Dear friends and colleagues,

I’m writing to inform you of an upcoming concert that will be not only musically rewarding, but is of great importance to the future of symphonic music in our culture. We the Musicians of the San Francisco Symphony have settled our relatively brief dispute with management, and are happily back on stage at Davies Symphony Hall, making great music for our beloved Bay Area audiences. The Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra are not so fortunate. Their rogue administration, who recently spent 90 million dollars on a lobby renovation, offered the musicians a 40% pay cut, take it or leave it. These world class musicians have been locked out for over six months, with no end in sight. The Musicians of the San Francisco Symphony will be performing a Solidarity Concert on April 29th. This event will be broadcast live throughout the world via streaming video. All of the proceeds from our ticket sales will go directly to the Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra, and to the Musicians of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, who are in a similar situation.

We have rented the magnificent sanctuary of Saint Ignatius Church, on the campus of the University of San Francisco, which seats 2,000. We need to play for a full house! We are producing and publicizing the event ourselves. Please consider purchasing a ticket, and spreading the word to every music lover you know. Your presence will be a vote for the continued health of the greatest art known to humanity.

Tickets are available from brownpapertickets.com, and are $25. $15 for seniors and students. (Children under 10 are admitted free!)

When: Monday April 29, 2013. at 7 PM

Where: St. Ignatius Church, 650 Parker Ave., SF 94118

Who: The Musicians of the San Francisco Symphony
musiciansofthesanfranciscosymphony.org

Program:
Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man, featuring the SFS brass and percussion
Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, for strings and harpsichord
Holst: St. Paul’s Suite, for strings
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5

I will have the privilege of conducting the Tchaikovsky. We would love to see you there.

Cordially,
Steve Paulson