Our fall season went well. The New Members Reception was well attended. The event gives our new members an opportunity to meet the board and to become better acquainted with MMTA. Helen Albert is so gracious to offer her home for this day. Thank you, Helen.
Our joint venture, The Baroque Festival, with MMTA, WMTA, MAPTA and WFMC was quite a success. Dr. Christos Tsitsaros presented a master class along with a demonstration/lecture on the Baroque Period. Many of the teachers and students enjoyed seeing and playing the harpsichord at Wisconsin Lutheran College.
The two Honor Recitals in October went well. Vickie Wagner, our new Youth Concert Manager is off to a great start. Speaking of outh Concerts, we will start this concert series with two concerts on January 24th with another two concerts on February 28th. They will be held at the Charles Allis Art Museum. If you have students who would like to enter this series in 2010, please note the deadline for entrees is March 13th.
The Artist and Debut Auditions did not receive any entrees this year. I hope that some of you teachers with very advanced students will look to next year for possible participation. We offer monetary awards to winners. Thank you to Jenny Gettel for her continued work on this series.
Mark your calendar for the Master Class presented by Judit Jaimes. The date is on Friday, March 5th from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. to be held at the Steinway Piano Gallery of Milwaukee. Please click onto "Master Class" for more information and plan to attend.
Do you have a student who would like to perform for the Master Class? If so, please contact Tami Samorajski with a $25 registration fee, student's name and music selection. Deadline: February 20th. Thank you, Tami for arranging our programs for the year as well as being chairman of the Annual Dinner.
Would you like to have a fun relaxing, entertaining evening this New Year? Well, our Annual Dinner will be held on Sunday, March 21st at Klemmer's Banquet Center. Everyone had such a good time last year that we decided to have a repeat. The program will be Marvin Suson, a violinist. His specialty is "kundiman", a Filipino genre meaning serenade. He will demonstrate different styles, perform unaccompanied classical music as well as perform on an electric violin. If you have never attended, please consider it for a most enjoyable evening. Bring a guest or just yourself. You will receive an invitation in February.
This year we again have given scholarships to an Alverno College music student, the Metropolitan Opera Eastern Division, Piano Arts as well as our own concert series.
It is with a sad and disappointed heart that I must inform you about the following. Due to years of difficulty in negotiating with the Charles Allis Art Museum, we will no longer be using the facility for our concert series. The piano has been damaged numerous times. The museum does not wish to renew a contract without raising fees significantly and does not want the esponsibilit or need for our piano. We will complete our concert series and auditions for this year. The board is working on a new venue for our concerts as well as the future of our Seiler piano.
Our Annual Meeting will be held on Monday, May 3rd at Alverno College. Look for details in the March newsletter.
Please keep in mind that we need people to assume board positions. Isn't it time for you to consider accepting a poisition? It has been said: It's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.
My best wishes to all of you in this New Year!
Musically yours,
Judy Heise
President, Milwaukee Music Teachers' Association. (MMTA)