Symphony Notes
Read the February 2021 edition of Symphony Notes (3.7MB pdf), the newsletter published by the Guild.

Purpose
The Guild is the highly dedicated support group and fund-raising branch of the symphony; it has been a (large, active!) auxiliary of the Symphony Association since 1963. Its purpose is to stimulate interest in the Livermore-Amador Symphony and to provide financial support. Membership is open to all who share this goal.

Virginia McFann and Marie Ruzicka
Two strong women died in late December 2020 and will be greatly missed: Virginia McFann was 88 years old, and Marie Ruzicka was 91. They had shared a music stand as violin players in the LAS orchestra long ago, and both were very active behind the scenes at LAS for many years.

Marie was a member of the Guild’s nominating committee and co-chair of the Estate Sales committee at the time of her death. She had been a guiding light in managing, preparing for, and publicizing major fundraising activities of the Guild for years, from Treasures & Trivia sales to Appraisal Days to estate sales.

Virginia was the orchestra manager for years, doing everything from picking up and distributing mail sent to the LAS post office box to rounding up content for the Symphony Notes newsletter to picking up beverage-sales permits for Pops concerts. An article about her titled Community Mourns the Loss of Orchestra Manager was published in the Independent on 1/7/21.
 

Winter Meeting, 1/17/21
Because of the pandemic, Guild President Beth Wilson presided over this Sunday-afternoon meeting via Zoom. After a short business meeting, Music Director Lara Webber explained how the pandemic had affected procedures for the 2020–2021 LAS Competition for Young Musicians. Then Competition Chair Jutta Massoud introduced videos of selected entrants Alexander Canicosa-Miles (cello), Ethan Shin (cello), and Dustin Breshears (violin).

Winter Meeting, 1/19/20

Guild president Kathy Streeter opened a brief business meeting which included an update on Guild Estate Sales—three sales are in the works! Competition chair Jutta Massoud introduced the music program, which began with pianist Andrew Navruzyan, a sophomore at Campolindo High in Moraga, who performed Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” Next, vocalist Hannah Kang, a junior at Dublin High, performed “Pie Jesu” from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Requiem, followed by Mozart’s “Bester Jüngling.” The program concluded with pianist Celicia Thendean, a sixth grader at Harvest Park Middle School in Pleasanton, who performed Chopin’s Ballade No. 1 in G minor and the first movement of Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor.

 
Sipping with the Symphony at Page Mill Winery, 9/26/19

Photos thanks to LAS Artistic Director and Conductor Lara Webber, who wrote, “Being part of this crowd is really fun, and the pictures reveal that fully (I hope). Thanks to all! Thank you for so warmly welcoming my mom, Carol, too.”
 

 
The Lachner Octet (Barbara Brown, flute;
Eva Langfeldt, oboe; Christy Diggins and
Cyndy Salmon, clarinet; Michael Garvey
and Katie Brunner, bassoon; and
Bob Satterford and Dave Lyons, horn)
played at the luncheon meeting on 5/15/19.
 

 
Nan Davies as host.
 

Meetings
The Guild meets four times a year (and its board meets about ten times a year); each meeting includes music and food in addition to a short business meeting. The first meeting each season is a prelude party in September, usually with a program by Valley Dance Theatre; other meetings are usually in January, April, and May.

Activities

 
Linda Tinney, then Guild President (at left),
with Music Director Lara Webber
while showing a bit of San Francisco to
cello soloist Austin Huntington on 4/6/16.
 

 
Guild members crafted dreamcatchers
to use for Pops decorations in October 2015.
 

The Guild’s activities are varied; for example, the Guild handles the annual season-ticket campaign of the Symphony, presents pops concerts, publishes a newsletter, organizes estate sales, and provides refreshments at the Association’s annual general meeting. In September 2017, the Guild raised hundreds of dollars at a late afternoon / evening event at Page Mill Winery, “Sipping with the Symphony” — featuring music performed by chamber groups of LAS orchestra members; additional Sipping events at Page Mill took place in 2018 and 2019. The Guild also raised several hundred dollars through Patxi’s Pizza in Livermore in 2018.

Bylaws
The current LAS Guild bylaws (89K pdf) went into effect on July 1, 2016.

Join the Guild!
Membership types: Active members ($20/year) participate in all Guild activities; Associate members ($35/year) participate in at least one activity; and Friends ($50/year) are informed about Guild activities but not required to help.

To join the Guild, send your contact info (name / address / phone(s) / e-mail) and a check payable to LAS Guild to the Membership Chair, LAS Guild, PO Box 1049, Livermore CA 94551. Note any areas you’d be especially interested in helping with. Or print and fill out an application form and mail it in with your check.

Note: The application form is a pdf document; open it with Adobe Reader.

For more information, please email Guild President Beth Wilson at eaw1647@att.net or phone her at 925.447.7270.