Letter from the President
Submitted by admin on Sat, 07/23/2011 - 11:45am
These are exciting times for our organization! Tune in to our new classical music station, Radio Arts Foundation--St. Louis FM 107.3 or at www.rafstl.org every Monday evening from 7:00 - 8:00 pm to hear our new show "Inside Classical Guitar"!
For full information about our 50th Anniversary Commemorative Master Class and Dinner Gala click on June 9 Masterclass and June 9 Dinner/Gala. You may also register for either event by clicking in the right hand column and following the prompts. Please join us!
To All of our Devoted Followers: On November 7, 8, and 9 we were able to observe students in nine of our city public schools as Brazilian guitarists Douglas Lora and João Luiz visited classrooms and assemblies at elementary, middle, and high schools. At every stop both students and teachers became a rapt audience for their amazing virtuosity and willingness to share of themselves. Most of these students had never met classical musicians in real life, let alone witness them perform for them personally. Here’s just a few of the students’ written comments about the visit: “This is a wonderful day that I will never in my life forget. I used to see playing an instrument as something that wasn’t really important, but after today that totally changed.”
“I really enjoyed you guys playing. I can visualize a story out of each one. The first one I visualized a woman and man dancing but then the man said he loved her but the man was already married, so the woman ran away. The second one I thought of a man going insane and it was all in black and white. The last one I thought of a woman sitting next to a pond picking petals off of a flower thinking of her past love who died.”
“I fell in love with the melodies you guys played. I never heard anyone play so well. You guys made me want to learn to play guitar, the way you play is just so beautiful it tells a story. I will be attending your performance Saturday to hear more.”
This Fall--with the financial support of many of you!--we were able to donate a total of 95 instruments to Sherman Elementary, Langston Middle, and Soldan High schools. This brings to seven the number of schools who have received guitars from us. Music can build skills, instill confidence, and promote creativity and social cooperation.
This program is just the first step in our broader plan to support music education in the schools. Please consider making a donation to our organization this calendar year. Just go to the bottom of the middle column on this page and click on Donate Now to see more about our programs. Thank you so much for your support!
Sincerely,
William Ash
President
