Rush Hour @ 10: Introducing the 2009 Season

A week or so ago, we had Groundhog Day, which forecast six more weeks of winter. Despite the bad news of the little furry creature, I was optimistic: I had only to look at the tips of the maple trunks outside my studio window and the sky at 4:30 p.m. to know that spring is indeed around the corner. In fact, it’s been well underway since December 22, when we gained a millisecond more daylight than on the shortest day of the year, December 21!

Here in the land of Rush Hour, we all know what spring means: that summer is not far behind. Remember summer? The azure waters of Lake Michigan, the volleyball leagues on the beaches off Lake Shore Drive, folk walking down Michigan Avenue toward Oak Street beach in their swim togs, and, of course, Tuesdays! Tuesdays at 5:15 p.m.–every Tuesday from June through August–Rush Hour will be bringing you great music for busy lives.

I am happy to report that Rush Hour’s 10th anniversary season is off to the printers! As promised last month, I have posted it here for all to see first hand.

Our 2009 season holds the potential to top all previous seasons in variety, scope and number of artists. Our repertoire ranges from French Baroque to compositions created in honor of Rush Hour’s 10th anniversary. The season opens with clarinetist Larry Combs at the helm of Mozart’s “Gran Partita,” the woodwind serenade for 13 instruments (made famous in the movie Amadeus) and closes with the dynamic and innovative Third Coast Percussion. In between, we will travel to France, Germany and Switzerland with our consulate sponsors, including Couperin on Bastille Day, Bach with Bruce Barber–back by popular demand–and an eclectic program for tenor saxophone and organ featuring two of Switzerland’s most spirited composer/performers.

Ravel’s ravishing Piano Trio, Poulenc’s raucous Sextet for piano and winds, Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio in d minor, and Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 12 arranged for brass quintet reflect the “bread and butter” of classic chamber music repertoire.

Chicago poet Kevin Coval, now renowned for his Chicago-centric, social justice artistry will pair with pianist James Giles in a program celebrating “Everyday People,” as Kevin reads from his book of the same title, to the music of George Gershwin and Charles Ives. WIRED, the flutes of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), will be bringing us a dynamic combination of classic and contemporary duos. And, CSO principal oboist Eugene Izotov will be joining CSO cellist Katinka Kleijn and organist David Schrader for a program of baroque music.

Last but not least, the program voted most popular by RH audiences last summer to be repeated in celebration of our 10th anniversary year: An encore of 2007′s “A Cello Celebration,” now expanded to 8 celli and soprano in Villa Lobos’ arrestingly beautiful Bachian Brasileira, No. 5 with members of the CSO and Lyric Opera cello sections and soprano Maire O’Brien, conducted by Michael Mulcahy.

As the snow continues to melt, let us think about bulbs sprouting, temperatures warming, and the vibrancy of summer in Chicago just a few months away. Dust off your sunscreen and mark Tuesday evenings from 5:15-6:15 in your calendars now!

- Deborah Sobol
Artistic Director

Do You Have the Time?

If so, Rush Hour’s Fanfare Board wants you to get involved!

Whether you have an hour each Tuesday or an hour each month, Fanfare offers a range of ways to volunteer your time and talents year-round. Join other young professionals helping to produce the free summer concert series!

Learn more at a March 12 recruitment event (look for upcoming details here on rushhour.org) or email us at fanfare@rushhour.org.

Recommendations from the Artistic Director: February 2009

There’s still plenty of great music to enjoy this month–here are 3 recommendations that span genres AND the metropolitan area:

The University of Chicago Presents has a fantastic evening of music next Friday:

Takács Quartet
with Marc-André Hamelin, piano
Friday, February 20, 7:30 p.m.
Mandel Hall, 1131 E. 57th Street

Haydn: String Quartet in G major, op. 77, no. 1
Bartók: String Quartet No. 5, BB 110
Schumann: Piano Quintet in E-flat major, op. 44

Click here for tickets or more information.

For those of you interested in supporting a worthwhile world development project on the wings of a wonderfully entertaining vocal performer:

A Benefit Concert to Help Save Mothers’ Lives
Sunday, February 22, 4 p.m.
Christ Church Chapel, 470 Maple Street (at corner of Oak), Winnetka, IL
Suggested minimum donation: $25 per person

Join nationally renowned singer Claudia Schmidt and MacArthur Fellow Dr. Funmi Olopade at a concert and conversation to help save mothers’ lives.

RSVP to Imagine Chicago at 773-275-2520 or ubumama@imaginechicago.org
Reservations will be held at the door.

Choral splendor featuring Hoss Brock, heard frequently in RH vocal concerts:

Music of the Baroque
Bach’s Mass in B Minor
Monday, February 23, 7:30 p.m.
Harris Theatre

Nicholas Kraemer, conductor
Amy Conn, soprano
Tove Dahlberg, mezzo-soprano
Harold Brock, tenor
Thomas Meglioranza, baritone

Click here for tickets or more information.

Enjoy the music!

- Deborah Sobol
Artistic Director

For the Love of RH: The Journey of the Under-40 Challenge

In January of last year, I had a pivotal phone conversation with Margaret Bergan Davis, long-time friend of RH and member of the Advisory Committee. I can trace two successful ideas to this conversation: the formation of the RH Circle, and the creation of a challenge grant for the under-40 demographic that makes up a large percentage of our audience. If you have ever had a good idea that you’re not quite sure you can pull off, you may understand the physical response I had: elevated heart rate, huge butterflies (bats?) in my stomach, and that conviction: “I’m not sure we can do this, but BOY, if it works, it will be so cool!”

Thank goodness the 2008 Rush Hour Under-40 challenge match was an outstanding success!

So, because many of you have asked: here are the statistics! Overall, we had 41 donors in the age group. Approximately 78 percent of these were new donors to RH.

RH also had an increase in the number of overall donors: a 26% increase in the number of donors (186 to 234). It is safe to say that the 32 new under-40 donors account for the bulk of this increase.

These numbers excite me for two very important reasons: we know that this year, 17.5% of our donors were under 40, which correlates nicely with the fact that 20% of our audience (on average) was this age. We accomplished the most important part of the goal, which was stimulating ownership of the series from a significant and previously non-sustaining group.

But there’s more wonderful news: I’ve already received RH Circle pledges for this year from 2 of the under-40 group (that’s 5%). Those pledges constitute 100% increases from their 2008 gifts. Others have pledged their support of RH again in a variety of different ways.

Thomas Merton said, “If you have love, you will do all things well.” And that, my friends, is my final point about this challenge grant. In the world of fundraising, challenge grants are a marvelous tool: they create an impetus and extra motivation to action for a group that has good intentions and the desire to give but need that extra push, whatever it is. But this challenge also tapped into the love of RH that so many have and created an esprit de corps that I did not expect.

I decided back in October or November when we were hovering around the $3,700 mark that the under-40 challenge would succeed even if I personally shook the tin cup under the noses of my friends and family members or wrote the final check myself. I was blown away by the number of similar-thinking individuals, some of whom wrote a final check during December, and some of whom came to me and said, “If there is less than $5,000 when the money’s counted, I will make up the difference.”

This challenge turned into a personal journey for many of us, and I sincerely thank all of you who shared your love and resources to help raise $5,163 for this challenge. We hope we can count on your support again in 2009.

- Megan Balderston
Executive Director