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RBCMS Donation Levels
Participating Members: Under $100
Supporting Members: $100 - $199
Partner Members: $200 - $499
Patron Members: $500 - $999
Sponsor’s Council: $1000 - $1999
Leadership Council: $2000 & up
MAJOR DONOR - $500 (couple); $300 (individual)
Note: Donations are not required to attend our concerts. If you would like to be added to our membership list without a donation, click the button below and you will be taken to the Join Only option.
Learn more about our concerts and programing from our June 2022 Annual Report
JUNE 2022 ANNUAL REPORT AND FUND APPEAL
Previous Season
However, these statistics omit our most important outreach effort for the season, the extraordinarily successful Juneteenth Celebration. Taking advantage of our partnership with the T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center and a focused approach to publicize the event, we received excellent press in the Asbury Park Press and the Two River Times, as well as a TV segment on WCBS, New York. The results were gratifying – we estimate the attendance was around 170 with many new faces.
Our season included a broad range of music. We heard pieces ranging from a Gregorian chant performed by the American Brass Quintet to several world premieres presented by the Aizuri Quartet. We also tried to reflect the diversity of chamber music, in both the composers and the performers we presented. One common feature at each concert, however, was how much the musicians appreciated playing for a live, attentive audience, and how much they appreciated the efforts of the Society to continue to support performances during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We feel extremely fortunate that we were able to present our entire 2021-2022 season in person, as well as continuing to reach out more broadly with our virtual concerts. Average attendance in 2018-2019, our last season before the pandemic, was around 150 people, while in 2021-2022, around 85 people attended each of our regular concerts. However, this was supplemented by an average of around 70 views of our YouTube recordings, as well as viewers of the concerts on the Brookdale Community Channel, for which we are unable to obtain viewership metrics. So, we are reaching roughly the same number of people as before the pandemic.
Plans for 2022 - 2023 Season
Trinity Episcopal Church — Concert Venue
We have attached the preliminary season schedule, so you can see the interesting and varied set of concerts planned for next year with both new and familiar faces. We will be welcoming back our friends from Frisson and the Manhattan Chamber Players. New to the society will be the Hermitage Trio, counter)induction, the Balourdet Quartet, and the Ulysses Quartet. Featured this year will be major works by female composers – Amy Beach, Louise Farrenc, and Teresa Carreño. The programs will include favorites such as the Ravel String Quartet , two Beethoven String Quartets, and the Brahms Clarinet Trio, as well as less familiar pieces by Glinka, Schmidt ,and Turina. We will hear works from the Baroque era (Telemann) up to the present day (Boyce, Weston, and d’Rivera).
We will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation but pending any further announcements we will maintain our masking requirement for concerts. This is the option that makes many of our members the most comfortable and given the volatile nature of the COVID-19 virus, seems the safest option for the time being. We also are planning to continue to hold our concerts at Trinity Episcopal in Red Bank. Major donors will continue to have preferred seating for our in-person concerts, as appreciation for your generosity.
Finances
A Musical Offering
We continue to be extraordinarily fortunate in the loyalty and generosity of our members. Overall, our expenses for the 2021-2022 were higher than previous years. To serve those listeners who were still wary of attending our concerts in person, we continued to make video recordings for broadcast over the Brookdale Community College cable network and online access on demand. This has resulted in extra expense. Additionally, we incurred expenses by presenting a seventh concert for the season. While regular donations were lower than pre-pandemic level, we received a generous one-time gift from a member that helped reduce deficits associated with the regular six-concert season. Our membership responded generously to our special appeal for funding for the Juneteenth Concert and we also received a grant from Monmouth Arts that helped defray that concert’s costs.
Though we ended our fiscal year with a deficit coverable by reserves, we’ve delayed our annual fund appeal until this time, because our season was longer than usual. Our members’ contributions have allowed us to broaden the profile and impact of the Red Bank Chamber Music Society, both locally and more broadly. It is with extreme pride that we have been able to affirm our core mission of providing world-class chamber music concerts at no cost to those who wish to attend. In our discussions with the musicians, this is a unique model, and we thank you for making it possible. We hope that conditions will allow us to see more of you at our live concerts and you will continue to help us to share the joys of chamber music. As always, since RBCMS is a 501(c)(3) organization, your contribution is fully tax deductible in accordance with applicable law.
MEMBERSHIP FORM AND SURVEY
We are always interested in getting opinions from our members about our organization. In addition to our standard membership form, this year we also have a survey to get your opinions on our masking policy, the concert venue, and our concert recordings. Your opinion is important to us so click on the update your membership button below to make a contribution and complete your survey.
We always have many to thank – the musicians, Doug Clark of Glass Bottom Studios, Brookdale Community College, and the staffs at our two venues, Trinity Episcopal and UMC, Red Bank, and many others. This year we also thank Monmouth Arts for the generous grant support and our partner in planning the Juneteenth celebration, the T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center. Most of all, however, the Board of Trustees of the Red Bank Chamber Music Society thanks our members for your generosity and hopes you will enjoy the up-coming season.
For the Board of Trustees of the Red Bank Chamber Music Society, we thank you for your generosity and hope you will enjoy the up-coming season.
With thanks and best wishes,
Chris Foard,
President, RBCMS Board of Trustees
