The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music education: WYSO’s Art of Note benefit on Saturday, April 18, needs sponsors and donors as it seeks to raise $50,000 to benefit music education in the Greater Madison area.

By Jacob Stockinger

Our friends at the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) write:

On Saturday, April 18, 2014, from 6 to 10 p.m., at CUNA Mutual, 5810 Mineral Point Road, on Madison’s far west side, WYSO will hold its annual Art of Note gala fundraiser, this year called “Believe in Music.”

You can join dozens of major corporate underwriters and small business sponsors as well as individual attendees in helping WYSO to meet its goal of raising $50,000 for music education.

Study after study confirms that music education reaps lifelong benefits in academic and career success that go far beyond making music. And no single music educational organization in Wisconsin reaches more students or listeners than the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO), which is based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music.

“WYSO has served nearly 6,000 talented young musicians from more than 100 communities throughout south central Wisconsin over the past 49 years,” says executive director Bridget Fraser (below right, seen at last year’s Art of Note with Libby Bestul, chair of the Art of Note fundraiser).

But such a mission is not easy to run or cheap to fund.

WYSO provides many scholarships and undertakes local concerts and TV appearances as well as international tours — two summers ago, to Vienna, Prague and Budapest (below); this past summer to Argentina. Another international tour, to Italy, is being planned.

That is why WYSO needs your help.

Adds Fraser: “The Art of Note Gala garners community-wide support from those who people are passionate about music education, ensuring that WYSO remains one of the top youth orchestra programs in the country.”

The evening will feature fine food and live music performed by several WYSO student groups (a WYSO string quartet is below), including an honors ensemble of students from the Madison Music Makers.

Fundraising events include silent and live auctions of more than 100 items that include everything from fine wine and restaurant gift certificates to holiday getaways and tickets to major sporting and arts events.

Of special note are the recycled violins (below) that have been hand-painted and transformed into works of art by local artists.

Individual admission is $100 in advance, $110 at the door. ($65 is tax-deductible as a charitable donation per person.) Tables for 4 are available for $375; tables for 8 for $750.

For reservations and more information about attending or sponsoring the gala, about donating auction items and about WYSO’s overall program as well as upcoming concerts, visit WYSO’s home website at http://wyso.music.wisc.edu and the special event’s page with a list of sponsors at http://wyso.music.wisc.edu/artofnote/

For more information, you can also call (608) 263-3320, ext. 2.