Page 4 - JUNE2023

Page 4
Community
By: leslie sanderson
Music lovers rejoice! Quiet heroes have ensured that the New Hampshire Music Festi- val will present its 71st season at the Silver Center for the Arts in Plymouth and other Lakes Region venues with live classical music.
There’s a back story that tells how this unlikely season came about, and it speaks to the ded- ication and love that Festival mu- sicians hold for our community and each other.
In late January, the NHMF Board of Directors, facing a fund-
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housing the musicians to securing venues and selling performance tickets, with the assistance of two part-time employees.
For the first time ever, the mu- sicians selected all of the music for the program, pulling their best-loved pieces from their rep- ertoires. This labor of love was accomplished outside of their regular day jobs as full-time mu- sicians.
The 2023 Season will pri-
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ing deficit, announced they were going to dissolve the festival. The musicians were shocked. Some had been traveling to Plymouth for over 40 years to be part of the orchestras. Double bass player Joe Higgins explained,“ We got an email saying the Festival was shutting down. We had no
inkling this would happen.” A festival musician for 25 years, Joe felt that the 70-year history deserved to continue. “This is an excellent group of musicians, long-time friends, and colleagues. I love working with them and didn’t want it to end.” So, Joe
and cellist Tido Janssen reached out to other NHMF musicians, and they hatched a plan to revive the festival for a 71st season.
The Covid 19 pandemic was partially to blame for the festival’s financial troubles. But the com- munication technology that be- came commonplace during the pandemic allowed the musicians to create a plan to save it. Using communication tools like Zoom and Google Workspace, two dozen musicians from all over the U.S. designed and planned a 2023 Season in just eight weeks. Then they had to convince a skeptical Board and donors to give them a chance.
A 23-year festival veteran, Tido remarked, “Joe and the team put together a very inno- vative plan with flexibility so we could adjust the Season, depend- ing on funds raised
and performance venues se- cured. The Board was impressed with the thought and planning that we put into the 2023 pro- posal, and we persuaded them to save the festival.”
The Board won over two gen- erous donors who helped them pay off the outstanding debt. Then the musicians began to work on their plan and raise the funds they needed to present this coming season. The musicians created volunteer teams of mu- sicians and community members to handle every facet of the day- to-day festival operations - from
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marily be at the Silver Center at Plymouth State University: July 13, July 20, and July 27, all at 7:00 pm in the Hanaway Theater. (Early enough for your kids and grandkids to attend and experience excellent classical music.) There will be chamber
concerts in Gilford and other Regional venues. Beloved Con- ductor Laureate Paul Polivnick will return for the season.
When this article went to print, season ticket holders were being notified of renewal op- tions, with single tickets sold after that. The volunteer teams ask you to be patient in purchasing tickets. For ticket information, go to nhmf.org
They’ve come so far in a very short time, and now the Festival needs your help, and we need their music! So let’s lend a hand to this unique cultural organiza- tion. Volunteers Carol and Roger LaFontaine live in Hebron and are on the “Friends of the Fes- tival” team helping to raise re- sources from the Newfound area. Carol says, “We are delighted that the musicians of the New Hampshire Music Festival have joined forces to return to our community for the 2023 season.
Congratulations to them for fund-raising to reach their goal of supporting their three weeks of programming in July. We hope you will be able to attend many of the concerts!!”
You can become a “Friend of the Festival.” To volunteer or offer suggestions, call 603-238- 9007 or email info@nhmf.org.
To make a donation, go to nhmf.org and click DONATE or mail a check to NHMF at P.O. Box 64, Plymouth, NH 03264.
You can also pledge a do- nation and pay it over time. To discuss your pledge, contact Joe Higgins at nhmf.musicians@ gmail.com / 603-238-9007 or Tido Janssen at tido@nhmf.org / 603-238-9007.
To be added to the Festival e-newsletters, email cjoe@nhmf. org or tido@nhmf.org
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