A Community of Music Since 1981

Fine Arts Chamber Players

Inside this issue:

Scholarship Fund update

2

FACP in the news

2

Upcoming Bancroft Family Concerts

3

Bancroft Family Concerts recap

3

Additional sponsors are listed

on our website,

fineartschamberplayers.org.

Fine Arts

Chamber Players

is supported in part by:

Bloomberg Philanthropies

Winter 2016

Alex McDonald named Basically Beethoven Festival Director

Fine Arts Chamber Players

announces that Dr. Alex

McDonald has been named

Festival Director for the annual

Basically Beethoven Festival

following his success as 2016

Guest Festival Director.

“We are thrilled to have

Alex on board,” said Board

President Celeste Yeager. “His

vision to make the Basically

Beethoven Festival intriguing

and entertaining for both

experienced concertgoers and

new audience members aligns

perfectly with FACP’s mission.”

McDonald added, “It is a

tremendous honor to connect

our region’s world-class artists

with our enthusiastic audience

and the timeless repertoire of

Beethoven and beyond.”

Begun in 1981, Basically

Beethoven Festival was the

inaugural program of FACP.

McDonald joins FACP Artistic

Director Rogene Russell in

providing artistic leadership for

the organization.

“If 2016 was a sample of

what Alex can produce, our

audience will be enthralled by

his fresh ideas and musical

insights,” Russell said. “Hurrah

for the future of Basically

Beethoven!”

Simplify the Season One easy way to tackle your

holiday shopping is to make a

gift to Fine Arts Chamber

Players in honor of the

people on your list. When

you make a tribute gift, we

send a holiday card on your

behalf to the honoree. Gift

amounts are kept

confidential, and donations

are fully tax-deductible.

Donations can be made

online or use the form on the

back of this newsletter.

Executive Director Rachel Assi, Festival

Director Alex McDonald, and 2016

ExxonMobil CSJP intern Carnell Simmons

Photo credit: FACP

The announcement of recent grants awarded by the Carl B. and Florence E. King Foundation

and the Fossil Foundation garnered press attention for FACP’s Music Residency program at David

W. Carter High School. Each foundation gave $15,000 to the program, spurring WFAA reporter

Demond Fernandez to visit the campus and report on FACP’s work in South Dallas. One Carter

student, pianist Kenoly Kadia, was featured as a “Class Act of the Week” on the CW33’s news

broadcast. Executive Director Rachel Assi was interviewed on WFAA’s “Midday” news program in

October to promote the season opening Bancroft Family Concert . To keep up to date on our press

coverage, visit our website at FineArtsChamberPlayers.org.

Local media covers FACP programs

Page 2

Fine Arts Chamber Players

Scholarship Fund update In June, longtime FACP supporters Don and Norma Stone made a $500,000 gift endowing a fund to benefit student musicians from DISD who have participated in FACP’s music education programs, or who have graduated from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. This endowment will provide college scholarships for the recipients to pursue degrees in music. Established at The Dallas Foundation, the fund is named in honor of Rogene Russell, the artistic director and co-founder of Fine Arts Chamber Players. Through generous gifts from

other individuals the Fund now exceeds $620,000 in scholarship money. Applications are available at DallasFoundation.org under “For Students” and are due February 3, 2017. FACP has selected a committee to review applications and award scholarship funds in early 2017. Committee members are: Don and Norma Stone; Rogene Russell; Rachel Assi, FACP executive director; Virginia Dupuy, professor of voice at Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University; Alex Kerr, Dallas Symphony Orchestra concertmaster; Lynsie Levine, The Dallas

Foundation; Gloria Stephens, former Director of Choral Activities at DISD’s Booker T. Washington HS (retired); and Karen Wiley, Dallas-based philanthropist. The Scholarship Fund is open for additional contributions. Donations to the Fund may be made online at DallasFoundation.org under “I’d like to Give to a Fund.”

FACP’s FAQs Frequently Asked Questions

Who plays for FACP?

We contract with

professional musicians in

the area. Though there is

no cost to attend, FACP

pays the artists a

competitive rate to

appear on our programs.

Wait – how does that

work? How do you pay

the musicians without

charging us admission?

Support from concert

attendees, individual

donors, corporations, and

charitable foundations

make it possible for FACP

to offer free classical

music programming.

What should I wear to

your concerts?

We encourage you to

wear whatever you’ll be

most comfortable in.

Maybe that’s your

Sunday best, maybe

that’s cargo shorts and a

t-shirt.

Darn it! Traffic was

backed up. Is there late

seating?

As long as the auditorium

is not full, we will seat

latecomers in between

pieces in the program.

There are exceptions to

this, mostly tied to if the

performers remain on

stage between pieces.

Can children attend?

Yes, please! We aim to

make classical music

concerts accessible to

ALL, and that includes

families. If your child is

getting fidgety or fussy,

you are welcome to exit

the auditorium after a

piece has concluded. If

your child is audibly

distressed, we thank you

for discreetly exiting.

Teacher Profile: Alfrelynn Roberts This is Ms. Roberts’ second year

teaching voice lessons for FACP. A

soprano, she earned a Bachelor of

Arts from Hampton University and a

Master of Music from Northwestern

University. Read the full interview

online at FineArtsChamberPlayers.org.

What do you love about teaching high schoolers? When the lightbulb goes off – when they grasp new things about their voices and hear what their voices can do.

What is a particularly memorable performance of yours? At Kalamazoo College, we were under a tornado watch and the sirens went off when I was in the middle of a song. We had to evacuate, so we took the recital to the basement.

What piece of advice would you give your 16-year-old self? At 16, I didn’t know the possibilities of what an opera

career could be, so I was hesitant about it. I’d tell her: don’t get discouraged – just keep singing. And have fun! I was too serious as a kid.

Don and Norma Stone with FACP educator

Gretchen Walz Gerard at a Dream

Collectors performance. Photo credit: FACP

2017 Preview

Page 3

A Community of Music Since 1981

January 28, Passing the Torch: Current and former DSO wind players and their protégés perform woodwind octets by Haydn and Mozart. Erin Hannigan, oboe Gregory Raden, clarinet Wilfred Roberts, bassoon Haley Hoops, french horn and their students February 25, Fragments of the Past and Present: Mozart’s bassoon and cello sonata is paired with a chamber arrangement of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 15 in A major. Ted Soluri, bassoon Nathan Olson, violin Jennifer Humphreys, cello Anastasia Markina, piano Doug Howard, percussion March 25, Brahms Trio: Come hear Brahms’ nostalgic Horn Trio in E-flat Major, op. 40. Yousef Assi, french horn Filip Fenrych, violin Zahari Metchkov, piano

April 15, The Cliburn in Concert: Erik Korngold’s dynamic Suite for Two Violins, Cello, and Piano (left hand), op. 23 is featured. Claire Huangci, piano Steven Li, violin Michael Shih, violin Allan Steele, cello

May 13, The Cézanne Quartet: The 11th annual Charles Barr Memorial Concert includes Schubert, Mozart, and Bartok pieces performed by the Cézanne Quartet, the Peak Fellowship Ensemble-in-Residence at SMU.

Our Mission Fine Arts Chamber

Players’ mission is to enrich and enhance the quality of life for North

Texas area residents, especially families and children, through free

concerts of classical music and educational

performances.

Board of Directors Celeste Yeager

President

Sally Smith Vice President

Cindy Vaughn

Treasurer

Catherine Burdette Secretary

Patricio Gallo Carolyn Hodo

Kimberly Rives Miers Stephen Perkins Donald Stone Barbara Sypult

Anne Witherspoon

Advisory Board Sue S. Bancroft Howard Hallam

Robert E. Hurtte, Jr. Larry Hutchison Lori Hutchison

Jessie Makil

Staff Rogene Russell

Founder & Artistic Director

Alex McDonald

Basically Beethoven Festival Director

Rachel Assi

Executive Director

Emily Guthrie Office Manager

Bancroft Family

Concerts recap

North Dallas High

School music

student

Susana Erazo

was presented

with a clarinet

donated by

Kathryn Lyle.

Kimberly Cole

Luevano, professor

of clarinet at UNT,

had the chance to

visit with Susana

before the Nov. 12

concert.

Photo credit: Bill Woster

Dallas harpist

Rosalie

Gilbert

brought her

lever harp for

patrons to try

playing on

Oct. 15.

Photo credit:

FACP

Haven Trio and composer Jon

Magnussen after the world

premiere of TWINGE, Nov. 12.

Photo credit: Bill Woster

A capacity crowd

eagerly filled the

Horchow Auditorium

for our first Bancroft

Family Concert of the

season, “Harps in

Harmony” on Oct. 15.

Photo credit: FACP

FINE ARTS CHAMBER PLAYERS SAMMONS CENTER FOR THE ARTS 3630 Harry Hines Blvd., Ste. 302 Dallas, TX 75219

A Community of Music Since 1981

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