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Dear ABO Family:
It really feels like fall today in Austin! Temperatures are down and a north wind is blowing, which means it's time for us to start putting together our annual Latin American program (and we are!). But first, we wanted to remind you about the first program of our current season in case you missed the video premiere last week.
We had about 80 people join us in the first week of Keeping an Ear to the Ground – thanks so much to all of you who joined us! But for this video concert idea to be successful, we need more of you to join us. There's music by Vivaldi, Telemann, Handel, and more, and pay-as-you're-able ticket prices are available. The video will be available until Saturday, October 3, unless popular demand requires an extension of its availability.
Visit our website to purchase a ticket. After purchase, you'll be redirected to a page with the web address to the concert (it's hosted on our YouTube channel), along with a link to the digital program and program notes.
It's no exaggeration to say that the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have left ABO in a precarious place. We're unable to perform publicly and audiences' responses to paid online content is unclear. We've lost 56% of our City of Austin grant, our largest single source of funding. We're currently operating on the slimmest of budgets relying mostly upon our savings from inactivity earlier this year.
The only way for us to reach the light at the end of the tunnel is through your support – financially through purchasing online concert tickets and making donations (remember when we raised about $4k from donations of $50 and under?), and organizationally through telling others about us. Some of the music we perform is quite literally performed nowhere else in the country, or even in the world. We want to be able to continue to be there for you in the years to come – can you be there for us now?
We hope you'll join us for Keeping an Ear to the Ground! We very much missed performing for you in person, but we think our love for this music and the excitement we felt for being able to come together after so many months apart were palpable in the video, and we look forward to sharing it with you via the interwebs.
Musically yours,
Billy Traylor – Artistic Director & Founder
Stephanie Noori – Concertmaster
Hannah McGinty – Chorusmaster
Chelsee Sandaker – Ensemble Administrator
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