Dear Schubert enthusiasts,

And just like that, summer is over: as Alexander Pushkin, a contemporary of Schubert’s, wrote, our northern summer, a caricature of southern winters, flash and is gone.

So we are gearing up to recruit performers for next year’s Schubertiade. A reminder that it will take place on the afternoon of January 30 (it will always take place last weekend in January, as close to Schubert’s birthday as possible), at Summit View United Church, formerly St. David’s, 3303 Capitol Hill Cres NW, Calgary (just off Crowchild Trail and walking distance from the University of Calgary and Brentwood and University LRT stations). It is a very welcoming place to all ethnicities, genders, and sexual orientations, and also is wheelchair accessible, with an elevator between the Sanctuary and the Lower Hall.

As before, we will have an open jam at the end of the performances, as that worked well, so keep in your back pocket what you’d love to play by any composer and of any period and some reasonable or silly connection to Schubert. Taylor Swift? She and Schubert both wrote on Shakespeare themes! Prince? Well, I know from a ballet class I once had entirely on the music of Prince that he wrote waltzes, as did Schubert, so there you have it.

Please sign up by November 1 (you do not need to specify repertoire until December 1, but I need a headcount).

So, having proven that we can do it, Schubertiade YYC is also seeking sponsors. I am determined to have this event always be free to attend and have money flow towards the performers. Which means that I am looking for local businesses and donors to partner with in this genuine grassroots community endeavour that draws over a hundred people.

If these businesses make cookies or similar goods for our refreshment table, that would be great for us to promote their name. If they are otherwise willing to get their name out there helping out passionate music lovers young and old, I would love to talk to them. In person, by email, or by phone, I am a real human whose madcap passion project this is (not a single word of this, or any line of the logo or other design work, was done by generative AI, and I do not intend there to ever be) and who is seeking allies.

So if you know or are connected to interested donors or businesses, do send me an email at schubertiadeyyc@gmail.com and introduce us for a chat.

I leave you with a Schubert fun fact as usual, and the one this week is that I really loved this rendition of Moments Musicaux no. 3 on guitar and concertina.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMqSgX9x0Rs >

Yours,

Tamara

Schubertiade YYC