Dear Music Festival Family and Friends:
We hope that this letter finds you, your family, and friends well. We are living in a unique and challenging time amidst the coronavirus virus pandemic. In light of the pandemic, on March 23, the New Hampshire Music Festival Board made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 season due to recommendations from New Hampshire public health experts. Our decision is consistent with decisions being made by many other regional and national orchestras. We must keep the safety of our patrons, musicians, Festival and PSU staff foremost in our mind.
Over the past eight months, our Music Director, Paul Polivnick, along with key staff and Board Artistic Advisory Committee members, worked hard to prepare the 2020 Season that was to celebrate the 250th birthday anniversary of Beethoven as well as the 68th Season of the Festival. Guest artists were prepared to join us to present some of Beethoven’s most beloved music. We were thrilled to be able to bring back to the Festival a symphony by Alan Hovhaness, “Loon Lake,” that we had commissioned many years ago and that featured sounds of our local loons. There was great excitement to work with Choral Director Jenny Cooper and an anticipated 100-member volunteer chorus of voices from across the state to present Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 as the season finale. The Festival also looked forward to presenting creative musical experiences through its Music in the Mountains community outreach initiative—from a concert on barges on Squam Lakes to our much-beloved ensembles at Café Monte Alto, the Rey Cultural Center, and Taylor Community Center.
At this time, we anticipate presenting in 2021 as much as possible of the planned 2020 programing, so you have a “sneak peek” into the musical pleasures that await you in the summer of 2021. Our extraordinarily popular chamber concert series will also be back in 2021.
Between now and next summer, we will continue to plan and present our school education programs in order to be a part of the welcoming of students back to class. We will continue to refurbish donated instruments and put them into the hands of young music students through our L.I.N.K. program. In addition, the Board and staff will be working on opportunities, when it is appropriate to do so, to bring the Festival musicians to Plymouth to present chamber music and recital concerts so that the Festival can remain a part of the fabric of our community.
We hope that you will continue to invest in the New Hampshire Music Festival so that we can continue to enlarge our footprint and relationships in this wonderful community. We cannot do this without your support. We will stay in touch with you throughout the year to share news and upcoming events.
Most importantly to us, however, is that you stay safe and well so that we can all be together again soon.
Phil Boulter, Board Chair
Lucinda Williams, Executive Director
