eNotes :: An Extraordinary Ending to Our 2021/2022 Season! ❤️

June 2022 eNotes

Dear Friend,

What a year this has been! Our Mother’s Day Season Finale concerts under the baton of guest conductor Pete Nowlen showcased three of our recent Young Artists Competition winners - Alex Chang, Grace Feng, & Owen Yang - and Saturday evening concertgoers were greeted by the mothers of our young artists. The Sunday afternoon welcome was given by 95-year-old Julia Edwards who wholeheartedly recommends an Auburn Symphony concert for a Mother’s Day celebration - her son flies out from the East Coast to bring her! All in all, we felt the love of mothers and women composers everywhere. It was a fine conclusion to a season that started in October 2021 with the question, “Who will be our next Music Director & Conductor?”

Since then, our musicians and community answered the question and welcomed Maestro Ryan Murray. Early in 2022, our documentary “Auburn Symphony: Scaling the Heights” reached the regional stage through our local public broadcasting station - reaching 30,000 people in 21,000 homes throughout 14 counties. Our annual fundraising efforts exceeded all previous records for the Gala and Big Day of Giving, leaving a solid foundation for the orchestra’s launch of our 35^th season. All this is the result of the effective support and generous partnerships we’ve nurtured with YOU, our faithful donors.

But we’re not done! To cap the season, we just held our first-ever Auburn Symphony Family BBQ at ARD Recreation Park to honor and thank all our volunteers - musicians, ushers, Symphony League members, and the special event and project helpers. It was a beautiful evening of fun, camaraderie, and delicious grilling courtesy of our local Kiwanis International Club. To complete the giving circle, the Kiwanis presented us with a $500 donation for our youth music programs!

We were also very excited to introduce the newest member of the Auburn Symphony family…our Concertmaster, Chase Spruill! Stay tuned for more details about this very talented musician.

On a personal level, I was very pleased to present the second annual President’s Leadership Awards for volunteer efforts that go “above and beyond” at the BBQ. This year, we had five deserving winners: Alan Gaines (superhuman Gala help after battling cancer), Sandra Reeves (on-call talents for telling our story whenever we ask), Carol Vickers & Jan Hueser (a million little things & one custom cello box), Bill Kenney (21 years of selfless devotion to ASO leadership) and last, but certainly not least, Patty Wassum (delivering a full orchestra for the entire season!) Thanks and congratulations to all!

Speaking of going “above and beyond”…this month’s spotlight wraps up our year of “behind the scenes” vignettes about the people who really make this organization hum. I purposely saved it for the last place of the year to punctuate how important a good Executive Director is to any organization. The Board of Directors understands how fortunate we are to have Anne Brown with us over the last four years, and we have all grown together over that time. Her handiwork is seen in all of the accomplishments I describe each month in this e-newsletter. She is either out in the community or at work in the office handling the myriad jack-of-all-trade tasks required in a small nonprofit. This spotlight is your chance to get to know more about Anne, the person.

Before ASO, Anne spent 15 years of corporate life in the financial districts of New York and San Francisco before she and husband Greg moved to Auburn in 2000 to raise their young daughters. Since moving here, she has worked in the non-profit world, as well as many years of race management work for triathlons and local ultra-running events. When not embroiled in Symphony work, Anne’s “happy place” is being outside, hiking the local trails with Greg and Finn (AKA our official SpokesDog for Big Day of Giving), doing yoga, kayaking, reading, or keeping up with her family all over California.

Anne first became interested in the Auburn Symphony through our programs in local schools, eventually becoming our Stage Manager. After a few years in that role, departing Executive Director Rob Haswell brought her into the E.D. job since she had many years doing event planning, and had gained an inside view of the workings of the organization. Now that she has a few years under her belt, I asked what she loves most about her job as E.D. "I love continuing the tradition of managing the behind-the-scenes work of bringing beautiful symphonic music to our community. It only takes someone hearing our orchestra one time to be blown away by the professional level of this group of musicians. It is my passion to connect our work more intimately with the local arts scene, and we are taking some big strides down that path in the season ahead.”

It’s always interesting to learn something we didn’t know about someone we work so closely with … so I offer these two fun facts about Anne. She says, “I played the trombone starting in fifth grade but stopped in high school. I can't say I was ever very good, but my family willingly endured my holiday performances in the living room!” She also played competitive tennis locally before giving her all to us! Her final thoughts, “I am humbled and grateful to have the opportunity to work with and get to know this group of talented and dedicated musicians. With a motivated working Board and a small, yet mighty staff, I am constantly amazed by what we achieve together!” Thank you, Anne, for both leading us and growing with us, and sharing your talents and super powers that have clearly helped the Auburn Symphony navigate the challenging waters of the recent past and look ahead on the horizon to where we can go.

Toward the end of this month, you will receive your 2022/2023 season brochure in the mail. We hope you will be as thrilled as we are to see the magical symphonic journey Maestro Murray has mapped out for us from September 2022 through May 2023! The box office opens July 1st and we’ll be happy to help with your season subscriptions. Thank you for being part of this most incredible season - on to the next!

Stay tuned,