Notes and more

Silent Auction Information

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:23:00 -0500

Dear Members,

This is probably the first of several emails concerning our upcoming Silent Auction. For those of you who are new to NPOI, this is our annual fund raising event. Orchestra members donate items and solicit donations to auction at one of our concerts. In the past we have held this event at our April concert but last year switched to December to encourage holiday shoppers to participate. We rely on this money to help us through the season and we need everyone to participate in some way.

I need volunteers.
• Members to store donated items until the night of the auction
• Members to help set up the night of the auction (we start setting up at 4:00 and the auction starts at 6:00 pm on December 9th)
• Members to help us break down after the auction
• Members to help check out the buyers
• People to solicit gift certificates from businesses they frequent. We have tax receipts and information to provide them. I will have these at the first tutti rehearsal
• Members to donate services (private lessons, art work, performances, web page design are just a few past items donated)
• Sections to put together a themed gift basket. For example, the cello section donated a "relaxation basket" last year which included cds, a full body massage gift certificate, candles, and wine, cheese and crackers
• Donations (money) are also accepted if you so choose
In the past, we have offered strolling violinists to come to perform at a dinner party. We have also offered jewelry donations, hand knitted items (my ribbon yarn shawls are a hit every year), home baked bread, musical instruments, family treasures, and books. These are just some of the inventive items we have offered in the past at the auction. Please begin thinking about what you can donate to make this a success. If you need help, just ask - I will be glad to help you think of something.

If you have gotten donations from outside individuals and businesses in the past, please contact those individuals to ask for a donation for this year. Contacting them early is very important. In the past, we have been turned down because there wasn't enough lead time to get approval. And if you haven't gotten a donation from a business in the past, please be willing to ask. It isn't that hard, and it is good advertising for them. You can take one of our brochures and provide our non-profit information and tax receipt. We have a donor poster to advertise that these businesses have contributed and we mention them in our program insert for that evening. The gift certificates are probably our best selling items.

I will be distributing a donation sheet and asking you to fill this out as you donate items. You will need to provide your name, a description of the donated item, who donated it, and an approximate cost. We will convert that information to a bid sheet to collect the bid amounts and number the items. This is critical so that we can keep track of the items and know the value and donor.

I would like someone to volunteer to oversee this event for next year (I have been helping for several years now) and I would like to have them assist me this year and learn in the process. I will always help, but I would like to relinquish the overseeing of the event now that I serve as President and Strings Personnel Manager. Please let me know if you would be willing to assist me and take on the challenge next year. We always have people pitch in at the end to set up and break it down but with more up front assistance and ideas we can only improve this event and make it more successful.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me by email or phone, 214-649-6951. Thanks for your help with this important fund raiser.

Gretchen

Message from Sergio

Wed, 8 Oct 2008 21:55:52 -0500

Dear NPOI members (and obviously friends),

Thank you very much for your effort of the past program/concert. This beginning of our season has been taxing for everyone. We had to put together two different programs in a short space of time. Yet, this effort has produced some benefits and learning experiences. Here is the way I see things:

1)      We collected from Euless over $ 3,000 profit very much needed. Contrary to Wall Street we are beginning the year on the positive.
2)      We had a good performance away from the comfort of our IAC “home”. The audience enjoyed it and we plentifully fulfilled one of our goals, which is to bring culture to the non-traditional audiences. Additionally, the fact that we were paid for this put us on a different level.
3)      Courageously we explored the Sunday audience. Taking into consideration a new day and a Cowboys game, I think the attendance was good. I would say that if the attendance was not extraordinary, it was more than expected and it was certainly a warm audience (in my opinion warmer than in other occasions).
4)      We overextended ourselves a little bit. We had some communication problems in relation to the sound check on Sunday. The musical quality on Dvorak suffered a little bit. The good news is that thanks to Nellie and Adrian the concert was brilliant.
5)      Yet, despite the shaky sections in Dvorak, the last movement had brilliant moments full of energy that was certainly transmitted to the audience. In my opinion the last half of Dvorak’s 4th movement was the NPOI at its best.

So what is for the future?

We will have our Christmas concert that should be very exciting. Here is what is going to make it exciting:

1)      We will have a great soloist: Denis Bubert (from Fort Worth Symphony)
2)      We will have great music: Pines of Rome and Great Russian Easter
3)      We will have the IISD students
4)      We will have a world premiere (we will receive $ 5,000 for it)
5)      We will have a Latin combo (Mambo Machine) for the world premiere
6)      We will have a large audience: families of the IISD students, people associated to the world premiere, friends of the Latino combo, my students (I brought close to 20 past Sunday), I have already begin contacts to the Latin community to bring some of their members to the concert.
1)      Large audience should help in our silent auction

What do we need to do special for it?

1)      We cannot have shaky moments. The energy and enthusiasm that we had past Sunday is no substitute for the musical quality.
2)      WE NEED TO FIND A WAY SO THAT EVERYONE PRACTICES HIS/HER PARTS. I have some ideas about it…
3)      We need more rehearsal attendance
4)      We need to be available for the Dec. 5 pre-premiere of the world piece in a Dallas location.

With my best wishes,
Sergio Espinosa

Dr. Sergio Espinosa
Associate Professor
Music Department
University of Texas at Arlington
phone (817) 272-2445
fax (817) 272-3434

REHEARSAL order FOR MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29TH

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 05:36:51 -0500

The schedule for today is basically

7:00 Dvorak III
7:30 Dvorak II
8:00 Dvorak I
8:45 Mozart

However, we would need to be flexible with the hours...

Best wishes,

Sergio

Lighting and seating at the euless concert

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 12:42:06 -0500

Dear Members,

The amphitheater has lighting but if you have difficulty and have one you may want to bring a stand light. Also the seating for guests is limited so you might want to tell you friends and family to bring lawn chairs or a blanket for sitting in the grass.

Thanks,
Gretchen

Saturday concert order

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 23:05:55 -0500

Concert Order for Saturday:

Copland "An Outdoor Overture"
Bizet "L'Arlisienne Suite"
Chopin Piano Concerto
Dorff "Blast Off"
Tchaikovsky "March Slav"
Sousa "Stars and Stripes"