• Don’t forget to pick up a King Soopers card, to help our orchestra!
• Sept. 26 and 27: Orchestra closet donations due.
• Oct 14: HS orchestra to Colorado Symphony Orchestra
• Winter Silent Auction preparations underway!
• 2016-2017 performance schedule
• All students will receive a grade for having read the handbook.  Our apologies for the inconvenience that some experienced, and all students are required to know what is in the 2016-2017 handbook (CLICK HERE).

Master Mentor/Visiting Artist Program

As we begin the school year, we wanted to remind you about the $350 fee,  per family,  for our Master Mentors program.  This is an expectation for all DSAO families.

For all of our new members of DSAO: we use this money throughout the year  to bring in a whole team of outstanding musicians to work with DSAO students. These mentors work with individual sections, coach chamber music, and sometimes work one on one with students. This  aspect of the  DSAO program is one of the main things that set us apart from other school orchestra programs and help us achieve the excellence we are accustomed to.

Contributions can be made by check or through the DSA Friends Foundation at www.dsafriends.org.  If you can’t make the payment all at once, please do so in monthly installments.   Please make checks payable to DSA Friends Foundation, and put “Orchestra family contribution” or “master mentor” in the memo line.
This is also a fantastic way for family and friends to support your student! Please pass along the dsafriends.org website link to those you know are interested in supporting our programs.

For further information, please visit the OFA Fundraising website.

Investing in DSAO

Attention Business Owners – Friends and Family!

Welcome to the new school year! As you head back to school, please consider promoting your business (or promoting your friend’s business) in this year’s DSAO concert programs. (CLICK HERE for brochure). Advertising money helps fund the orchestra program, and has the added bonus of helping our families and friends promote their businesses!

Ad Submittals: It’s incredibly easy to submit advertising artwork/logos/business cards via email to Mark Herlinger, our advertising and program graphic designer. If you need assistance designing your advertisement, Mark will help you with that too! For questions about graphic guidelines to submit advertisements, please contactmarkherlinger@gmail.com.

Payment: Via check – Once payment is received (please turn in checks to Tracy Holt, DSA Arts Secretary in the Front Office) the advertisement will be placed in the program which is printed for all major orchestra concerts throughout the year.

Advertising graphics and payments due by Monday, September 26, 2016. This deadline is set to ensure business owners receive the benefit of the full year of advertising in the DSAO Concert program.

Buy groceries, support DSAO

Make sure you purchase a reloadable King Soopers card! It’s simple to get started with a $2.50 card.  Each time you reload the card, DSAO gets 5% back! No hidden costs!  Everyone buys groceries, so it a very easy way for friends and family to contribute as well. You may email Carol Fennell for information about purchasing a card, or pick up a card at the next concert’s concession table .

DSA is collecting Boxtops!

DSA receives free money for each box top turned in.  Please group the box tops in a bag or envelope, and mark them with “Orchestra” so that the funds will come to us.  The collection box is located in the main office.

Fall Concert, October 7 and 8

Our first concerts are coming up soon!  Our concerts are by far our biggest fundraisers and our most important activity.   We ask that each family invite at least five new friends who’ve never seen the concerts to attend. The money will go to the student scholarship fund, and the DSAO will garner new friends dedicated to the success of our program!

Concessions

Please bring the following items by grade for concessions at these concerts:

6: water, juice or sodas
7: chips and fruit (pre-packaged apple slices are great!)
8: cookies/pastries (preferably pre-packaged)
9: candy/candy bars
10: water, juice or sodas
11: cookies/pastries (preferably pre-packaged)

Seniors are exempt from donations requirements unless you wish to contribute.

High School Required Orchestra Trip to CSO
Friday Oct. 14

On Friday evening, October 14, Dr. Lasansky will be taking the high school (advanced) orchestra (some band students will also attend) to hear the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.  This is a real treat and is a required trip for high school students. The CSO will be performing Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8, which the advanced orchestra will also play in January 2017. In addition, the CSO will present the world premiere of Daniel Kellogg’s “Rising Phoenix,” with concertmaster Yumi Hwang-Williams as soloist.  The high schoolers can stay after school for a pizza dinner, and then will be transported to the symphony by bus.  Please note:  parents will have to arrange transportation for their kids from Boettcher Concert Hall after the concert.  We are in need of two more chaperones to accompany the kids to the concert.  If you’re interested, please contact Alenka Han at alenka720@gmail.com.  Chaperones will need to pay $35 for a ticket ($10 for teachers).

Middle school students will not be able to be transported for this concert.  However, they will be able to get tickets for $10 on the day of the concert if they wish to attend.

Calling all orchestra families: Help us build an Orchestra Concert Closet

It is that time of the year when our minds turn to the upcoming orchestra concert season.

Time to dig those dresses, suits and tuxedos out of the back of the closet.

Isn’t it funny how something that looked so great on our musicians just a few short months ago now looks like it shrunk two sizes at the cleaners?

It can really be frustrating (and expensive) to buy a new formal outfit at the beginning of the school year only to realize half way through the year that it no longer fits.

What do you usually do with all that out grown concert attire?

Well, here’s your answer. We would like to start an orchestra concert closet where we could store outgrown but still very wearable concert attire.  This clothing and formal attire would then be made available to any orchestra family prior to each concert for outfitting their growing musician.

Since our first concerts of the season are coming up soon: we would like to collect these items on Monday 9/26 and Tuesday 9/27.  Just have your student drop these items in the collection boxes which will be in the orchestra room. Then on Thursday 9/29 and Friday 9/30 after school we will have these items sorted out and ready to be taken home by their new owners (volunteers needed to help on these dates).

What to donate: male and female concert attire (tuxedos, suits, dress shirts, bow ties, cummerbunds, vests, suspenders, belts, dresses, skirts, dress pants, dress shoes).

Please make sure these items are clean and in good condition.

Contact Chris Engel at cengel_md@yahoo.com with questions, availability to volunteer or any special clothing requests.

Second Annual Winter Silent Auction

Details on the Way!

The DSA Orchestra Department is excited to announce the Second Annual Winter Silent Auction Saturday, December 10, before the orchestra concert and during intermission.

Please mark your calendars and tell others about our event.

More donation information to come

Colorado Chamber Players:
Jewish Sounds of Soviet Russia

The award-winning Colorado Chamber Players will be performing on the prestigious JAAMM Festival series this year at the Mizel Arts and Culture Center, 11/16/16, 7 p.m.,  and they have generously offered 50 tickets to the DSA community for $10 each.  DSA students, faculty and staff can use the code DSA10 after September 1st,  by calling the Mizel box office at 303-316-6360 or by going online at:  http://maccjcc.org/. Tickets are usually $18/$20, this is a substantial discount for the DSA community.

Elaine Wolf Theatre
$20 Adult, $18 Student/Senior (non-discount price)

Jewish and Yiddish music have always found their way into Russian music. The role of Jewish composers in Russia changed dramatically after the rise of Stalin and after World War II.  While Jewish music was officially banned (or declared non-existent) after World War II, many composers continued to incorporate Jewish themes into their pieces.

Russian composers Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergei Prokofiev and Jewish composers Mieczyslaw Weinberg and Mikhail Gnesin all managed to weave Ashkenazi Jewish folk music into their compositions, in spite of anti-Semitic repression under Stalin’s rule.  This evening’s program explores specific pieces with Jewish elements by these composers.  Colorado Chamber Players musicians offer spoken program notes.

Program:
Overture on Hebrew Themes, Sergei Prokofiev
Piano Quintet, op. 11, “Requiem”, Mikhail Gnesin
Excerpt, Three Pieces for Solo Clarinet, Igor Stravinsky
Intermission
Excerpt from String Quartet no. 4, op. 83, Dmitri Shostakovich
Piano Quintet, op.18, Mieczyslaw Weinberg

Free Family Concert with the Altius Quartet

Sunday, October 9, 2016, 2:00 pm
Denver School of the Arts
Tickets:  Free
Join us on October 9 for Friends of Chamber Music’s third annual Family Concert. The Altius Quartet, Fellowship Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Colorado-Boulder, will present an interactive “shuffle” program for all ages.  Audience participation is a must in this unique concert!  From a wide-ranging “menu” of pieces— from Mozart and Beethoven to Taylor Swift and Led Zeppelin — audience members will choose what they want the quartet to play.  Release your inner DJ and learn about a variety of composers and musical styles.  Come and create a set list with your friends and family! 

We’ll have refreshments and a chance to meet the musicians in the lobby following this interactive program — fun for all ages! 

Denver School of the Arts, 7111 Montview Blvd., Denver

2016 Young Musicians Foundation of Colorado Auditions

From: Brian Cornell [bcornell@gmail.com]

Fact Sheet
ApplicationI’m writing on behalf of the Young Musicians Foundation (YMF) of Colorado to announce the opportunity for classical musicians in Colorado between the ages of 10 and 20 to audition for a spot on the 2017/2018 YMF Artist Roster.  Please forward this email to your young musicians and any other organizations or teachers that may have students who are interested in this opportunity. 

 This is a fantastic opportunity for very talented musicians who currently aspire to a professional career in music- YMF provides funding for musical enrichment opportunities (typically $1,000- $2,000/ year depending on age) for camps/ master classes and competitions as well as annual performance opportunities with other talented young musicians in a professional setting at the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver.  In addition, over $2,000 of prize money is awarded to top performers in the Audition process. 

 The application process consists of two parts.  An initial application and CD submission is due on November 15, 2016, from which finalists are then selected to take part in a one-day live audition the last week in December.  Attached is both the audition application and fact sheet with pertinent details of the process and requirements.  Further information is available on the YMF website:  www.youngmusiciansfoundation.org

Since its founding in 1988, YMF has supported over 120 extremely talented Colorado musicians, many of whom have gone onto achieve amazing accomplishments, whether it be soloing with the CSO, graduating from top tier musical institutions like Juilliard and Eastman, or successful careers as soloists or orchestra members.  Many former roster members have credited YMF with giving them the additional exposure and resources needed beyond their traditional training to properly prepare and excel in their professional musical pursuits.

Don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions regarding the application, audition process, or YMF in general. 

Best Regards,

Brian Cornell

YMF Board Member

(303) 549-5546

Bcornell@gmail.com

www.youngmusiciansfoundation.org