News From Britt Hill – August 2017

By the time you read this News from the Hill, the Britt Orchestra will have arrived here in beautiful southern Oregon. Thanks to over 90 host families, our orchestra members are already settled into their temporary homes for the Season. Teddy Abrams, Britt’s Music Director, and Mark Knippel, Director of Artistic Operations, have been busy putting together another spectacular season. Much of the first week of rehearsals has been devoted to the learning the repertoires of the Opening Night:

JOHN ADAMS: The Chairman Dances: Foxtrot for Orchestra

ANDREW NORMAN: Unstuck

MASON BATES: Cello Concerto

DARIUS MILHAUD: La creation du monde (The Creation of the World)

HENRY COWELL: Ballad

KENJI BUNCH: Song of Sasquatch—World Premiere Britt Commission!

JOHN WILLIAMS: Adventures on Earth from E.T.

On a personal note, John Adams calls Oakland, California his home, and is a close friend of Teddy Abrams! 2017 marks John Adams’ 70th year on this earth. In that time, he has become one of the most prolific American composers, living or dead. Other than John Adams and John Williams, all of the Opening Night composers were born in the 1970s. We are in for a diverse and eclectic journey on Opening Night, Friday, July 28th.

Please help us spread the word on two new initiatives. For the first time ever, Britt has lowered our Lawn seating ticket prices for all Orchestra performances. Thanks to our generous donors, Adult Lawn tickets are only $25 and children’s are just $10. A night under the stars with the Britt Orchestra is now an affordable family night out.

Second, in the fall of 2017 we will replace our dilapidated bench seats and add approximately 330 reserved seats for an aggregate of close to 1,000 while keeping the total venue capacity the same at 2,200. We have kicked-off a seat sponsorship program; when you sponsor a new seat (starting at $250), we will attach a highly-visible plaque with an inscription of your choice to the backrest of one these new seats for the next decade. We believe that sponsoring a seat or seats is a great way to show your support for the Arts and preserves the community spirit found at every performance on the Britt Hill.

Life on the Britt Hill is one sweet song, so let the music begin…