Did You Know?
The following article was written
by Jean Hanfelt in 2005
It does not seem possible that this year marks the 29th anniversary of the Salida Aspen concert series, the longest running partnership between the Aspen Music School and Festival and a Colorado community. This relationship started with a single Aspen Music Festival concert in the summer of 1977. The Monarch String Quartet played to about 175 persons on Friday, July 22, 1977, at the Salida High School auditorium, giving locals a rare opportunity to attend a classical music concert in Salida.
In the 1970s, Music Associates of Aspen (MAA) applied for and received a grant from the Colorado Council on the Arts and Humanities to implement a pilot program to provide a music and lecture series to four small towns on the Western Slope. With further outreach in mind, an analysis was undertaken in 1977 which covered twenty six communities in Colorado, including Salida.
Outreach had been a dream for MAA and Salida was the first community to propose a series of MAA Outreach concerts. As a result of the one concert in 1977, a six-week concert series developed in Salida and was the model which MAA used to demonstrate the success of Outreach. In 1982 a guest speaker from MAA told an audience at the Salida Inn during a pre-concert dinner that, “Salida is unique in that this community organized itself without professional fundraisers to support the Aspen concerts.” This tradition has carried on for 29 years and the organization continues the work of the early founders.
An early organization, known as The Salida Aspen Music Festival, Salida Concerts, scheduled six concerts in 1978 with the financial support of Joe Lionelle, an executive of U.S. Soil Company in Salida. The company not only transported the musicians to Salida and back to Aspen on their Lear jet but assumed most of the cost of the musicians’ housing. It was, however, the consensus of those involved in the first six-week series that there should have been better preparation for the 1978 season.
At the beginning of the 1979 series, more preliminary planning was done but U.S. Soil was again obliged to furnish the preponderance of financial support. However, lodging and meals for the musicians were provided by the Salida Concerts and six families who also volunteered to help with transportation of the musicians during their stay in Salida. A final meeting of the “unofficial” group interested in promoting the Aspen Music Festival, Salida Concerts, was held in the fall of 1979 at the Heart of the Rockies Chamber of Commerce. The 1979 concert series was evaluated and suggestions were sent to the organizers of the Aspen Music Festival’s New York office. The purpose of the Aspen Music Festival, Salida Concerts, was defined as such: “To bring live, serious music to Salida and to the community.” It was agreed the immediate objective would be to form a cohesive organization with depth to administer and accomplish this purpose.
At the end of the 1979 season, letters stating support of the concert series were received from Salida Mayor Edward Touber, Attorney Alan Sulzenfuss, Dr. Andrew J. Kahan, Programs Director and Gail Kahan, M. Ed. Educational Director of Salida pre-school / day-care center (Strawberry Door, Inc.); Reverend Edward Rouffy of the Church of the Ascension, George Howerton, Dean-Emeritus, School of Music, Northwestern University, residents Simonette Koenig, and Shannon Patterson, high school music director, John Held, and Superintendent of Schools, C. L. Robertson.
Also, in October 1979, the Aspen Music Festival, Salida Concerts, disassociated itself from the Salida Concerts Association in order for them to be eligible for a grant from the Colorado Council on the Arts and Humanities.
Further progress was made in 1980. Salida Concerts was able to assume all expenses including meals, transportation and lodging for the musicians as well as printing, advertising and other business costs. U.S. Soil continued to contribute office space, use of the telephone and clerical help. Through the efforts of Janice Collins, Business Director of MAA and help from the local community, a grant was received in the amount of $6,000 from the Colorado Council for the Arts and Humanities. Legal steps were initiated to incorporate the Salida Concerts as a non-profit entity, no longer under the wing of MAA. Articles of Incorporation were issued to Salida Concerts, Inc. by the Colorado Secretary of State on July 31, 1980. The Board applied for and received their 501-c-3 not-for-profit designation on February 1, 1982.
Salida Concerts, Inc. organized to include a Board of Directors that now numbers nine and a volunteer committee of approximately 50 people from the local area. A record of volunteers shows that about 200 individuals have served on the Concert Committee. Many of these folks continue to volunteer year after year.
The six- week concert series is funded through contributions, ad sales for the Program Book, and ticket sales. The 1981 Program Book stated that:
“The funding of a cultural medium such as this is an undertaking that should be shared by the whole community and must be conducted in accordance with sound business practices. All contributions, large and small, are needed to pay operating costs and to build a sustaining fund. The Salida-Aspen Concerts can continue only with the support of our friends.”
The reader might find it worthy of note that the above philosophy continues today. Various contribution levels were first established in 1981. Each year the fund drive begins in the spring when letters are mailed to past and potential contributions. Names of the contributors are then listed in the Program Book. And memorial contributions are also acknowledged. The Ad Sales campaign also begins in the spring when volunteers go out into the community to solicit ads for the Program Book. Businesses have been very loyal to the concert series and their support is truly valued!
The key players from Aspen who have worked directly with Salida Concerts, though few in number, have been a dedicated group of individuals, including Edgar B. Stern, Jr., Board Chairman; Janice Collins, Business Director; Forrestt Miller, first Outreach Program Coordinator with Salida; Robert Biddlecome who created the six-week program for us for approximately 25 years and who was also a member of the American Brass Quintet, and currently, Deborah Barnekow, Director of Educational Outreach who was appointed as Program Director for Salida in 2002 to succeed Robert Biddlecome.
The key players from Salida are more numerous and include Joseph E. Lionelle, a friend of Board Chairman Edgar Stern Jr and co-owner and Vice President of U.S. Soil who was instrumental in bringing the first concert to Salida; Raymond O. Hosford, a fine artist whose tireless work with the Salida Aspen Concert series was conducive to the formation and development of the concert series; Dr. George Howerton who retired to Salida from Northwestern University where he was Dean of the School of Music from 1951 to 1971 and who, as a meticulous and an avid promoter of classical music, proudly served on the Board for 15 years; Charles O. Melien who spent thirty three years with the Salida school system as coach, teacher, counselor and superintendent. He was appointed to the Board in 1982 and served as treasurer and fundraiser for eleven years. He also served as Board president for nine years. Other include John Held, Music Director at both Salida High and Junior High Schools, who also served on the Board for fourteen years and as the liaison contact with the Aspen Outreach Coordinator; Howard B. Goff who moved to the Arkansas Valley after he retired from M.W. Kellogg Company as a chemical engineer and served on the Board for twelve years; and Lori Denoyer who served on the Board for fourteen years in various roles including President, Treasurer, Secretary and Volunteer Coordinator. She continues to work on Ad Sales and is responsible for the varied floral arrangements that grace the stage for every concert. The list also includes Georgiana Smith, a Colorado native, who attended Loretto Heights College in Denver and earned a degree in music. She was involved in the grass roots movement to bring classical music from Aspen to Salida and after the organization was incorporated; she served on the Board of Directors for twelve years, as President for three years, and as Volunteer Coordinator for four years. Jeffrey Snyder, a committed community leader, served on the Board for eleven years; two years as President and as Treasurer for eleven years.
Listed in chronological order for informational purposes are the persons who have served, or now serve, on the Board of Directors from 1980 through 2005: Janice Collins, (Aspen), Raymond O. Hosford, George Howerton, Joe E. Lionelle, Edgar B. Stern, Jr. (Aspen), Charles Melien, Jeffrey Snyder, Sherla Alberola, Howard Goff, John Held, Georgiana Smith, Lori Denoyer, Norma Hess, Saba McWilliams, William Fagala, Arlin Buller, Dan Downing, Nathrop; David Clark, Poncha Springs; Virginia Imig, Nancy Markman, Nathrop; Dave Sanger, Jim Moore, Buena Vista, Rod Schleicher, Don Moffett, Ron Slaughter, Russell Colling, Jennifer Davis, Buena Vista; Marvin Ebel, Nathrop; Barbara Workman, Earle Kittleman, David Scholz and Barbara Evans.
The roster of performers who have brought their music to Chaffee County is impressive. We have been fortunate to have had on our stage at the John Held auditorium such notables as soprano Renee Fleming, violinists Gil Shaham, Robert McDuffie, Livia Sohn, David Perry, Mark Peskano, Dimitri Berlinsky and Adele Anthony, violist Larry Dutton, cellists Frederick Zlotkin and David Finckel; harpist Nancy Allen, flutists Barli Nugent and Nadine Asin, pianists Rita Sloan, Wu Han and Akira Eguchi. Artists of this caliber make each season exceptionally rewarding.
It is my hope that newcomers to our concert series or to the community can gain a sense of historic perspective and consider volunteering and contributing to this significant cultural community effort.