One Grand Night
Join us for “One Grand Night,” a fundraising event benefiting Spectrum Chamber Music Society, on Thursday, May 27 starting at 7:00 pm, in-person in our beautiful and historic
Sanctuary. After a year of presenting livestream-only events, this will be Spectrum’s first live, in-person event since the pandemic began in early 2020! The concert will also be live-streamed, both for our out-of-town audience and for those who do not feel comfortable around crowds.
Reflecting on his own thoughts and feelings about returning to in-person performance after more than a year of your “Six-Feet-Apart” virtual venues, Spectrum Director Dan Sigale says, “We are so thankful for the support we have received during this challenging period. The livestream-only events we have presented with First United Methodist Church allowed us to not only reach the members of our own community, but also people around the country and the world. Understandably, however, the artists have missed the incredible feeling we get from performing to a live, in-person audience, and we are looking forward to reconnecting musically with our supporters. (Of course, we also hope to continue to livestream our in-person performances for the benefit of our out-of-town fans.)”
Sigale says that this extra-special end-of-season event will be “one grand night” for so many reasons, but most especially because Miguel Harth-Bedoya, FWSO’s Music Director Laureate, will be making his Spectrum debut as he conducts a 13-musician ensemble in Mozart’s beloved Serenade No. 10 in B-Flat Major, better known as his Gran Partita. “This piece is large in scale,” Sigale explains, “and is very much at home alongside Mozart’s great symphonies. When we began to think about having live, in-person performances again, we knew we wanted to come back with something big and exciting to celebrate a new, post-pandemic chapter — something bright and sunny that conveys a sense of optimism for the future. Mozart’s Gran Partita checks all those boxes.”
“As a bonus, we were fortunate to get Miguel Harth-Bedoya, who ended his 20-year tenure with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra at the end of last season, to conduct our fantastic wind ensemble, made up of FWSO musicians and other fine artists from the area. Because the end of Miguel’s tenure collided with the pandemic and the resulting shutting down of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra for pretty much the rest of that season, our orchestra and his fans missed out on the opportunity to give him a proper send-off. Thankfully, since the FWSO began presenting live concerts again last fall, Miguel has been able to lead the orchestra a few more times, including our recent performance of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. He remains very popular in Fort Worth classical music circles, so we couldn’t imagine a better artist to have a starring role in the most ambitious event in Spectrum history!”
And following this fantastic conclusion to Spectrum’s 34th Season, an exclusive outdoor meet-and-greet reception organized by Spectrum Board Member Dotty Hall will immediately follow the concert in our beautiful Garden courtyard,
Those who would like to attend our event can purchase tickets to the concert and reception for $75 or the concert only for $25 through our Ticket Tailor page. In addition, there are sponsorship levels of $150, $250, and $500, if people would like to support Spectrum in a larger way (sponsorships include between one and four tickets to the concert and reception). People have until May 23 to reserve their places at the reception — beginning May 24, only concert tickets will be available.
“Our regular-season performances are free,” Sigale adds, “so we rely on donations and sponsorships to compensate our musicians for their time and talent. The proceeds from this event will go toward increasing the amount we are able give these artists. For almost 25 years, Spectrum has been fortunate to have First United Methodist Church as both a financial sponsor and as a home base, and we are thankful that they have continued to sponsor us (in many ways) since the pandemic began. However, due to the inability to have in-person concerts, we lost out on the donations we usually receive from audiences at our east side concerts at First Jefferson Unitarian Universalist Church. This season, we also brought Spectrum to the next level by incorporating and receiving 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit status, which came with its own expenses. So we felt that this fundraiser — the first of its kind in Spectrum’s history — would be a great way to increase our kitty, thereby translating into more artist compensation.”
Sigale says he is especially excited about the “One Grand Night” raffle, the winner of which will be able to host a private Spectrum concert in their home. He explains, “If you’ve ever been to a chamber music house concert, you already know how amazing the experience is. There’s something about the intimacy of a performance with a smaller audience in a private home that is special for both the attendees and the artists. And as we begin to come out of the darkest days of the pandemic, we are confident that the new normal will include the ability to gather again in venues of all sizes. So we thought it would be a great idea to hold a raffle in which the prize is the opportunity to host a private Spectrum house concert in the winner’s own home! We will provide the music and musicians for a one-hour program and leave it up to the winner to decide what else they want to do to make their event special. Raffle tickets are $25 per ticket, with a special deal of five tickets for $100. They can be ordered online through Ticket Tailor or in person on the night of the event, but the winner does not need to be present at the drawing to win…although they will need to live in the area, of course.”