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2021 Year End Appeal

Please Consider a Year End Donation

“Nothing quite compares to the magic of a live musical performance! The Santa Barbara Symphony is always amazing.”

“It is an all-engrossing experience.  I feel the music in my bones and emotionally. This is what music is all about.”
Symphony Patrons

Dear Friends,
In the many responses I received from patrons and students who attended the Symphony’s 2021/22 Season opening performance of Kismet, I’m hearing one word over and over:  JOY. 

So many other words of praise for The Symphony have been shared with me. I’m eager to share them with you! 

Magical, exciting, uplifting, incredible, charming, wonderful, exotic, funny, unforgettable, exhilarating, fantastic, excellent, magnetic, amazing, splendid and enchanting. Kismet launched your Symphony’s new season in such a magnificent way. 

I invite you to please consider making a year-end gift today to help keep our season-opening momentum going.  Alas, COVID is not done with the Symphony. This will make the next six months especially challenging.

This exciting concert season, carefully curated by Maestro Nir Kabaretti, was inspired by the outpouring of love for your Symphony from our community, who felt our impact and know we are vital to the well-being of students and concert goers alike.

The joy of experiencing live symphonic music is being experienced by our young students learning to play together in ensembles, by our professional orchestra returning to live concerts after 616 days and by our audiences jumping to their feet with applause!  Your Symphony deeply resonates with people throughout our community. It’s what we do.

An enthusiastic mother wrote me about her son’s experience with the Santa Barbara Youth Symphony:

WOW!  Thank you for helping my son be a part of something so magical!  He has had a difficult time all year with virtual school, but he is so proud to be a part of this virtual concert.  Seeing all the Santa Barbara Youth Symphony students performing together, virtually, was emotional for my whole family.  Thank you for giving our students something worthwhile to work towards!

Today, students are practicing safely in person for the first time in over a year, outdoors in tents and on school patios. They just held their first live concerts! As you can imagine, the positive impact on these students is immeasurable. These kids have felt a purpose, a desire to learn and improve and their families have witnessed the difference. 

A huge thank you to our supporters during COVID for their support, ensuring that our professional musicians and faculty were paid. Here’s what grateful Symphony musician shared with me about performing again with the orchestra:

We are performers. We live to create. It gives us joy and hope as we play and are allowed to share our gifts and passions with others. Your support has allowed us to come together again in such a substantial production which is IMPORTANT. This not only helps us be who we need to be for the good of our own psyche, but practically, it lets us pay our rent.

With the unprecedented obstacles COVID continues to bring, I’m confident with you beside us, we are on the right track.

I’m counting on you to help your Symphony continue to spread Joy through music and music education during this holiday season and in the year ahead.

With gratitude and my best wishes for the holidays to you and your family,

Kathryn R. Martin
President & CEO

 

P.S.  Please help keep our season-opening momentum going today with as generous a donation as possible. Thank you!

P.P.S.  While year-end donations have many tax benefits, if you prefer to make a pledge of support in 2022, we will recognize your generosity this entire 2021/22 season. Send Juli Askew an email and she will sign you up! [email protected]

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