August 23, 2007
Dear MSOC member,
I hope you have had a great summer!!! Now it is time for you to get ready for the 48th season of MSOC. The board of directors and committees have been working hard this summer to put things in place for the upcoming season. Our first rehearsal is on September 10, 2007.
Included with this letter are the rehearsal schedule and a listing of the music for each concert. Orchestra members please note the new time for rehearsals - 7:30 to 10:00 which is now the same as the chorale. For orchestra members also, the instrumentation markings for the April concert may not be accurate. We will update those as soon as we can. There are a couple of places and dates that we are working on filling in that are shown as TBA.
Also included with this letter is a copy of the program ad form for 2007-2008. Jody Danielson has taken this effort over for me. Please use it to get businesses you deal with or work for to advertise in our programs. Current advertisers are being contacted by Jody.
In a separate mailing, you will be receiving the subscription brochure for the season. Please remember that all performing members of MSOC are strongly requested to purchase at least a single subscription or a donation of at least that value. This is a form of support that the organization needs from you over and above your time, energy and love of music that you all bring to every rehearsal and concert.
MSOC is now a member of the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce. We hope to use our membership as a networking tool to get our existence out to the business community. We will be getting more information to you about how you can participate in the many events and activities that the chamber holds. Leslie Lisle is our contact with the GMCC. Please check out their website at manchesterchamber.com.
Grace Shuman has been working on an updated version of the Membership Handbook. Copies will be sent by e-mail and some hard copies will be available by the first rehearsal or soon after. Please take the time to look at it. There will be an updated section on resolving problems or issues as well as an updated board member roster.
There will also be a list of committees and support teams available at the first rehearsal or soon after. Please take a look at it and see if there is something listed there that you would be interested in helping out with. You can get in touch with any board member or committee chair to get more information. As with any volunteer organization, a small number of the members do the majority of the work to keep the organization running. Those individuals would welcome some additional help.
We can begin using the back entrance to the music wing of the high school that we used to use again this year. The entrance to the back parking lot is either from Middle Turnpike or Summit Street. The exit is onto the side street, Summit Street. There is no parking near the back door so if you have to drop something or someone off, please pull in to do that and then park in the lot. If anything changes about this before the first rehearsal, we'll put it on the website.
There will be a meeting at the beginning of the first rehearsal on September 10 to go over some things about the season. It will be in the one of the rehearsal rooms we use since the auditorium is still under construction. Emily Bradley, our fundraising chairperson, will speak about our budget and the various ways you can help raise funds. There will be other information about the season's programming, Chamber of Commerce, opera trip, Entertainment Books etc. discussed as well. We will try to keep it as short as possible but there is a lot of information to pass along to you.
I will not be at the first two rehearsals due to long standing vacation plans. Your two Vice Presidents, Lydia Messerschmidt and Sean MacDonald will run the meeting.
Please help MSOC in as many ways as you can: recruit new members, get local businesses to take out ads in our programs, volunteer on a committee, see if your company has matching gift or mini grant programs and make use of them to make your contributions go further, purchase Entertainment Books, go on the Opera trip, donate thru the United Way, sell tickets to our concerts and of course purchase your subscription.
I want to thank all of you who pledged thru The Birdies for Charity program this summer. We received pledges of over $1000. Good job!!!!!!
I am looking forward to a great season. I hope you all are also. Working together we can make it happen!!!! I will be leaving on vacation September 7 and will return on September 19. Other than during that time, please don't hesitate to get in touch with me if you have any questions. My home phone is 860-875-2257, my cell phone is 860-573-4906 and my e-mail is lrcromwell@aol.com.
Respectfully,
Linda Cromwell
MSOC President
