President: Julie Smith Phillips, harpjas@gmail.com
The San Diego Harp Society, local chapter of the American Harp Society, Inc., has various
activities planned for the upcoming 2015-16 season. As we have recently realigned our
membership dates to coordinate our membership and activities calendar with the national
AHS membership year, we are just beginning our season on September 1st, 2015.
Our first event is our Annual Twilight Tea Fundraiser, which is our biggest fundraising event for
the year. It will be held at a beautiful, private home in Rancho Santa Fe, CA on October 3, 2015 from 4-6 pm. In addition to delicious tea & light bites (donated by the board) and harp music
(provided by various attendees), we will have a silent audition, a 50/50 raffle drawing, and an
opportunity to purchase merchandise and music from the chapter's own library. We also have
three beautiful harps that the chapter is selling, which will be available to view and play at the
tea.
Over the course of the season, we have three guest artists coming to San Diego to perform. In
November, Ann Marie Liss will be presenting a concert and master class, Rachel Brandwein is
coming in January, 2016 to perform a concert and master class, and Yolanda Kondonassis will
be here in March. She is performing with the San Diego Symphony but will be presenting a
master class for the chapter during her stay.
For our chapter students, there are various opportunities for them to perform. Over the course of
the year, students have the opportunity to perform at the Ronald McDonald House in San Diego,
a home for patients and their families during times of medical need. March, 2016 we will feature
a 3-4 students (yet to be chosen) at an annual Mission Trails concert and this year our Annual
Student Recital will be held May 1, 2016 where all of the student members will be able to share
the fruits of their year-long labor! On the day of our Annual Student Recital, we also have a
Senior Scholarship Competition and we announce the winner(s) of that scholarship at the end of
the recital. It becomes a very full and exciting day for all!
After May/June the chapter finds that activities during these months are not as well attended,
due to the timing with school schedules.
Our Board recently updated the members and roles this past June. Here are now the new
members and their respective duties:
President: Julie Smith Phillip
Vice-President: Elena Mashkovtseva
Co-Secretaries: Tasha Smith Godinez/DeeDee Varner
Treasurer: Joan Thompson
In addition we have board members helping with the following positions:
Newsletter Editor/Webmaster: Cliff Taylor
Librarian/Historian/Social Media: Tasha Smith Godinez
Community Events/Advertising: JoAnn Schorn
Hospitality: Gretchen Smith
Fundraising/Special Events Coordinator: Kevin McCormick
