Community Arts

Encore, Encore! (re-named from Parlor Music) was held on March 18-19, 2016 at the Washington County Historic Courthouse. This program captured the nostalgia of the origins of chamber music - small groups of friends performing together in the home. Encore, Encore! offered an evening of nostalgic time-travel, a program that might have been heard in a place like Stillwater a century ago. The music would have been light and approachable, perhaps what we consider “classical pops” today. The intimate and historic venue of the courthouse provided the perfect setting for a program of “salon music,” performed as entertainment for family and friends as it was originally. The program featured a wide variety of composers, including American, German, French and Italian music that might have been popular a century ago, from Schubert to Gershwin to Ravel and Puccini. Musicians performed in various combinations, providing a great deal of variety. The audience both nights was very enthusiastic and attendance was great at about 117 paid ticket-holders, along with 9 complimentary tickets. All artistic goals were met. Both performances were well attended, and musical quality was excellent. As always, the logistics of rehearsing and performing with so many different small ensembles in Encore, Encore! was challenging, but Music Saint Croix rose to the challenge. We received many favorable comments from audience members at the reception following both performances. Several audience members also contacted the board president during the week after the performances to say how much they enjoyed this kind of music. This grant also covered Music Saint Croix’s outreach concert at Boutwell’s Landing. Originally scheduled for April, the venue was unavailable at times our musicians could perform that month. An outreach concert featuring Music Saint Croix’s woodwind quintet was held on Saturday, July 16 at 2:00 p.m., as part of Boutwell’s “Saturday Surprise” series in the atrium. The program included a combination of classics and more popular dance-like tunes, by composers ranging from Beethoven and Mozart, to Percy Grainger, Victor Herbert and others. The seated audience numbered around 25-30, with many others passing through. Several residents commented that they enjoyed being able to hear the music in other areas of the building. As part of their “surprise” they passed out ice cream to everyone! The community served was exactly as in the proposal. 117 people were in the Encore, Encore! audience, which contained a good cross-section of music-lovers from Stillwater and the Saint Croix Valley. One change was to move the reception table with refreshments into the performance space rather than outside the door in the adjoining hallway. This made it much easier and more appealing for the audience and musicians to gather following the performance. 9 complimentary tickets were given to seniors and special guests. An increasing number of seniors and students attend at reduced rates; we are committed to maintaining low ticket prices so these people can afford to come to our concerts. At least one senior citizen thanks us for keeping ticket prices low at every single performance. The diversity within the intended community is primarily in two areas: age diversity and disability. People from a wide variety of income levels and all ages attended. All publicity mentions that concert sites are ADA accessible, and patrons with disabilities are frequently in the audience. The audience at Boutwell’s Landing was enthusiastic, and asked questions about the instruments – prompting a quick demo and explanation of single reed vs. double reed woodwinds. They have already asked us to return in the fall! As a direct response to our overall audience growth, Music Saint Croix is excited to announce that we will expand our concert season from three to four annual concerts. Beginning with our 2016-2017 season, we look forward to the opportunity to perform more frequently, with a wider variety of repertoire. (1) 117 attended Encore! Encore! with music by 13 different composers performed by 7 musicians. Performance quality was excellent, judging from audience response and evaluation of recordings. (2) More audience members engaged with musicians at the receptions because the refreshments were more convenient. (3) 25-30 were seated at Boutwell’s; many more heard the performance while passing by.