G E N E V A A U B U R N

S K A N E A T E L E S

C A N A N D A I G U A

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Annual Report

24DAYS

32 ARTISTS

NEARLY

1300PATRONS

Ticket Sales20%

Fundraising Events10%

Corporate Contributions4%

Individual Contributions11%

Grants55%

Administration5%

Operations21%

Marketing21%

ArtisticProduction

53%

2019 GMF Revenue

2019 GMF Expenses

Director’s NoteGeoffrey Herd, Geneva Music Festival Director

The Ninth Annual Geneva Music Festival spanned four weeks and featured an array of exceptional artists, all of whom helped us cele-brate the contributions of women to the field of music.

We deep-dived into a wide array of works by women with the crossover string quartet ATLYS bringing us popular music and folk tunes from around the world, Ann Hampton Callaway playing jazz by artists who are members of the National Women’s Hall of Fame, and our chamber music series featuring the works of Amy Beach, Clara Schumann, Shulamit Ran and other fantastic composers.

Each year, we become further committed to showing the great diversity found within the field of classical music and making this music broadly accessible.

Thank you to all who made this season possible – our loyal pa-trons, our financial supporters, our dedicated volunteers, and our hard-working board of directors.

I hope you enjoyed our 2019 season and that, like me, you discov-ered some new works and composers along the way.

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Geneva Music Festival 2019 Season SummaryThe 2019 Season of the Geneva Music Festival (GMF) took place from May 24 through June 16. This season celebrated “Women in Music: Key Players,” with much of the programming representing women’s contributions to music through featured composers or performers.

1) Violinist Jinjoo Cho; 2) Sounds of A&R – April May Webb and Randall Haywood; 3) Violist Kirsten Docter. Photos by Kevin Schoonover. 4) Pianist Esther Park; 5) Pianist Michelle Cann; 6) Rebecca Colleen and the Chore Lads; 7) Geoffrey Herd (violin), Zahari Metchkov (piano) and Hannah Collins (cello). Photos by Jan Regan.

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Pre-Season

In March, GMF hosted its annual benefit in the Gearan Center for the Performing Arts at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. The evening included performances by GMF Director Geoffrey Herd (violin), Hannah Collins (cello), and Zahari Metchkov (piano). Featured works included Clara Schumann’s Three Romances for Violin and Piano, Caroline Shaw’s In manus tuas for solo cello, Rebecca Clarke’s Piano Trio, and Brahms Piano Trio in C minor. Nearly 120 guests enjoyed pre-concert food and post-concert dessert, as well as wine from Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyards. They also took part in a silent auction of items generously donated by local individuals and businesses.

New this year was a pre-season concert at Billsboro Winery featuring ATLYS, a classically trained, crossover string quartet comprised of four women. They explored works by modern pop artists from around the world including Sia, Bjӧrk and Be-yoncé. This concert ended their week-long residency as GMF’s outreach artists presenting free performances for schools and senior residences.

Above: A capacity crowd enjoys refreshments at the March benefit in the Gearan Center for the Performing Arts. Below: World ATLYS at Bill-sboro Winery on May 24. ATLYS: Genevieve Tabby, Rita Andrade, Jinty McTavish, Sabrina Tabby. The sold-out event was heartily enjoyed by all. Photos by Jan Regan.

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1) and 2) ATLYS – Sabrina Tabby (violin), Rita Andrade (viola), Genevieve Tabby (cello), Jinty McTavish (violin) – performing before appreciative audiences at Geneva’s North Street Elementary School and at the Geneva YMCA; 3) Pianist Michelle Cann at the Boys and Girls Club of Geneva. Photos by Kevin Schoonover, Fran Herd, Jan Regan.

Sharing a Love of Music

Community outreach, through free concerts and classes, is among the most exciting and important of GMF’s annual ac-tivities. Many artists make extra time prior to the festival to share their talents in the community. In 2019, ATLYS presented free concerts to children at the Gene-va YMCA, North St. Elementary School, Geneva Middle School, Skaneateles High School, The Athenaeum of Skaneateles, the

Commons on St. Anthony, and Ferris Hills, reaching more than 1,150 audience members. They also conducted a master class for violin students of St. Peter’s Community Arts Academy.

Additionally, Festival musicians were invited to give a perfor-mance by the Geneva Rotary Club, and pianist Michelle Cann played for students at the Boys and Girls Club of Geneva.

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The Verona Quartet – Jonathan Ong (violin), Catherine Cosbey (violin), Brannon Cho (cello), Abigail Rojansky (viola) – are joined by Michelle Cann (piano) and Jinjoo Cho (violin) in the Gearan Center for the Performing Arts’ Froelich Hall. Inset: Violinist Jonathan Ong. Photos by Kevin Schoonover.

The season officially opened on May 30, with the GMF debut of the Verona Quartet. They pre-sented a selection of music writ-ten by female composers and were joined by GMF favorites

violinist Jinjoo Cho and pianist Michelle Cann for Chausson’s expressive and virtuosic Concert in D Major, Op. 21 for violin, piano and string quartet.

Celebrating Women Composers from Many Genres

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1) A Portrait of Clara Schumann featuring Jinjoo Cho, Geoffrey Herd, Max Geissler, Brannon Cho, Abigail Rojansky and Eric Wong; 2) Violist Abigail Rojansky; 3) Cellist Max Geissler; 4) Violinists Jinjoo Cho and Geoffrey Herd; 5) Women Composers Across the Ages featuring Geoffrey Herd, Esther Park and Hannah Collins; 6) Eliot Heaton, Hillary Herndon, Esther Park, Justin McCulloch and Max Geissler in Froelich Hall. Photos by Jan Regan.

Audiences in both Geneva and Skaneateles were treated to “A Portrait of Clara Schumann” and two of her primary influ-ences, Bach and Brahms. The Skaneateles concert was graced by the presence of Schumann’s great-great-great granddaughter.

Back in Geneva, one concert fea-tured female composers span-ning nearly 10 centuries. “Wom-en Composers Across the Ages” presented music from Hildegard von Bingen, the earliest known female composer, and Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, while also showcasing contemporary com-poser Jennifer Higdon’s Color Through Piano Trio.

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Ray Nagem returned to the Festival for the third year, this time to present works for organ featuring women composers spanning a range of centuries, in three churches in Geneva, Canandaigua and Auburn.

The Father’s Day bluegrass tradition also continued in 2019 with Finger Lakes native Rebec-ca Colleen and the Chore Lads performing under the tent at Geneva On The Lake to a sold-out crowd.

1) and 2) Ray Nagem plays the magnificent pipe or-gan at The Presbyterian Church in Geneva. Photos by Kevin Schoonover. 3) Footstompin’ fun with Rebecca Colleen and the Chore Lads at Geneva On The Lake; 4) GMF Board member Hilda Collins (right) enjoys the concert with her family. Photos by Jan Regan.

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Hot Jazz, Fantastic Venues

Following the success of last year’s jazz concerts, the Festival brought back Broadway star Syndee Winters as well as April Webb and Randall Haywood (Sounds of A&R). This year, Winters and songwriter and actress Ann Hampton Callaway paid tribute to groundbreaking women in jazz, Bessie Smith,

Billie Holiday and Ella Fitz-gerald. Sounds of A&R made a guest appearance for this concert at the Smith Center for the Arts, and jazz singer Melissa Kate opened. For the second consecutive year, our jazz concert at The Smith was made possible by a $2,500 grant from Lyons National Bank.

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Inspired by the historic jazz roots and dynamic atmosphere of Geneva’s Club 86, GMF chose to host the Sounds of A&R

Prev ious page: Bessie, Billie, Ella & Friends at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts on June 8. 1) Syndee Winters; 2) Ann Hampton Callaway; 3) M.D. Sergio Salvatore (piano), Tim Webb (drums) Syndee Winters , Paul Yates (bass); 4) April May Webb, Randall Haywood (trumpet); 5) Robert Merlin Davis (piano), Melissa Kate. This page: Sounds of A&R – trumpeter Randall Haywood, keyboardist Jacob Webb and vocalist A p r i l M a y W e b b a t Geneva’s Club 86 on June 7. Photos by Kevin Schoonover

concert there. Many audience members took advantage of the opportunity to enjoy a pre-con-cert dinner offered by the Club.

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GMF was thrilled to bring back another audience favorite, cellist Clive Greensmith, for the chamber finale concerts that took place in Geneva and Ska-neateles, with the Geneva con-cert selling out. He was joined by Geoffrey Herd and Shawn Moore (violins), Hannah Collins (cello), Kirsten Docter and Noah Fields (violas), and Esther Park

(piano). The program opened with the exceptionally beautiful and exciting Beethoven Piano Trio in E-Flat Major, Op. 70 no. 2 and concluded with two block-buster works by female compos-ers, the epic Lyre of Orpheus sextet by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, Shulamit Ran, and the lyrical and melodic Piano Quintet by Amy Beach.

Clive Greensmith and Friends: Chamber Finale

1) Clive Greensmith and Friends – Shawn Moore, Geoffrey Herd, Clive Greensmith, Hannah Collins, Noah Fields, and Kirsten Docter. Inset: Greensmith and Esther Park perform Mendelssohn’s Song without Words, Op. 109; 2) Herd, Greensmith and Collins. Photos by Kevin Schoonover

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Generous Support

GMF again received generous support in the form of volunteer time and effort, dollars and in-kind donations. We are deeply appreciative for all of these, as they make the festival possible.

We were particularly honored this year to have been awarded, for the first time, a $5,000 grant from the Max and Marian Farash Charitable Foundation through its Arts and Culture Gift Program.

Soon after, we learned GMF was also awarded an Art Works grant of $10,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Art Works is the NEA’s principal grantmaking program. We last received this recognition in 2017.

Many organizations have been steadfast supporters of the Festi-val, making its concerts and com-munity efforts possible. Among these, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, which again provided use of the Gearan Center for the Performing Arts for performanc-es and the spring fundraiser.

Many foundations continued to provide generous financial support, including the Nelson B. Delavan Foundation, the Brenda & Dave Rickey Foundation, the John Ben Snow Foundation, the Rochester Area Community Foundation, the Williams Family Foundation, and the Wyckoff Family Foundation.

1) GMF Board President Sally Webster welcomes the audience to the spring benefit concert in the Gearan Center; 2) Pianist Michelle Cann performs for the Boys & Girls Club of Geneva; 3) Eliot Heaton (violin) and Hillary Herndon (viola) at the Women Composers Across the Ages concert on June 6. Photos by Jan Regan. 4) Sabrina Tabby from ATLYS leads a master class for local violin students at St. Peter’s Church in Geneva. Photo by Kevin Schoonover.

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1) Max Geissler and Brannon Cho are crackin’ up; 2) Geoffrey Herd takes a sel-fie with ATLYS before their Billsboro show. Photos by Jan Regan. 3) Jinjoo Cho; 4) Catherine Cosbey; 5) Clive Greensmith; 6) Shawn Moore; 7) Geoff records the Verona Quartet concert from the back row; 8) After her set, Syndee Winters has a good time with the volunteers at the Smith Center for the Arts. Photos by Kevin Schoonover.

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Sponsors

The Geneva Music Festival extends thanks to its major 2019 Corporate and Foundation Sponsors.

Grants and FoundationsArts and Cultural Council for Greater Rochester • CNY Arts •Central New York Community Foundation • City of Geneva • Nelson B. Delavan Foundation • Max and Marian Farash Charitable Foundation • Finger Lakes Community Arts Grants • Maurice and Florence Hayssen Family Foundation • National Endowment for the Arts • Brenda & Dave Rickey Foundation • Rochester Area Community Foundation • Rotary of Geneva • John Ben Snow Foundation • Spring Hill Fund at the Rochester Community Foundation • Williams Family Foundation • Wyckoff Family Foundation

Business SponsorsGeneva On The Lake • Hobart and William Smith Colleges • Lyons National Bank • WEOS: Finger Lakes Public Radio Business FriendsBank of the Finger Lakes • C.S. Burrall & Son, Inc. • The Eye Care Center • Friendly Ford • Geneva Club Beverage • Geneva Electric Supplies • Geneva Light Opera • Peter Grace, D.D.S. • Heaton & Venuti, LLP • Rodney Littlejohn, D.D.S. • Lynch's Furniture Co. • Midas – Geneva • Newcomb Painting & Papering • North Street Pharmacy • Palmisano Mull Funeral Home • Phelps Sungas • The Printing Center • Jan Regan Photography • Savannah Bank • Tradition Automotive Group • Wadhams Enterprises, Inc. • Wegmans • WellNow Urgent Care • Herman J. Wiemer Vineyard • The UPS Store

HospitalityDays Inn by Wyndham • Geneva On The Lake • Hobart and William Smith Colleges • Ramada Plaza by Wyndham

Front cover: Geoffrey Herd, Shawn Moore, Esther Park, Clive Greensmith and Kirsten Docter at the Festival’s finale in the Gearan Center’s Froelich Hall on June 15. Back cover: ATLYS performs for students at Geneva’s Middle School on May 20. Photos by Kevin Schoonover.

2019 Geneva Music Festival

Board of Directors

Geoffrey Herd, Director

Sally Webster, President

Marty Davis, Vice President

Jay Smith, Treasurer

Frances Herd, Secretary

Sharon Arthur

Brandon Bryant

Hilda Collins

Chevy DeVaney

Roberta Fisher

Jay Freer

Teresa Harris

Della Mancuso

Elizabeth Newell

Joyce Toher

Don Wertman

Mitchell Wilber

Joanne Wisor

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Geneva Music Festival • 124 North Main Street • Geneva NY 14456

315.526.1951 • info@genevamusicfestival.com

www.genevamusicfestival.com