May, 2023

Notes from the President
Dear SVA Members,  

This will be my last News and Notes communication with you as President of the SVA, and words cannot adequately describe what a special pleasure and honor it is to have been your President for the last two years. Whether meeting you for the first time, or serving together during our many activities, or catching up at concerts, I have so enjoyed the pleasure of your company. We have weathered the storms brought by COVID, returned to live concerts at Powell Hall, reunited at Coffee Concerts, met so many buses with patrons 6 to 96, Surprised and Delighted new patrons, and awarded our talented youth through PTM and ETM. Engaging with each other was strengthened through our Membership Meetings, an ice cream social, a Trivia Night, and Winter Heat. Your reservoirs of enthusiasm for and dedication to our SLSO never cease to amaze and inspire.  

Facing uncertainty for the last three years, the words that come to mind to describe our membership are: flexible, nimble, and resilient. Those traits, coupled with our effervescent smiles and cheerful, welcoming demeanor, will be much in demand at the SLSO’s interim venues. While we still have yet to define exactly how our activities will evolve over the next two years, SLSO staff knows that we will be ready to hit the ground running as soon as they work out logistics and details.  

If you have been to Powell, you cannot have failed to notice the huge hole behind the building. SLSO staff have had to endure a new symphony of sounds reverberating through the walls as construction begins in earnest. Plans to move staff from Powell to their “new” offices at the old Urban League building a few blocks west on Delmar are now in full swing. We might be called upon to help them move all of their files and boxes. In typical SVA style and with dependable SVA spirit, we’re ready to serve wherever we’re needed!  

What better way to end this final message than to share that planning is underway at weekly SLSO meetings, with special groups dedicated to issues such as parking, shuttle buses, and helping our patrons feel comfortable and welcome in our temporary performance venues. SLSO staff are being as creative and innovative as possible, knowing that after all of the sacrifice and hard work, the reward will be a wonderful, updated Powell Hall where patrons will be afforded the opportunity to step through the doors to the Grand Foyer and experience the Hall anew, soaking in all of the wonderful updates and new construction that our world class orchestra, staff, volunteers, and patrons will have the privilege to call home! 

Kent McNeil, President 

President – Debbie Dillon 
VP of Education: Suzanne Seibel 
VP of Membership: Martha Duchild
VP of Philanthropy/Stewardship: Jim Moore
Secretary: Patty Kaplan 

Committees:  

EDUCATION AND POWELL HALL OPPORTUNITIES: 
Express the Music 
  Chair: Lynda Lieberman 
  Vice Chair: Paula Hertel 

 Picture the Music (reversed positions for continuity) 
  Chair: Beth Rogers 
  Vice Chair: Sue Darcy 

 Instrument Playground 
  Chair: Karen Nichols 
  Vice Chair: Jim Schindler 

 Powell Hall Opportunities: 
  Chair: Sherry Moschner 
  Vice Chair: Debbie Miali 

MEMBERSHIP: 
New and Prospective 
  Chair:  Elizabeth Hahn 
  Vice Chair:  Connie Wepfer 

Meetings and Events 
  Chair: Kathryn Norwood 
  Vice Chair: Dianna Barron 

Pick and Choose 
  Chair: Sue Propper 

PHILANTHROPY AND STEWARDSHIP: 
Advocacy 
   Chair: Mike Grayson 
   Vice Chair: LaVerne Moseley 

Ambassadors 
   Chair: Sharongay Pearline 
   Vice Chair: Don Pearline 

Friends 
  Chair: Glenna Schindler 
  Vice Chair:  Marjorie Smith 

Discovery 
   Chair:  Kent McNeil 
   Vice Chair: Janice Seele 

Boutique 
   Chair:  TBD
   Vice Chair:  Christine Henry 

NOTE: Names in italics are chairs/vice chairs who are continuing in their current position to fulfill their 2nd year of service; their names are not placed in nomination. 

Madison Vian is the SLSO’s new Front of House Operations Manager. We asked her to tell us a bit about her history with the SLSO and the goals she seeks to achieve in her new position.

Unlike many folks at SLSO, my first experience with the symphony was incredibly recent! My first time attending a concert in Powell Hall was this past December, when Kelsey Templeton invited me to visit the hall during my interview process. Like any other first-time patron, I was blown away by the beauty of the building, the professionalism of the staff, and the talent of the orchestra. After that concert, I knew SLSO was where I wanted to grow my career. 

As Saint Louis transplants, my husband and I moved to the area from Tulsa, Oklahoma in late January of this year so that I could take on the job as the Front of House Operations Manager. I graduated from Wichita State University in 2017 with a Performing Arts degree, though my focus was on the production side in stage management! My love for working with and for the community eventually led me to work most recently for the Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma (FBEO) as part of a two-person team focused on reducing food insecurity affecting senior citizens throughout the state of Oklahoma. While I love the mission of FBEO, after five years of working in non-profit and hospitality (while simultaneously working freelance as a stage manager) I knew it was time to take a leap of faith and pursue the performing arts full time, in any capacity. Fortunately for me, my best friend from high school convinced me to consider the vibrant and supportive arts community in Saint Louis, and I am so glad I did!  

Joining SLSO in a front of house role has already proved to be incredibly fulfilling. Every interaction with staff, patrons, and our volunteers has only confirmed that I made the right decision in choosing to join the team. It is evident that everyone here loves Powell Hall, and it isn’t hard to see why. As I get settled in my role, I hope to develop new ways to create an unforgettable experience for our Saint Louis neighbors from the first moment they walk into our doors. My aim is to encourage a more inclusive, welcoming environment that truly enables SLSO to empower and educate the community through music. I can’t wait to see where we go from here! 

With the Mixtape Trivia band, approximately 170 people in attendance, great table refreshments, outstanding silent auction items, raffles, and games, the SVA’s 2023 Trivia Night on March 4, was a huge success!  Congratulations to all of the SVA and YO volunteers who were responsible for everything running without a glitch.   

Special thanks to Becky Brown, Suzanne Seibel, and Debbie Dillon, who managed the silent auction items from pickup, tracking, and staging the items, to selling every item with complete perfection.  Janice Seele developed stylish table numbers, bid sheets, and other items used in the event, along with her donating the highest-selling auction item – a personal portrait painted by Janice, herself!  Connie Wepfer and Todd Dillon were bar tenders extraordinaire, ensuring we had the proper supplies and setup.  Kent McNeil and his trusty sidekicks, Jim Schindler and Christine Henry, managed all of the finances for the evening.   

The following YO musicians were incredibly helpful with any task Janice Seele, our Trivia Night staffing chair, assigned them – what a great group of teenagers we have in the YO – they even made a YO symphony-centered whiteboard original drawing for the guests to enjoy (see picture):  Celia Alexander, Jacob Buchek, Eric Chen, Elise Ellington, Victor Humphrey, Aiden Moon, Elizabeth Myers, Katherine Nguyen, Isabella Pantano, and Charles Randall – thank you!  Last, but not least, Martha Duchild and Lynda Lieberman, Trivia Chairs, did a great job planning, coordinating, and executing the event, making sure all details were accounted for.    

 Table #2, led by Lesley Chaney, of the SLSO, won first place with a purse of $300, and Table #4, led by our own Suzanne Seibel, won second place with a purse of $100 – both teams DONATED THEIR WINNINGS BACK TO THE YO..!   And we can guarantee you that those questions were not easy!   

As a result of the efforts by all involved in the Trivia Night event, we will be sending approximately $13,400 to the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra to support the development of our young musicians…!!!  This includes two donations that were received just after the event:  a $500 sponsorship by Madaline Creehan of Buckingham Asset Management and an anonymous $100 table sponsorship contribution by one of our own SVA members.  Thank you both so very much for contributing to our wonderful Youth Orchestra….THANK YOU…! 

Congratulations to all who volunteered, won prizes and raffles, and had a great time for a great cause….helping SVA to raise several thousand dollars for the YO…!  Thanks to all……..! 

It’s nice to see life returning slowly, but surely to normal in Powell Hall. Familiar faces are reappearing at concerts and SVA events. Equally exciting is the recent influx of new SVA members, many of them already stepping up to work at the Coffee Concert and in the Boutique. If you cross paths with someone you do not recognize, put on your best smile, and make sure they know how happy you are to meet them and include them in the SVA family. 

A friendly reminder: SVA name badges (old and new) are awaiting pickup in the Boutique. Just ask the volunteer behind the counter to retrieve your badge for you the next time you are in Powell Hall. If you need a new name badge, contact Laura Dwyer or Suzanne Seibel.

Speaking of name badges, please wear your name badge when attending a concert or event as a patron. These are opportunities to meet and reach out to potential new members and that name badge helps start the process.

As we stand back and watch our beloved parking spots become nothing more than water-filled craters and I see my tenure as the Vice President of Membership coming to an end a few thoughts come to mind: 

Take care of yourselves and each other. Keep in touch with the friends you have made within the SVA. Over the next two years we will perhaps see faces a little less often, either preferring the Touhill over the Stifel and vice versa. Use the phone, your laptop, the postal service to stay connected. 

Reach out to prospective new volunteers when talking to friends, relatives, neighbors or the person humming the Ode to Joy in the grocery store line behind you. We may be a little less active these next two years, but I have no doubt we are going to have to hit the ground running when the work is done and Powell Hall opens once again. 

And always, always take the opportunity to sing the praises and raise awareness of the power of the music performed by our beloved SLSO. After all, they are what have brought us together and keep us breathing. 

Suzanne Seibel 

Kathryn Snodgrass continues to receive requests and sends cards in sympathy or with well wishes. Anyone in the SVA membership is encouraged to contact Kathryn at SVAEngagement@slso.org, requesting a recognition of a fellow volunteer’s needs or celebrations.

In preparation for the new directory to be available in October, please send any changes to your contact information (e.g.: address, phone number either new or no longer being used, and/or email address) to Susan Pribble at SVADirectory@slso.org.  To assist with this effort, a group of volunteers will be making personal calls to all members to update information. 

After Powell Hall is closed for renovations, please contact Susan if you need a directory. 

Please note:  If a single phone number is adequate for your Directory entry, please send an email to Susan Pribble at SVADirectory@slso.org letting her know which number to use.  If we can get to one number per member, it will save significant printing costs! 

It’s hard to believe this is the final issue of News and Notes for this year.  We’re proud to welcome new SVA members who joined since our last edition:  Thomas Benner, Peggy Cordes, Carolyn Duke, David Henroid, Jane Henroid, Scott MacDonald, Angelo Matteuzzi, Andrew Schwartz, Debbie Schwartz, Paul Scott, Naomi Sloan and Austin Tao.  We also have a number of prospective members, and we hope they will join the SVA in the future. 

I hope you enjoyed zooming into our two exceptional Cocktails and Conversations featuring David Halen (in February) and Stephanie Childress (in April).  “C and C’s” are just one of the many benefits afforded SVA members.  Our own Laura Dwyer does an outstanding job as moderator, and we are so lucky to have these special opportunities to meet with such distinguished members of our symphony family!  

People have asked us how we recruit new members – Last summer’s ice cream social attracted many new members; some joined after viewing the SVA volunteer page on the symphony website (SLSO.org); others joined after meeting our friendly and knowledgeable New and Prospective Committee members at open rehearsals (offering candy didn’t hurt, either!);  But our best recruitment tool is still YOU! Your enthusiasm, your dedication, and your love for the symphony and SVA are contagious – keep spreading the word and help us continue to bring in new members in the future! 

One Last Thought…. 

As many of you may already know, the One and Done committee has been renamed to PICK AND CHOOSE. Why, you ask? One and Done had a deceptive finality to it, as if to say “do ONE job and you are done.” Everyone with the SVA should know that that is far from the truth. The work of the SVA and the SLSO is never done! So feel free to pick and choose many different jobs that this Committee offers. 

Pick and Choose is finishing out the 22/23 season with shuttle bus host for all remaining concerts. Many of these positions were filled with volunteers originally scheduled to cover the Surprise and Delight table.  It’s great to see the flexibility and willingness of volunteers to try new things, supporting the SLSO in everything they do! 

Meetings and Events has finalized the plans for the June 9 Luncheon at the gorgeous Westwood Country Club. Special thanks to Joanne Iskiwitch for her sharing of this club! The menu consists of a delightful soup and salad combination along with dessert. The event will begin with a meet and greet at 11:15. This is the meeting where the slate of new SVA officers will be voted on. Hope to see EVERYONE there! Photo: Winter Brunch, March 18, 2023. 

Photo: Winter Brunch, March 18, 2023

As you may already know, our big 100th SVA Anniversary is coming up in 2025.  Nancy Malvin and Vi Steinmeyer, with assistance from others, have been working on an SVA History Project. Their first step was to conduct a series of interviews with past SVA Presidents and other long-term members.  It is now time for those interviews to be transcribed, and they need help listening to the recordings and then typing the dialogue.  The work will be done from your home with your computer, and they will provide a computer-generated transcript to be used as a starting point. 
 
If you’re interested, and able to type, please contact Nancy at the address below for details of the project. Hopefully your fingers are limber and you are ready to help with this assignment.  Nancy will be available to help you get started and answer any questions.   Her email address is SVAHistory@slso.org.

Coffee Concerts
The coffee concert team has been busy!  Back-to-back concerts in Feb and March.  Then, then the last coffee concert of the season on April 22. We added a number of new volunteers who worked these concerts and recently added 6 more.   

We should be in great shape to staff all concerts for the new 23/24 season.  We will spend the summer cleaning up the volunteer list of members who can no longer work or are no longer interested.   

What a great year for the coffee concert team – new donut supplier, appreciative patrons, new volunteers, and great concerts.  Everyone is looking forward to the Touhill venue and the new season. 

For further information about SVA Coffee Concert activities please contact Group Leaders Milly Neff and Doug Neff (SVACoffeeConcerts@slso.org).   

Express the Music

What a tremendous pleasure it was to celebrate our ETM winners and finalists, LIVE, in conjunction with the March 19th St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra concert at Powell Hall!   

This was our 26th season and what a great season it was!   

Students from Missouri, Illinois and Arizona participated by listening to The Great Gate at Kiev from Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (orchestrated by Maurice Ravel) and wrote either prose or poetry in response. THE RESPONSE TO THIS YEAR’S PROGRAM WAS OVERWHELMING as evidenced by the table below comparing the 2022 and 2023 programs: 

Special thanks go out to the many people who made this year’s ETM program so successful.  45 SVA members and friends, including 8 graduate and under-graduate students from St. Louis University’s St. Louis Literary Arts Awards program, narrowed down the 585 writing submissions, to 50 finalists.  Ten10 professional judges, including our new judges — SVA member Marcia Moskowitz and UMSL Professor Benjamin Torbert — selected the 12 winners.  It went from 7,000 students participating, to 585 student submissions, to 50 finalists, to 12 winners!!!   

Liz Halpin assembled the beautiful awards book distributed to all finalists and winners.  SVA member Bev Cox managed the annual update of the teachers’ database.  SVA members Pam Belloli and Paul Gmerek took fabulous pictures.  The SLSO Education Department, led by Sarah Ruddy, helped coordinate and manage the entire program and ceremony.  Thank you!  Thank you! Thank You! 

We are also extremely grateful to the Employees Community Fund of Boeing St. Louis for awarding monetary prizes ranging from $75 to $400 to our top 12 winners!    

We encourage you to read the expressive and impressive compositions, located at www.slso.org/express to fully appreciate the talent of this year’s remarkable students.  We know you will enjoy the writings! 

Enjoyably submitted, 
Lynda Lieberman, Chair & Connie Wepfer, Vice-Chair Extraordinaire 

Picture the Music
Picture the Music had a wonderfully successful Awards Night in Powell Hall on March 29, 2023. Attendance was outstanding and over ninety percent of our winners were present, and they brought along almost six hundred guests.  

The Picture the Music program began earlier in the school year when sixteen thousand students, Kindergarten through 6th grade, from Missouri and Illinois schools listened to Holst’s Jupiter: Bringer of Jollity in their classrooms and created art inspired by the music. From that large group, one hundred pieces of artwork were chosen as the top winners. Those pieces of art were sent to Powell Hall where they were framed and displayed for the Awards Night. Each of the top one hundred winning students, along with their family, teachers, and friends, was invited to attend Awards Night. All of the students received their award on the Powell Hall stage. Sixty-six students received Special Recognition awards and twenty-five received Blue Ribbon awards. The top winner in each grade received a Red Ribbon Medal. Two Maestro awards are given, one for grades Kindergarten through 3rd, grade and the other for grades 4th through 6th. Both of these winners received Gold Medals.  

Maria A. Ellis was our Master of Ceremonies and did an outstanding job of announcing our winners and calming their nerves as each walked across the stage to receive their award. We also heard about the importance of music in the lives of children from Maureen Byrne and Kent McNeil. 

In addition to their award certificates, each winner was given two tickets to the McDonnell Planetarium complements of the St. Louis Science Center. The Planetarium brought two telescopes to the Awards Night and all of our guests were able to view the visible planets. The St. Louis Art Museum had a table of information in the Wightman Foyer to introduce families to the opportunities at the museum. 

After the Awards Night was completed, the top one hundred winning pieces were moved to the St Louis Science Center’s McDonnell Planetarium for a two week display. The artwork was well received by the public who viewed it. The artwork was then displayed at the St. Louis Art Museum in Sculpture Hall. It will remain there for two weeks and will be present during a Naturalization Ceremony of new American citizens on April 28, 2023. 

Beth Rogers and I thank the many volunteers that helped make Picture the Music a wonderful success and create life-long memories for our talented young artists. 

Group Hosts
Group Hosts made a successful pivot this year as Coffee Concerts changed their schedule from Friday to Saturday morning for the second half of the season.   

Led by our very capable Susanne Mertens, the team enthusiastically greeted buses from area retirement centers and schools.  Looking to the 2023/2024 season this team will be in greater demand as we anticipate more of our patrons will be taking advantage of bus transportation to attend concerts at Touhill and Stifel.   

We are actively seeking more volunteers to help in this important role.  In the words of Susanne, “Our Group Host volunteers are fabulous people – flexible, patient, personable and kind.  We strive to be a great enhancement for SLSO patrons.”  Please consider joining us as a Group Host next season. 

Powell Hall Tours
The Powell Hall Tours group was able to resume activities in the fall of 2022.  We conducted four Education Tours and four Public tours this year for a total of 574 guests. The Public tours were led for the Girl Scouts, North Side Elementary School, Junior League of St. Louis, and International Spouses.  

Since the start of the pandemic and through 2021-22, we welcomed 10 new volunteers.  From August 2022 to date, we have had 13 additional SVA members sign up for Powell Hall Tours; six of these members have participated in our activities by being a “shadow” with an experienced tour guide. Our group roster now totals 42 members with 19 of them actively participating this year for a total of 110 volunteer hours served.  

With the start of the renovation/expansion plans for Powell Hall, our group will be on hiatus until the completion of the project in 2025. We will look forward to the opportunity to work with SLSO staff to revise the Tours format in order to provide interesting experiences for those looking to learn more about the fascinating history and enjoy the stunning beauty of Powell Hall.   

For further information about SVA Powell Hall Tours, please contact Group Leader Becky Brown (SVATours@slso.org). 

Youth Orchestra
The St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra will perform their Cycle III finale of their 53rd season on Sunday, May 14 at 3:00 pm. This will be the last and final performance to take place in Powell Hall before it closes for renovations. The YO will perform WAGNER – Prelude to Tristan und Isolde, DEBUSSY - Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, and DVORAK – Symphony no. 9, “From the New World.” 

The YO’s Cycle II performance on March 19th was fantastic. Conducted by Stephanie Childress, the YO performed Johannes Brahms - Allegro non troppo from Violin Concerto in D major and featured the Concerto Competition Winner (and YO co-concertmaster), Ayman Amerin, on violin.  The second half of their performance was also incredible as the YO performed Dimitri Shostakovich - Symphony No. 5 in D minor.  
Please join us on Sunday, May 14th and be inspired by the next generation of incredible musicians! 

For further information about Youth Orchestra and volunteering, please contact SVA Team Leader Stephanie Randall (SVAYouthOrchestra@slso.org).  

Instrument Playground
Kenneth Givins was a bus driver for one of the preschools who attended the March 7th Tiny Tunes concerts.  He came to Powell Hall in 1970 as a second grader to hear a Kinder Concert. He was so inspired by the concert that he begged his Aunt to teach him music.  He learned guitar, trumpet, saxophone and even taught himself to play the piano.  He was singing in his Church choir as an elementary student.  He began leading the choir as a teenager.  He has pursued and enjoyed making music of some kind his whole life!  He even auditioned to sing the National Anthem for the Blues.  This love of music was planted over 50 years ago at a Kinder Concert in Powell Hall and is still bearing fruit! 

Karen Nichols  

Education Hosts
Education Hosts worked education concerts on February 21 and 22.  The February series is the final Education Concert at Powell Hall before the expanded/renovated Powell Hall re-opens.  The final Education concerts of 2023 will be the Link Up Concerts at the Touhill on May 10.     

In addition to the Education Concerts, over 20 SVA volunteers helped with the Tiny Tunes concerts on March 6 and March 7 for children ages three to six.3-6  The Tiny Tunes experience was incredibly well organized and well-structured by the SLSO Education Department staff, and the volunteers did an amazing job with the young children in attendance. The following information is from a Marie-Hélène email to the Board and SLSO team. 

“[In mid-March,] the SLSO welcomed approximately 1,100 children age 3-6 to Powell Hall for their first live music experience: “The Tortoise and the Hare”, conducted by Kevin McBeth and featuring about 12 players from the SLSO (in partnership with COCA – two of their young dancers were part of the live performance). Kids sat on stage facing the small orchestra: https://www.slso.org/tiny-tunes-teachers 
  
“Stéphane was in the house, mingling with children and giving “conducting lessons” (the man truly loves children). The SLSO’s team are early childhood education experts – understanding at a deep level how to craft programs that are truly compelling for children under age 12 while providing an engaging platform for teachers who aim to integrate sequential music education in their curriculum. 
  
“One of the school bus drivers shared his experience attending his first SLSO concert when he was 6 or 8. Driving the pre-school kids to the hall meant a lot to him; he was on a mission taking kids to an experience that made a lasting impression on him. It takes a “village” to create access to music! We were deeply touched that this man took the time to share his story with us.” 

For further information about Education Hosts, please contact Group Leader Steve Seele (SVAEduAmbassadors@slso.org). 

Advocacy
The Missouri House Budget Committee approved the $3.1M that arts advocates had requested for funding the Missouri Arts Council over the Governor’s budget.  In addition, $2.5M was added to the Trust Fund, a rainy-day fund that had been spent down some during the 2008 financial downturn. 

Finally, the Budget Committee added a $1M capital improvements sum for Powell Hall which will be set-up as a matching funds gift.  These are truly significant nods to the arts community and the SLSO in particular.   

Of course, all of this funding depends upon the Senate improving the budget that the House sent over at the end of February.  Thus, it would be a good idea for all SVA members to call or E-mail their Senators asking them to support the arts funding in the budget.  

Here are three links of interest: 

Economic Impact: https://www.slso.org/globalassets/about-us-files/impact/22-slso.pdf 

Community Impact: https://www.slso.org/globalassets/about-us-files/impact/22-new-community-impact.pdf 

Educational Impact: ‘https://www.slso.org/globalassets/about-us-files/impact/fy22-education-impact-report.pdf 

Join the Advocacy Team!  Contact: SVAAdvocacy@slso.org.
                      Arts have an economic impact!

Ambassadors
The Ambassador Committee would like to thank everyone who participated in staffing Surprise & Delight and the Forest Park Concert.  Thank you! 

Boutique

Margaret and I are very pleased with the success we have enjoyed for the past nine months. 

There were over 30 volunteers who helped to staff the Boutique this past season.  The last day for Boutique sales was May 6. We closed out the season with 25% off, then 50% off all merchandise in order to clear out our stock.  

We will miss the camaraderie that the Boutique volunteers enjoyed while working together AND will miss the immeasurable joy of interacting with patrons when stopping by.  Margaret and I are grateful for all of the volunteers who volunteered their time, energy, and talent. They helped to make the Boutique experience the success that it was during the concert season!  

Christine Henry, Chair 
Margaret Lahrmann, Co-Chair 

Discovery Committee
The renovation and expansion of Powell Hall has begun,; an exciting event that will yield marvelous results when the SLSO returns to its home in 2025.  As with any construction project, however, the expansion has led to several changes – to put it mildly.   

The SLSO staff has put together an incredible season for the coming year and has curated concerts that fit the specific capacities of the interim Touhill and the Stifel Theaters.  Patrons will be treated to the same magnificent performances by the SLSO musicians that they have become accustomed to at Powell.  Many SVA volunteers will be needed to help make sure that patrons feel as welcome, comfortable, and cared for at these new venues as they have been at Powel Hall.  

Over the past several months, the SVA has been working with the staff at the SLSO to determine how current volunteer activities might change, what new volunteer positions will be needed over the next two years and what new volunteer opportunities are anticipated in the expanded Powell Hall in 2025.  The SLSO is currently finalizing negotiations with venues and services, following which we can work together on determining volunteer needs. 

What all of this means for our SVA volunteers is that you will be greatly needed, as will the passionate, symphony-loving friends that you may recruit to join us! Be on the look-out for more communication on new and revised volunteer activities in the coming weeks so that we can all be ready to support our SLSO as it begins the 23/24 season.