Dear Students and Parents,

It is time to mark calendars again. Susan Garrelts has agreed to rehearse with us, play classes, and our concert. The first rehearsals will be Saturday, February 12, from 11:30 to 3. Please sign up with me for an individual time by giving me a window of possibility. I’ll do my best to fit in everyone for a time.

Saturday afternoon, March 12, we’ll have a class beginning at 2 p.m. here at the ranch.

April 9, Saturday afternoon, we will use our time with Susan to rehearse and /or make tapes for upcoming summer festivals. We will start at 11:30 and work til 3. If you have not received a brochure from me for my summer teaching here at the U, please let me know. The deadline for that application is Friday, April 15.

May 1, Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. we will rehearse at the SPCO Center.
May 8, Sunday at 2 p.m. we’ll have our concert.

Any absence from these rehearsals will require you to contact Susan directly and arrange your own rehearsal with her.

Please congratulate Alex Reed (violin) and Nora Ali (piano) and Alex Zhu (piano) for being finalists in the GTCYS competition. You can hear them in the final round on Feb. 13, Sunday, 2 p.m. at Sateren Auditorium.

I have some upcoming trio concerts and events that will take me out of town. I’ll need to cancel teaching on Wed. and Thursday, Feb 9 and 10. I also need to cancel Feb. 14, Monday, for a workshop we are teaching. Possibly March 5 I’ll need to cancel. March 18 and 19 I will be canceling. March 23, Sat., and March 25, Monday, I’ll also be canceling. These cancellations usually affect the Saturday students. I will be happy to try make up these times, or to give you extra time close to concerts.

Don’t forget Hillary Hahn is coming to the SPCO the weekend of Feb. 11 and 12! Don’t miss it; she’s one of the great ones.

Here is something to tape in your violin cases next to Josh Bell:

Go on; don’t only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets; art deserves that, for it and knowledge can raise man to the Divine.

BEETHOVEN
(Letter to a young friend, quoted in Grove, Beethoven and his Nine Symphonies)