We're excited about the upcoming concerts at this year's 41^st Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival.

The first concert features the return of Trio Terzetto who amazed audiences last year with their technical virtuosity and deep musical feeling. The Parker Quartet, who will be playing on the 2^nd, 3^rd and 5^th weeks, quickly established themselves as a festival favorite. Certainly one of the best young quartets around, they continue to amaze their audiences with their impeccable ensemble playing and with their beautiful and thoughtful interpretations of some of the best chamber music written.

This year's Frank Ell concert will be in the 4^th week and will feature internationally renowned violinist Peter deVries, who will join me and Paul Nitsch to play one of the great chamber music pieces of all time, the Brahms Horn Trio. Peter is a dynamic performer and I'm sure audiences will warm to his personality and fantastic playing.

Beside our familiar faces, we are very excited to welcome a new bassoonist this summer, Lynn Heilman. And speaking of new arrivals, Inessa Zaretsky, the Festival's pianist, is premiering another of her exciting new compositions at our festival in the second week.

This summer's programs offer a rich selection of music, and we will strive to offer both fresh and insightful interpretations of well-known works, along with works we hope will be new and exciting to our audiences.

We can't wait to play for you again! Please plan on joining us this summer!

—Bill Hoyt
Music Director

It is exciting to be putting together the 2010 Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival. After the long winter, looking forward to music in the mountains in the summer seems like heaven on the horizon, doesn't it?

To add to the excitement, during the winter, the Festival received donations from many wonderful friends, new and “faithful.” Amidst challenging economic times, the Festival's supporters remain constant and encouraging. As you know, this is what makes music happen each year at Swannanoa, and we are deeply grateful to all of you.

You may have noticed that you didn't receive what has become the usual not-for-profit arts organization “Christmas request for gifts” from SCMF. We decided that it was best to give our supporters a break from that routine, and yet some friends decided to gift the festival with end-of-year contributions anyway. How especially marvelous! We thank you for remembering SCMF!

That brings us to the encouraging point of fulfilling almost 60% of the $10,000 “Gambrell Grant Challenge” which was donated last summer for a fund-raising goal of the 2009-2010 concert season. In order to complete this challenge by the time we begin the new 2010 season in June, we would be deeply appreciative if you, our friends and supporters, would now consider a tax-deductible donation in any amount to the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival. We don't have far to go!

Thanks to everyone for your continued enthusiasm. We saw a significant increase in attendance every week during last season's festival, and a growing excitement about the performances. Bill has once again assembled an exciting array of performers and programs, which we know will inspire continued growth and joy for our audiences.

We hope to greet you at every concert this summer, and we thank you in advance for any “pre-season” support you feel inspired to send. Our address is:

Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival
Warren-Wilson College CPO-6062
P.O. Box 9000
Asheville NC 28815-9000

Most sincerely and gratefully,

—Paul Nitsch
General Director