors in December. Perhaps the directors have already taken them under consideration.

Mill described the proposed new priorities to the FASO board on Dec. 3. He said the idea is to “make Maryland Hall a workable concert venue.”

Clip and Save Calendar

Dec. 20, Holiday Pops, Five by Design. 8 p.m. Maryland Hall, José-Luis Novo, Conductor.

Feb. 8, 2014, Family concerts, The Lost Elephant with Dan Kamin. 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., Meet the musicians 1:15 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Maryland Hall, José-Luis Novo, Conductor.

Feb. 28 and March 1, 2014, Lexus Classic Series 3, Mozart, Symphony 36 in C major “Linz” and Bruckner Symphony No. 7 in E major. 8 p.m. Maryland Hall, José-Luis Novo, Conductor.

April 4 and 5, 2014, Lexus Classic Series 4, Bartok, Violin Concerto No. 2; Dvorak, Symphony No. 6 in D major. Soovin Kim, guest violinist.8 p.m. Maryland Hall, José-Luis Novo, Conductor.

April 27, Champagne Sunday. Mark your calendars for FASO’s fabulous spring fling.

May 2 and 3, 2014, Lexus Classic Series 5, Ravel, La Valse; Rachmaninov, Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor. Jon Nakamatsu, guest pianist. 8 p.m. Maryland Hall, José-Luis Novo, Conductor.