Beat the summer heat with marvelous music, fine food,
and sensational western Nebraska scenery!

Concerts on the Creek 2012
Friday, June 22 • Saturday, July 28

72184 Cross Creek Road • Cambridge, Nebraska

The chamber players are gearing up to go on the road for Concerts on the Creek, our summer concert series in Cambridge, Nebraska. Come and experience the breathtaking view of the Republican River Valley, the gourmet culinary creations, and, of course, the music!

Friday, June 22 • For the first concert we welcome guest trumpeter Deb Bouffard. She will join Donna Carnes, violin, and Sheri Ericksen, piano, to perform a wonderfully exciting trio by Eric Ewazen. Katie Wychulis, harp, will be joined by Donna, cellist Tracy Sands, violist Clark Potter, and flutist Becky Van de Bogart in harp quintets by Florent Schmitt and Albert Roussel. Lastly, back by popular demand, Sheri, Clark, and clarinetist Ed Love will play Mozart's Trio in E-flat, KV 498—one of his most loved chamber works.

Saturday, July 28 • This lively program includes a full spectrum of musical offerings. There will be a few of the usual classic combinations—woodwind quartet; clarinet, bassoon and piano trio—but then we go a little crazy! Bassoon and double bass; bassoon and percussion; clarinet, flute, bassoon and marimba. To round out the evening we present a fun new work by Tristan Fuentes for voice and percussion based on a poem about the political career of Richard Nixon, featuring Joe Holmquist and soprano Vena Alesio.

Musically Speaking, July 28 • As an added bonus, during the day on July 28 there will be a repeat of our very popular OLLI talk, "Things You Hit and Bang," led by percussion specialist Joe Holmquist. If you haven't experienced one of our Musically Speaking programs before, you'll want to check out this fun, completely interactive experience. More information to come.

Tickets are available now for the June 22 and July 28 concerts. Cost is $35 per person, and includes light dinner, beverages and dessert. Refreshments are served on the deck beginning at 5:00 pm, with dinner served at 5:30 and an indoor concert at 6:30. Seating is limited, so reserve your spot today! Call 402.429.8227, or order online.

Fundraising campaign for Ashfall CD recording is a success!

Nebraska Chamber Players' world premiere performance of Ashfall by Rusty Banks, April 2012

We are pleased to announce that the Kickstarter fundraising project we began in April was even more successful than we envisioned! As a result of a great deal of grass-roots support from our patrons, old friends and new fans, we exceeded all our goals! As a result we will go into the studio in August and begin recording our first commercial CD: a compilation of works by Rusty Banks, all written for and/or premiered by Nebraska Chamber Players!

When we first thought about launching an online Kickstarter project, we spent many hours studying other projects, trying to determine on an achievable goal and a suitable time frame for completion. In sketching out a budget for the recording itself, allowing for cost overruns and potential overtime, then adding the cost of creating and running the project, our original estimates quickly doubled. With nervous hand-wringing we settled on trying to raise $11,000 in 30 days.

The next step was to create a promotional video which would draw attention to our project and get people interested in supporting it. Having no experience ourselves in video production, we turned to Luis Peon-Casanova, a professor from UNL's media department. Luis listened to our pitch and decided it was something he would enjoy taking on himself. With the help of his brother, Angel, he created a wonderful video to promote our project. (You can still view the video and read more about the project at this link.) After many more hours spent ironing out the details, we finally pushed the button and launched the project on April 4, with a deadline of May 3 to raise the entire amount or we would get nothing and all donations would be returned.

Thanks to the incredible generosity of our supporters we met our goal plus $1,503 to spare. And instead of the 50 backers we were hoping to attract, we ended up with 115 online backers plus a number of cash donors. It was unbelievable!

NET Radio will partner with us in making the recording, helping us out with rehearsal space, studio time and engineering expertise. The centerpiece of this CD will be Ashfall, a large-scale chamber work which Rusty composed specifically for our unique combination of instruments. It is inspired by the historic Ashfall Fossil Beds near Royal, Nebraska, and the events that transpired there 12 million years ago. We presented the world premiere of Ashfall in April with a live radio broadcast and webstream. A special guest at our dress rehearsal for that concert was Michael Voorhies, lead paleontologist and discoverer of the Ashfall Fossil Beds. Michael was (and is) very excited about this musical tribute to the fossil dig which is so dear to his heart. We were also very fortunate to receive support from the University of Nebraska State Museum (Morrill Hall), whose fossils were arguably the true stars of our video!

We will keep you updated on the progress of the CD recording, as well as plans for a CD release party, tentatively scheduled for December. For ongoing updates (complete with photos), visit us on Facebook—you don't have to belong to Facebook to see it, but if you do belong, be sure to "Like" our page! And if you were among the supporters who gave to our Kickstarter project, thank you, thank you, thank you!

2012-13 Regular Season Announced

Order your season pass today!

The season brochure will be in the mail soon, but meanwhile mark your calendars for next year's regular season concerts.

September 14 & 16, 2012
October 26 & 28, 2012
January 18 & 20, 2013
March 8 & 10, 2013

All concerts take place at NET Studios, 1800 N. 33rd in Lincoln. Friday evening concerts are at 8:00 pm, and the Sunday afternoon programs are at 3:00. Doors open 30 minutes prior to each performance, and beverages and hors d'oeuvres are served beforehand and at intermission. Tickets may be purchased at our website using PayPal, or call us at 402.429.8227.

Larsen Young Artist Award to be held in March

The Max & Lillie Larsen Young Artist Award for high-school-age string players residing in Nebraska will be hosted again this year by the Nebraska Chamber Players. The winner receives $1,000 plus an opportunity to perform in concert with the Nebraska Chamber Players. The second-place award is $500 and a playing opportunity. If you know any deserving young string players, please spread the word. The competition will take place in March; details will be posted on our website as the event gets closer.

nebraskachamberplayers.org • 402.429.8227

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