Dear Friends,

My very best greetings. In that we have now finished our winter/spring season – I know, and yet the snow continues… in spite of the weather, it was another glorious year. As I am sure you know, our programs were not only great fun – they featured some great, and I really do mean great soloists. I was so pleased that we were able to work with such high caliber artists, and not only were they terrific players, but they were also marvelous people! What a joy.

Our Music in the Schools is winding up with another great year. By the end of next week, we will have worked with 10,000 plus children – and they were good!! It was a thrill to see and hear them cheer Beethoven’s Storm scene from the “Sixth Symphony”, excerpts of Mendelssohn’s “Fingal’s Cave”, Dvorak’s “Water Goblin”, and Kathy Hardy, our special guest narrator and singer was her usual terrific self. She gave such life and fun to The Ugly Duckling, and the kids just loved her rendition of Down by the Riverside! Make sure to put our Northside Music and Arts Festival on your schedule this July for a chance to hear The Ugly Duckling for yourself!

As we look to the summer, and hopefully good weather (ha), I can assure you that we will have an equally great time. The June Summer Concert Series program will feature our own concert-mistress, Julia Persitz playing Bach’s E Major Violin concerto. Also on that program will be the seldom heard but delightful symphony by Luigi Cherubini. The July program will feature 25-30 of the area’s very talented music students joining our Sinfonia musicians in a week of intense rehearsals, all culminating in a performance of my favorite Tchaikowsky Symphony – the fifth. And we will have lots of family pops concerts, a special children’s concert at Mississippi Creative Elementary in St. Paul, and our Northside Music and Arts Festival in late July. All in all, we will have a full and festive summer!

As we all know, none of this would be possible without your continued generosity and support. I am not only grateful, but also truly overwhelmed. I am so very fortunate to have these opportunities to work with such gifted soloists, our own Sinfonia musicians, who are not only my esteemed colleagues, but also some of my closest friends. You make this happen! Thank you.

I am looking forward to seeing you soon. Until then, again I want to say thank you, and wish you

My very best regards,

Jay Fishman