Caterina Lichtenberg at Cayuga Vault

12/25/08: Caterina Lichtenberg at Cayuga Vault

You can get a musical preview of Caterina Lichtenberg this Saturday, December 27, 2008, at the Cayuga Vault, performing with mandolinist Mike Marshall. Details here: http://www.fiddlingcricket.com/2008/1208.htm#122708. Then come back in MARCH and hear her perform with a period-instrument chamber ensemble at our Season Concert II (http://www.scbaroque.org/concerts.html#concert2).

Call for Competition Entries

SC Baroque Festival announces its 7th annual Youth Chamber Music Competition. High school student musicians participating in chamber ensembles (groups of 2-6 players) are eligible to participate. 1st and 2nd place winning ensembles receive cash prizes. To obtain a competition entry form, click here. Deadline for entry form submissions is February 15, 2009. Auditions are held on February 28, 2009, and the awards ceremony takes place March 14, 2009. More information here: http://www.scbaroque.org/youth.html

Donation drive update

12/01/08: Donation drive update

Yes, even in the festival's 36th year we still depend heavily on private donations! Each fall our administration and board membership works hard on (entirely) re-generating our annual operating funds. Private donations mirror the income we make from season concert ticket sales, which together amount to just under 50% of our budget. . . . Furthermore, of course we value our donors financially, but for moral support we also value our supporters numerically. Today's report on the status of our donation drive:

• 50% of our required donation INCOME has been pledged/paid (Treasurer's favorite number :-)

• 50% of our desired NUMBER of donors have pledged/paid (Artistic Director's favorite number :-)

As you can see, we are far from our goals and appreciate YOUR support at every level.

Here is our donation pledge form: Pledge Form (pledges only, no payment made or required on this form).

P.S.: To go ahead and make a payment, you can mail it to us as a check (P.O. Box 482; Santa Cruz, CA 95061) or call us to pay by credit card (831-457-9693)

P.P.S.: Donation drive report of 11/15: only 20% donation income and 35% donor responses. Please keep your support coming!

Fall newsletter

Our fall newsletter for subscribers is in the mail. We send out 2 newsletters per year. To view our current issue, click here (PDF).

SCBF & Barry Phillips awarded Creative Work Fund grant

SCBF & Barry Phillips awarded Creative Work Fund grant

Linda Burman-Hall, SCBF Artistic Director and Professor of Music at UCSC, has been awarded a Creative Work Fund collaborative grant for her work with Indian music composer Barry Phillips and Lux Musica, the Baroque Festival’s resident ensemble. Inspired by the largely unrealized potential of the numerous encounters of European and Indian musicians throughout the British Raj, this project seeks to create new music using early music instruments and Indian melodic concepts. The result will be presented as part of the Santa Cruz Baroque Festival’s 2010 concert season. Burman-Hall and Phillips will be honored on November 19th by Creative Work Fund at a reception in San Francisco at the offices of the Mimi and Peter Haas Fund. In addition to the Haas Fund, the Creative Work Fund is supported by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the James Irvine Foundation. This is the first year the Creative Work Fund has been open to Santa Cruz County applicants.

Ticket Price Changes

We have changed our ticket prices as follows:

• General Single Ticket: $22 (from $25)

• General Season Subscription: $90 (from $100)

•General Flex Pass Subscription: $55

• ALL College Students: $5 (from $2 UCSC students, and $16 other students)

• Youth K-12: $2 (as before)

• All Senior ticket prices remain the same

Our Board of Directors voted to approve these pricing changes not because our budget is sufficiently padded . . . but because we hope to increase the representation of young adults among our concert goers (our 2008 survey showed that this age group is under-represented in our audience demographic). Thus we have lowered the priced in the "General" and "Other Student" ticket categories (thus now offering the same discounted price of $5 to ALL college students, including Cabrillo College). As a result, General Season and Flex Pass Subscription prices are now significantly lower as well, whereas our discounted Senior prices have remained the same. We hope you consider becoming a Subscriber for 2009! Subscriptions benefit our concert goers with financial savings and extra concert passes, and by showing your loyalty and support, they benefit us as a long-standing community arts organization.

• Season Subscriptions: 5 Season Concert tickets for the price of 4 PLUS 2 extra concert passes and one bonus ticket (New Music Works, SC Chamber Players, SC Chorale).

• Flex Pass Subscriptions: 3 discounted and transferable Season Concert tickets (attend 3 out of 5 season concerts, attend 1 concert with a party of 3 . . . the choice is yours!). We send you 3 Flex Passes redeemable for concert tickets in advance or at the door.