Blog: Donor Dinner
As we've come to expect: the annual Donor Dinner was a delight.
It’s the first official meeting between the festival fellows and those members of the community and the college whose financial support goes such a long way toward making this annual musical miracle possible.
The large open space of the Cornerstone Arts Center was turned into a banquet hall seating about 160 community donors, festival faculty and festival fellows at beautifully decorated tables. Donors and the fellows they had sponsored were seated together, affording an intimate opportunity for everyone to get to know one another.
Music Director Susan Grace took on the duties of master ceremonies. As always, she generously gave credit to everyone in attendance for making all of this possible then ran through some of highlights of the summer yet to come, going on to recount the exciting Colorado Springs City Council proclamation that declared June “Colorado Springs Summer Music Festival Month” in the city.
Festival conductor Scott Yoo took his turn on the microphone offering a heartfelt message as to how vital support for music and art is in our world today. He, too, thanked everyone for their generous donations going on to suggest that they “double it” next year.
Music first courtesy of festival fellows… dinner later.
Grace handed the microphone over to an ensemble comprised of a bevy of brass who introduced themselves: Griffen Cutaiar, bass trombone; Ethan Pound and Aaman Sayad, trombones; Katya Jarmulowicz and Christian Leon, horns; and Terri Rauschenbach and Jacon Merrill, trumpets. Merrill declared the ensemble to be “The Colorado College Summer Music Festival Brass Septet” and they launched into two movements from At the Movies by Brian Sadler.
With only five days to prepare, the septet played beautifully and, somehow, kept the sound easy to listen to in a very live acoustic.
Next the winds took a turn: Christine Ott, horn; Derek Marcum, bassoon; William Foye, clarinet; Hailey Hoffman, oboe; and Emily Claman, flute. If the brass heralded in the event, then this quintet’s reading of the first movement Anton Reicha’s “Quintet Op. 18, No. 2” was the perfect aperitif for what was to come… charming performance it was.
One last musical appetizer courtesy of Ralph Vaughan Williams and his Piano Quintet performed by Anne-Marie Wnek, violin; Zachary Hamilton, viola; Abigail Leidy, cello; Bailey Amspoker, bass; and Ryan Aguilar, piano. The sounds of the English master’s music added a delightful dose of the pastoral to the space.
A fine buffet dinner led to more questions and conversation. Time had run out and most of the space was still filled with folk when it became a necessity to cross Cache La Poudre Street and take seats in Packard Hall for the second Faculty Artists concert of the season. The concert was sensational.