Dear Friends,

As we begin a season celebrating my 25th year with the Salisbury Symphony, I will treasure all the wonderful concerts you will have shared with me across a quarter of a century and hope you enjoy this year's presentation!

Since I will be in Venice in the fall, our season starts with the North Carolina Symphony presenting the haunting overture to Weber's opera Der Freischutz (The Free Shot) as well as the lively one to Mozart's opera The Marriage of Figaro.  They'll do a monumental First Symphony by Brahms as well.  In December the beauty, talents and antics of the Piedmont Dance Theatre will again enliven The Nutcracker.  On Ground Hog Day, we'll explore the arts: vocal arts with Megan Cleaveland through Mozart's "Popoli di Tessagua", dancing arts with Eine Kleine Nachtmusik members of the Piedmont Dance Theatre, and the dramatic arts with a suite from Prokoviev's incredible Romeo and Juliet.

In March we'll present Ravel and Debussy on the first half before the final Brahms Symphony on the second half (a first for the Salisbury Symphony!).  Pianist Dmitri Shteinberg will join us for the Debussy Fantasie for Piano and Orchestra while we'll begin with Ravel's homage to the Baroque Tombeau de Couperin.  In April we'll present the Family Concert at Livingstone featuring examples of what good music education can do for everyone.  It'll even include a work that I wrote (way back!) in high school - the one that my bio has always said that the Indianapolis Symphony performed when I was a senior.  We'll talk about how youths today can get even more involved in music, and we'll hear some examples of great players who started young.  In May we'll celebrate the end of my 25th year with a pops concert including some exciting encores from previous seasons.  Someone said you wanted to hear me play, so Daniel Skidmore and I will do the Bach Concerto to Two Violins.  He'll still play the first part!   (I'm sure it'll be like Isaac Stern and Jack Benny - but I'll do my best!)  Finally the Pops at the Post will return and I can walk to the performance!

At least after twenty-five years, I now can feel like a true Rowan County citizen, right?  Isn't that right, y'all?  It hardly seems possible, but if a half century is possible (and if that's what you'd like!), perhaps I'll be writing on twenty-five more brochures!