A Message from the Maestro
Following the lead of our orchestral collegues from the Philadelphia Orchestra and the San Diego Symphony, your Los Angeles Symphonic Winds have accepted an invitation from the Chinese government to visit and perform in the Beijing, Shanghai and Nanchang areas of China this coming winter. Venues will include some of Eastern China’s most spectacular concert halls. Among these are the Taicang Grand Theatre, Nanchang Arts Center, Ningbo Grand Theatre, Hangzhou Theatre and the Xiaoshan Grand Theatre
As many of you know, we are bringing 70 of our members for this 12 day tour as well as the internationally acclaimed saxophone soloist, Dale Underwood, LA Winds alumni soloist Sam Armstrong from the Curtis Institute of Music and Taiwan native and flute soloist Wei Li Kang. Although the Chinese are taking care of all our expenses once we arrive in China, we are responsible for our trans-pacific transportation as well as the required visas. We are well on the way towards our goal of raising the nearly $100,000 needed to
finance our air fare and work visa costs, with much of this money coming from funds generated by our season subscriptions and our own individual band members. We are hoping to raise additional funds through a combination of governmental, corporate, foundation and private sources. As of the beginning of October, we are only $5,000 short of our goal-- but we need your help to meet that goal!
There are three ways you can help. First of all, if are not already a subsciber to our season series, fill out the enclosed form, join our LA Winds family and subscribe to the remaining concerts in our season series.
Secondly, if you already are a subsciber, plan to be a subscriber, or simply want to help the Winds, order one or more of our attractive gift packages, just click on the link above.. Funds generated from the sale of these attractive and commeorative items will go directly to offseting our China tour costs.
Finally, participate in the Ralphs Community Rewards Program. Regardless of how often you attend LA Winds concerts or how many gift packages you order, you can also help us simply by shopping at Ralphs. We’ll enroll you in the program, and every time you shop at Ralphs, 2% of your bill will go to the LA Winds. Over the years, we’ve raised nearly $50,000 this way. Simply fill in the requested information on the insert and you’ll be one of our 300+ contributors. Remember, there is no cost to you. In fact, as a Ralphs Rewards Card holder, you’ll save every time you shop. Just put in your phone number when you checkout !
The LA Winds have received a great deal of critical acclaim both here in the US and abroad. We have performed extensively throughout California, the western United States, New York, New Orleans and Chicago. On the international level, we’ve performed in both western and eastern Canada, England, France, Italy, Luxembourg and Hungary. Our 2013 tour, however, presents us with our first opportunity to perform in Asia. It also gives us the chance to present America’s unique brand of concert band music to thousands of Chinese concert-goers—most of whom are unfamiliar with the concert band medium. The LA Winds, with your help, have the opportunity to advance the cause of concert band music in the world’s second largest and most rapidly growing economy. It is also our hope that the LA Winds will provide a source of inspiration for aspiring young Chinese wind players and their families so that wind players, wind ensembles and concert bands become an integral part of the Chinese cultural community.
With your help the LA Winds can help develop that kind of musical landscape in the world’s most populous nation. At the same time, we hope to come away with a more profound understanding of the Chinese people and their own rich cultural heritage. Even more important, however, is our mission to help the Chinese understand our own cultural heritage—one that cherishes individuality, diversity and freedom of expression. We look forward to your help in this exciting cultural adventure!
