To our chamber music enthusiasts:

^{I am happy to announce the MasterGuild 2009 season of concerts. I have just returned from the San Francisco Ballet tour of the United States which began in September and ended a few weeks ago at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Now it’s on to chamber music.}

^{This season’s concerts will see the return of some of our favorite players as well as a few innovations. Amy Hiraga, Nancy Ellis and Peter Wyrick join me in the January 18th concert which will feature the Brahms piano quartet Op.60 in C minor and the Mozart oboe quartet with San Francisco Opera and Ballet principal oboist Laura Griffiths. On March 1st Axel Strauss and Jean-Michel Fonteneau return in a performance of Tchaikovsky’s grand piano trio, plus works by Robert Schumann. Peter Wyrick and I will give a cello recital on April 5th to include Rachmaninoff’s great cello sonata plus shorter works by Stravinsky and Benjamin Britten. The season concludes on May 24th with a special guest bassist joining the group of Axel Strauss, Amy Hiraga, Nancy Ellis and Peter Wyrick to perform Schubert’s charming “Trout” quintet based on the famous song, and a gala rendition of Saint-Saëns’ tongue-in-cheek “Carnival of the Animals” in a chamber transcription especially crafted by your music director.}

^{All concerts are on Sundays at 7:15 P.M. in the Regents’ Theater at Holy Names University. Admission prices are the same as last year and there is plenty of parking. If you have email, we would appreciate having your email address for reminder announcements of these concerts. Just send me an email message at  roybogas@comcast.net  with the subject “yes” and I will put you on the email mailing list. Taking your reminders by email also saves us mailing costs throughout the season, so we thank you in advance for helping us in this way.}

^{Speaking of helping, it is unfortunately true that maintaining our low admission prices (from $5. to $20.) does not permit us to cover our costs of printing, mailing, hall rental and artist fees, though we try to keep our costs at a minimum. It is therefore necessary to rely on contributions from our faithful attendees like yourselves. Although these are difficult economic times, I hope that some of you will find it possible to lend us your support by contributing $50., $100, or more to assure the continuance of these concerts. Your name as contributors will appear in our programs and you will receive a charitable tax deduction by donating your contribution to Holy Names University. Make your check payable to Holy Names University and make a notation on the bottom of the check that it is for MasterGuild. To make certain your donation is credited to the correct fund at the University, please send your check (made out to Holy Names University) directly to me at my home address:}

MasterGuild Series

986 Creston Road

Berkeley  CA  94708

I look forward to seeing you all at the 2009 MasterGuild concerts!

Sincerely, your music director,

            Roy Bogas