A Community of Music Since 1981
Fine Arts Chamber Players
Winter 2016
Simplify the Season
One easy way to tackle your
holiday shopping is to make a
Inside this issue:
Scholarship Fund
update
2
FACP in the
news
2
Upcoming
Bancroft Family
Concerts
3
Bancroft Family
Concerts recap
3
gift to Fine Arts Chamber
Players in honor of the
people on your list. When
you make a tribute gift, we
send a holiday card on your
behalf to the honoree. Gift
amounts are kept
confidential, and donations
are fully tax-deductible.
Donations can be made
online or use the form on the
back of this newsletter.
Fine Arts
Chamber Players
is supported in part by:
Bloomberg Philanthropies
Additional sponsors are listed
on our website,
fineartschamberplayers.org.
Alex McDonald named Basically Beethoven Festival Director
Fine Arts Chamber Players
announces that Dr. Alex
McDonald has been named
Festival Director for the annual
perfectly with FACP’s mission.”
McDonald added, “It is a
tremendous honor to connect
our region’s world-class artists
Basically Beethoven Festival
following his success as 2016
Guest Festival Director.
“We are thrilled to have
Alex on board,” said Board
President Celeste Yeager. “His
vision to make the Basically
Beethoven Festival intriguing
and entertaining for both
experienced concertgoers and
new audience members aligns
with our enthusiastic audience
and the timeless repertoire of
Beethoven and beyond.”
Begun in 1981, Basically
Beethoven Festival was the
inaugural program of FACP.
McDonald joins FACP Artistic
Director Rogene Russell in
providing artistic leadership for
the organization.
“If 2016 was a sample of
Executive Director Rachel Assi, Festival
Director Alex McDonald, and 2016
ExxonMobil CSJP intern Carnell Simmons
Photo credit: FACP
what Alex can produce, our
audience will be enthralled by
his fresh ideas and musical
insights,” Russell said. “Hurrah
for the future of Basically
Beethoven!”
Fine Arts Chamber Players
Page 2
FACP’s FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
Who plays for FACP?
We contract with
professional musicians in
the area. Though there is
no cost to attend, FACP
pays the artists a
competitive rate to
appear on our programs.
Wait – how does that
work? How do you pay
the musicians without
charging us admission?
Support from concert
attendees, individual
donors, corporations, and
charitable foundations
make it possible for FACP
to offer free classical
music programming.
What should I wear to
your concerts?
We encourage you to
wear whatever you’ll be
most comfortable in.
Maybe that’s your
Sunday best, maybe
that’s cargo shorts and a
t-shirt.
Darn it! Traffic was
backed up. Is there late
seating?
As long as the auditorium
is not full, we will seat
latecomers in between
pieces in the program.
There are exceptions to
this, mostly tied to if the
performers remain on
stage between pieces.
Can children attend?
Yes, please! We aim to
make classical music
concerts accessible to
ALL, and that includes
families. If your child is
getting fidgety or fussy,
you are welcome to exit
the auditorium after a
piece has concluded. If
your child is audibly
distressed, we thank you
for discreetly exiting.
Scholarship Fund update
In June, longtime FACP
supporters Don and Norma
Stone made a $500,000 gift
endowing a fund to benefit
student musicians from DISD
who have participated in
FACP’s music education
programs, or who have
graduated from Booker T.
Washington High School for
the Performing and Visual
Arts. This endowment will
provide college scholarships
for the recipients to pursue
degrees in music. Established
at The Dallas Foundation, the
fund is named in honor of
Rogene Russell, the artistic
director and co-founder of
Fine Arts Chamber Players.
Through generous gifts from
other individuals the Fund
now exceeds $620,000 in
scholarship money.
Applications are available
at DallasFoundation.org
under “For Students” and are
due February 3, 2017. FACP
has selected a committee to
review applications and award
scholarship funds in early
2017. Committee members
are: Don and Norma Stone;
Rogene Russell; Rachel Assi,
FACP executive director;
Virginia Dupuy, professor of
voice at Meadows School of
the Arts at Southern
Methodist University; Alex
Kerr, Dallas Symphony
Orchestra concertmaster;
Lynsie Levine, The Dallas
Don and Norma Stone with FACP educator
Gretchen Walz Gerard at a Dream
Collectors performance. Photo credit: FACP
Foundation; Gloria Stephens,
former Director of Choral
Activities at DISD’s Booker T.
Washington HS (retired); and
Karen Wiley, Dallas-based
philanthropist.
The Scholarship Fund is
open for additional
contributions. Donations to
the Fund may be made online
at DallasFoundation.org under
“I’d like to Give to a Fund.”
Teacher Profile: Alfrelynn Roberts
This is Ms. Roberts’ second year
teaching voice lessons for FACP. A
soprano, she earned a Bachelor of
Arts from Hampton University and a
Master of Music from Northwestern
University. Read the full interview
online at FineArtsChamberPlayers.org.
What do you love about
teaching high schoolers? When
the lightbulb goes off – when
they grasp new things about
their voices and hear what their
voices can do.
What is a particularly
memorable performance of
yours? At Kalamazoo College,
we were under a tornado watch
and the sirens went off when I
was in the middle of a song. We
had to evacuate, so we took the
recital to the basement.
What piece of advice would
you give your 16-year-old self?
At 16, I didn’t know the
possibilities of what an opera
career
could
be, so I
was
hesitant
about
it. I’d
tell her:
don’t
get discouraged – just keep
singing.
And have fun! I was too
serious as a kid.
Local media covers FACP programs
The announcement of recent grants awarded by the Carl B. and Florence E. King Foundation
and the Fossil Foundation garnered press attention for FACP’s Music Residency program at David
W. Carter High School. Each foundation gave $15,000 to the program, spurring WFAA reporter
Demond Fernandez to visit the campus and report on FACP’s work in South Dallas. One Carter
student, pianist Kenoly Kadia, was featured as a “Class Act of the Week” on the CW33’s news
broadcast. Executive Director Rachel Assi was interviewed on WFAA’s “Midday” news program in
October to promote the season opening Bancroft Family Concert . To keep up to date on our press
coverage, visit our website at FineArtsChamberPlayers.org.
A Community of Music Since 1981
Page 3
2017 Preview
Our Mission
Fine Arts Chamber
Players’ mission is to
enrich and enhance the
quality of life for North
Texas area residents,
especially families and
children, through free
concerts of classical
music and educational
performances.
January 28, Passing the Torch: Current and
former DSO wind players and their protégés
perform woodwind octets by Haydn and
Mozart.
Erin Hannigan, oboe
Gregory Raden, clarinet
Wilfred Roberts, bassoon
Haley Hoops, french horn
and their students
February 25, Fragments of the Past and
Present: Mozart’s bassoon and cello sonata is
paired with a chamber arrangement of
Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 15 in A major.
Ted Soluri, bassoon
Nathan Olson, violin
Jennifer Humphreys, cello
Anastasia Markina, piano
Doug Howard, percussion
March 25, Brahms Trio: Come hear Brahms’
nostalgic Horn Trio in E-flat Major, op. 40.
Yousef Assi, french horn
Filip Fenrych, violin
Zahari Metchkov, piano
Bancroft Family
Concerts recap
North Dallas High
School music
student
Susana Erazo
was presented
with a clarinet
donated by
Kathryn Lyle.
Kimberly Cole
Luevano, professor
of clarinet at UNT,
had the chance to
visit with Susana
before the Nov. 12
concert.
Photo credit: Bill Woster
Dallas harpist
Rosalie
Gilbert
brought her
lever harp for
patrons to try
playing on
Oct. 15.
Photo credit:
FACP
Board of Directors
Celeste Yeager
President
April 15, The Cliburn in Concert: Erik
Korngold’s dynamic Suite for Two Violins,
Cello, and Piano (left hand), op. 23 is featured.
Claire Huangci, piano
Steven Li, violin
Michael Shih, violin
Allan Steele, cello
May 13, The Cézanne Quartet: The 11th
annual Charles Barr Memorial Concert includes
Schubert, Mozart, and Bartok pieces performed
by the Cézanne Quartet, the Peak Fellowship
Ensemble-in-Residence at SMU.
Sally Smith
Vice President
Cindy Vaughn
Treasurer
Catherine Burdette
Secretary
Patricio Gallo
Carolyn Hodo
Kimberly Rives Miers
Stephen Perkins
Donald Stone
Barbara Sypult
Anne Witherspoon
Advisory Board
Sue S. Bancroft
Howard Hallam
Robert E. Hurtte, Jr.
Larry Hutchison
Lori Hutchison
Jessie Makil
Haven Trio and composer Jon
Magnussen after the world
premiere of TWINGE, Nov. 12.
Photo credit: Bill Woster
Staff
Rogene Russell
Founder
& Artistic Director
Alex McDonald
Basically Beethoven
Festival Director
A capacity crowd
eagerly filled the
Horchow Auditorium
for our first Bancroft
Family Concert of the
season, “Harps in
Harmony” on Oct. 15.
Photo credit: FACP
Rachel Assi
Executive Director
Emily Guthrie
Office Manager
A Community of Music Since 1981
FINE ARTS CHAMBER PLAYERS
SAMMONS CENTER FOR THE ARTS
3630 Harry Hines Blvd., Ste. 302
Dallas, TX 75219
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