Your Network, Voice and Forum for Classical Music in the West

Touchdown!

Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA), led by Los Angeles Philharmonic music & artistic director Gustavo Dudamel, will perform during the Pepsi Super Bowl 50 Halftime Show on Sunday, February 7 on CBS. The show will echo elements of the NFL's On the Fifty campaign - honoring the past, recognizing the present and looking ahead to the next 50 years. Dudamel will be joined on the stage by students from the program's YOLA at EXPO site in South L.A., a partnership of the LA Phil, Harmony Project, and the EXPO Center (a Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks facility).

Links at Your Fingertips

Just Out! Read Winter ACSONews

ACSO Annual Conference Marriott Hotel Registration is Open

The Association of California Symphony Orchestras (ACSO) is searching for its next Executive Director. Read the job description here

Have you renewed your membership? Join today

Ask an Expert Webinar

The Art of the Relationship: Using Contracts and Negotiations Creatively, Strategically, and Artfully

Brian Taylor Goldstein, partner, Goldstein & Guilliams PLLC

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

11 AM - 12 PM PST

Things You Should Know

Here's some news about The James Irvine Foundation's evolving focus.

"At Irvine, we have concluded that we have a responsibility to focus more of our efforts and our grantmaking on the millions of Californians who deserve greater opportunity to achieve economic success for their families and to meaningfully participate in an effective democracy.

So, as we move forward, we will focus on expanding economic and political opportunity for families and young adults who are working but struggling with poverty." Read More.

The California Arts Council has published a commemorative book profiling stories of forty grantees, past and present (ACSO is one of them), celebrating 40 years of the CAC. The online publication can be viewed here.

Senator Ben Allen, chair of the Joint Committee on the Arts, introduced legislation on January 27 to establish single-subject teaching credentials for dance and theatre. Although music, dance, theater and visual arts are all core subjects for California schools, only music and visual arts teachers can get teaching credentials in their art form. The legislation, Senate Bill 916 - the Theatre and Dance Act (TADA!) - was proposed in response to concerns raised at a hearing of the Joint Committee on the Arts held last fall on the status of visual and performing arts in schools. Read More.

Up and Down the Scale

The Santa Rosa Symphony has announced that Jenny Bent will be the choral director for the Symphony. Bent's two-year appointment will begin with the 2016-17 concert season. Jenny Bent, DMA, is director of choral activities at Sonoma State University and project manager of Chanticleer's summer program. She is a graduate of Boston University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Take a listen to Santa Rosa Symphony's executive director Alan Silow on The 707 Show, an online and broadcast program with business people, politicians and other influential individuals from around Sonoma County. The video is now available for viewing on YouTube.

Music Notes

The Las Vegas Philharmonic announced that the musicians have approved and ratified a new 36-month collective bargaining agreement. The new agreement includes slight increases in base pay over the next three years. Musicians also receive increases in fringe benefits, including seniority pay and travel accommodations for traveling musicians.

The Santa Cruz Symphony is a recipient of the invitation-only Sponsor Grant Program of Arts Council Santa Cruz County. Totaling $13,500, the grant is for ongoing, general operating funds.

Youth Orchestra Confab

Friday March 11, 2016 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Union Bank Community Room, 995 Higuera St., San Luis Obispo

hosted by the San Luis Obispo Symphony

This annual Confab is an event specifically for Youth Orchestra managers - a time to gather together and discuss a wide range of concerns and ideas such as programming, rehearsal spaces, fundraising, challenges to enrollment, touring, etc.

It's a wonderful way to glean from others and to brainstorm solutions to common challenges.

For questions: miyoung@slosymphony.com

ACSO Out and About

Guest pianist Charlie Albright signing his CDs

They sell ice cream in the concert hall at California Symphony!

California Symphony executive director Aubrey Bergauer, California Symphony Board member Charles Boyd in
Walnut Creek Jan. 24

Jim Waters, Kris Sinclair, Brenda Jew Waters at the California Arts Council's 40 Years
Celebration in Sacramento Jan. 27

Thank you to our partners: