Peter Schmitt

It hardly seems possible, but Performing at Fawn Lake just passed its first anniversary of bringing world-class talent into our community to perform for us. Thank you for your tremendous support, and for sharing your invaluable guidance along the way to help us shape the overall concert experience in our hosted events. We really do pay attention to those membership and audience surveys and try our best to adopt changes that contribute most to your enjoyment of live music here. All of us on the leadership team are focused now on building our club’s event calendar for 2024. We plan to schedule four music events in the coming calendar year, approximately one per quarter, with room for one more in case something completely irresistible unexpectedly falls into our laps. We want to lock in as many artists as possible in order to give all club members plenty of time to plan along with us. As you know, we are only interested in hosting world-class talent for our events, so you may be wondering what our specific criteria are for engaging the artists. Following are the guidelines we have adopted. In each hosted event, at least one performing artist must meet at least one of these criteria: Had a starring role in a Broadway production (in NYC or London’s West End), Is a Grammy Award winner, A recently featured soloist (instrumental or vocal) with one or more of the world’s leading symphonic orchestras, An endowed chair holder with one of the world’s leading symphonic or jazz orchestras, Medalist in one or more of the major music competitions in the world, Under contract as a soloist or featured ensemble musician with a major recording label, A professional ensemble that regularly performs live across our nation and/or internationally. We chose these criteria carefully to keep our efforts focused on the PAFL founding principles and charter. Over the last year, three of our 309 members expressed interest in PAFL expanding our club’s scope to host local or ‘regional’ musicians. With so many other venues in the area that regularly feature local and regional talent, we don’t think PAFL has anything valuable to offer to them. Don’t forget, we are all volunteers! Putting on four – or perhaps five – major productions here in a year’s time is our sweet spot, and we don’t want you to get audience fatigue, either. There is much more to share with you about how we are evolving our club to make things even better, but more about that later. All the best, Peter SchmittEvents Chair

/*! elementor – v3.17.0 – 08-11-2023 */ .elementor-widget-image{text-align:center}.elementor-widget-image a{display:inline-block}.elementor-widget-image a img[src$=”.svg”]{width:48px}.elementor-widget-image img{vertical-align:middle;display:inline-block} Greetings! All of the volunteers for Performing Arts at Fawn Lake are focused now on hosting our very first Jazz concert on February 23rd, when Marcus and Riza Printup will dazzle us with their amazing talents. Be sure to put this event on your calendars. But there is a lot of time between now and then, so I thought it would be helpful to compile a short list of noteworthy music events taking place through the holidays and into January that are within a reasonable distance from Fawn Lake. Here goes – National Symphony Orchestra, The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC              NSO has a lot going on. Pianist Yefim Bronfman will headline the NSO with Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 November 30th – December 2nd. Then on December 7th the NSO Salutes the Military with a Holiday Pops concert with Broadway Star Norm Lewis (this one is free to all current, retired and veteran military members). On January 14th the Kennedy Center Chamber Players hold their Winter Concert. Then Violinist Gil Shaham plays Dvorak’s Violin Concert with the NSO from January 18th – 21st. Check it all out here and more at https://www.kennedy-center.org/nso/home/concerts-and-tickets/all-nso-events/. Fredericksburg Symphony Orchestra             FSO’s Holiday Pops concert on December 15th is sold out, but there are still seats available for their Valentine’s Special ‘Romantic Fantasies’ on February 9th at Lifepoint Auditorium. Here is their schedule of coming events https://fredericksburgsymphony.org/all-concerts/. Richmond Symphony               Holiday Brass will be performed at the Louis F. Ryan Recital Hall in Richmond from December 2nd – 3rd, and The Nutcracker at Carpenter Theatre from December 7th – 10th and again December 15th – 17th and 20th – 24th. Then they will perform a full schedule in January, starting with a Tribute to Richard Smallwood from January 12th – 13th. Check out their full concert schedule at https://www.richmondsymphony.com/calendar/list/. Baltimore Symphony Orchestra        This is a bit of a trek from Fawn Lake, but BSO has a really good calendar of events. Check it out here https://my.bsomusic.org/events. Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra        JLCO (including Marcus Printup!) will be on tour with a stop at the Strathmore in North Bethesda, MD, on January 26th https://www.jambase.com/show/jazz-at-lincoln-center-orchestra-music-center-at-strathmore-20240126. Blues, Country, Rock, Reggae, Latin and Other Genres      Check out the live music scene in Fredericksburg covering many other music genres in the coming weeks at https://www.bandsintown.com/c/fredericksburg-va/all-dates/genre/all-genres#search. Enjoy, Peter SchmittEvents Chair

It is no secret that live music performance outside of rock and rap have been on the decline in America for several decades now. This is especially noticeable in the classical music realm, where the generations most familiar with this type of music are fading away. Quite commonly now, the major established concert venues across the country have empty seats even for what the old-timers would have called ‘masterpiece’ performances, headlined with the top soloists in the world. Why is that? A lot has to do with changing tastes in music. And, sadly, in recent decades public schools across the nation have by-and-large dropped classical music elements from general curricula, condemning it to the unknown for millions of children. For sure, the Covid pandemic upset performance schedules for two straight years globally. And there exist excellent recordings of all the major classical pieces performed by the world’s greatest musicians going back to the early part of the 20th century. If you don’t have the best-of-the-best on CD or DVD, you can surely stream them; so why shell out for a live performance? Well, throughout the ages and to the present day the world has always witnessed the emergence of talented musicians who dedicate their lives to their art, and they continue to congregate in great performing ensembles, large and small, around the world. These immensely dedicated artists want to perform. It isn’t always just about collecting a paycheck, either. They feel the need to share their exceptional art and talent in a highly personal way, and they derive energy from their audiences. Everyone treasures their personal connections, and the world’s top performers are no different when it comes to playing before a live audience. Word of great places to play before great audiences travels fast in the music world. You may ask, ‘don’t the top musicians only perform in the largest music venues in the world?’ The short answer is ‘no.’ Performers like to perform where their art and talent are deeply appreciated, and they do try to fit special smaller venues into their busy schedules when they can. It also helps if the smaller venues are associated with other pleasures in life such as, say, a community of truly friendly and generous people who welcome them, or maybe even one of the absolute best golf courses in Virginia. Most of us classical music and jazz fans know about the famous small venues where the greats often play – Carnegie Hall’s famous Weill Recital Hall in NYC (268 seats), or the Chicago Cultural Center (550 seats), just to name a few. They tend to be fully booked. You would be absolutely astonished at the number of immensely talented and famous performers who appear at the small university venues in our part of the world. So, why not perform before a loving audience at Fawn Lake’s Community Clubhouse (146 seats) or FLCC’s Cove (225 seats) if you are a famous musician with another gig in Washington or our general neighborhood? All the best,PeterEvents Committee