Category Archives: fundraising

countdown to carnegie

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Tonight’s the night – the night we try to push over the top and reach our fundraising goal for the Oregon Symphony’s trip to Carnegie Hall in May 2011.

The concert will feature Carlos Kalmar and the Oregon Symphony, with guests Thomas Lauderdale, OSO concertmaster Jun Iwasaki, Storm Large, Darcelle XV, and more!

We’ve got enough money raised so far to get the orchestra to NYC, but not enough to get us back.  That would doubtless make many of you (and us) sad, so help bring us back from Carnegie by purchasing tickets to tonight’s concert!

riding to fight cancer

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08/12 UPDATE: Thanks to my many generous friends and colleagues, I’ve met my $500 goal for this ride!  Thank you so much, everyone!  If you have not yet donated, please consider it, as it goes to two great causes: the Lance Armstrong Foundation, and the Knight Cancer Institute.

Please pardon this random posting, but I’ve just signed up to do the Echelon Gran Fondo ride which will take place in and around the Columbia River Gorge on September 26, 2010.  It is a fundraiser for two very worthy causes: the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the Knight Cancer Institute at the Oregon Health Sciences University.  Oregon pro cyclist Chris Horner is the headliner for the ride this year, just off of his top-ten finish in this year’s Tour de France.

My goal is relatively modest in terms of fundraising: $500 $300.  If I raise at least $300, I’ll get a nice commemorative jersey, but that’s not the point of it for me.  I’m riding for my friends and colleagues who have struggled with this terrible disease in the past few years.  I’m riding in honor of those who are currently fighting or who are survivors: Becky, Jennifer, Joan, and Stephen.  I’m also riding to remember those whose battles have ended: Ken Baldwin, Martha Herby, and Bob McClung.  I hope that you’ll give in honor of your friends and/or loved ones in the hopes that we can help to eradicate this most insidious and diabolical set of diseases, cancer.

You can donate via my fundraising page, or click on the thermometer widget to the far right of this page.

to cut, or not to cut, that is the question

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It shows how quickly the blog-based news cycle moves, that I delay a response to something I’ve read and I’m beat to my reply by a fellow violist (or as Robert Levine would put it: Bratsche Blogging Brother) in Minneapolis!

David Stabler wrote an article on July 25 in the Oregonian about the cuts made by the largest arts organizations in the city, and the effect that they’ve had on the bottom line of those groups.  The basic tenor of the article was that the groups were being fiscally responsible and were keeping their heads above water in difficult financial times (including the Oregon Symphony balancing its budget for the first time in five years).

[L]ike families with fewer dollars to spend, arts groups are finding ways to live within their means.

For the first time in five years, the Oregon Symphony balanced its budget, although the exact numbers won’t be known until an audit in September, said Carl Herko,  a symphony spokesman. In the past three years, the Oregon Symphony posted deficits of $1.5 million (2007), $594,000 (2008) and $488,000 (2009). The orchestra has balanced its budget only four times in the past 20 years. Salary cuts to orchestra musicians and staff, furloughs, lower fees to guest artists and fewer marketing costs reduced the symphony’s most recent budget to $14 million, $1 million less than the previous year.

In addition to budget cuts, donations helped push the orchestra into surplus territory, including three gifts over $250,000 each. On the downside, ticket revenue fell $1.1 million from last year, due partly to four fewer performances. The number of paying customers per performance dropped 11.9 percent. Continue reading →

holding pattern

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Happy Bastille Day!

Now that the festivals are over (until Sunriver) for me, it’s time to enjoy the freedom from upcoming playing responsibilities.  I’ve been getting up early to either ride or watch the Tour de France on television, and enjoying a leisurely cup of coffee for a change, instead of choking something down in a hurry on the way to teaching or rehearsing. Continue reading →

training to run against cancer

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If you look to the right sidebar, you’ll see a donation button for Team in Training, which is an organization which raises money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society by training teams of runners and cyclists for major full and half marathon events and cycling centuries around the country.

Bert Phillips (center) with Heather (to his left) and myself (to his right) along with his wife Toby, (far left) and cellist Glenn Fischbach (far right) at Lake Luzerne, NY.

My wife Heather has an aunt who is a lymphoma survivor, and her cello teacher, Stephen Kates, succumbed to the disease in 2003, and a mentor of hers, cellist Bert Phillips, a longtime member of the Philadelphia Orchestra and founder of the Luzerne Music Center, passed away from the disease in 2009.

Stephen Kates (2nd from left) with Heather (2nd from right) and other students from his cello studio at Peabody Conservatory.

In 2007 she did the full marathon to raise money and pay tribute to her aunt and teacher, and this fall she will be doing a half marathon here in Portland to continue to raise money for this amazing organization.

Heather with her mother (L) and aunt (R) at the 2007 Portland Marathon finish line.

The LLS has important ties to the Portland medical community.  They helped to fund clinical trials for the important cancer drug Gleevec/Glivec run by OHSU oncologist Brian Druker confirming the drug’s efficacy in fighting chronic myelogenous (or myeloid) leukemia (CML).

So, if you’re so inclined, click on the ‘Donate’ link to the right and help further the cause of cancer research and patient aid through the Leukemia & Lymphonma Society.

Thanks!