Dear Friends,

Southwest Chamber Music has an extraordinary opportunity for you to help us celebrate our 25th anniversary season this year. In honor of this remarkable milestone, the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation has granted us $50,000, which we are asking you to help us match.

$50,000 may not sound like a great deal of money for one of L.A.'s most recognized performing arts organizations, but just consider what we've accomplished in the last 25 years on an annual budget of less than $1 million:

• The largest cultural exchange program between the United States and Vietnam in the history of our two nations;
• More than 8,000 students throughout Los Angeles coached by our musicians through the Mentorship Program or introduced to live chamber music through Project Muse;
• 25 critically-acclaimed recordings, seven Grammy nominations and two Grammy Awards;
• Commissions and premieres from such noted composers as Elliott Carter, Unsuk Chin, and William Kraft.

Today, while other organizations are cutting programs or raising ticket prices, we are adapting to the new economy of classical music by staying true to our core mission: to build musical bridges between cultures. Here's just a sample of our plans for the 2011-2012 season and beyond:

• Our popular Summer Festival at The Huntington, where classical and romantic masterpieces meet exciting new works from Asia and Latin America. 2013 will be our 20th Summer Festival!
• An international festival of new music, including the West Coast premiere of a piece by Charles Wuorinen, co-commissioned by Southwest, James Levine and the Boston Symphony;
• A U.S. tour of Wadada Leo Smith's monumental Ten Freedom Summers, which we just premiered to sold-out houses at REDCAT at Walt Disney Concert Hall;
• The expansion of our in-depth education programs to three new schools in 2011, nearly doubling the number of students we serve in one year.

Please join us in celebrating 25 years of artistic achievement with a gift that will continue the vitality of chamber music in our community for many more years to come.

Sincerely,

Jan Karlin, Executive Director

P.S. Donate at the $250 Trio Circle or higher and you'll receive an invitation to an exclusive Musical Chairs donor event early next year, where Artistic Director Jeff von der Schmidt will preview our 2012 Summer Festival at The Huntington. Click here for a list of donor benefits . To make your donation, phone toll-free to 1-800-726-7147 or go to www.swmusic.org. 

Make your gift today! 

Thank you for helping us meet our matching gift goal!