2011.08.31
National Music Festival reports debt-free first year, new board members
From my Inbox to you, an announcement from Caitlin Patton, executive director of Floyd County’s new classical music fest, the National Music Festival. Previous coverage of the festival can be found here and here.
NATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL FINISHES FIRST YEAR IN THE BLACK, WELCOMES NEW BOARD MEMBERS
The National Music Festival is pleased to announce that September 1 marks the beginning of its second fiscal year, and that the organization is in the black, with no outstanding debts.
“For a new nonprofit organization, in this economy, we are proud that as we enter our second fiscal year we have paid all our bills and don’t have any debt,” says Festival Executive Director Caitlin Patton. “We are now working hard to plan next year’s Festival.”
The Festival also recently welcomed five new members to its Board of Directors.
Floyd resident Bernie Coveney has played with Grammy award winner Emmylou Harris, contributed to the soundtrack of “King of the Gypsies,” and taught Robert Duval how to play guitar for his role in “Tender Mercies.” Coveney’s music has been described as mix of gypsy, jazz and bluegrass. Born in Massachusetts and raised in New Jersey and New York, Coveney already had an impressive musical history when he and his wife Lucy came to Floyd in the mid 90s to escape crowded city life. Coveney, who makes his living teaching music and playing private events, has headed up bands since first coming to Floyd.
Marie Henry is a lifelong amateur classical musician and music lover. She recently retired to Floyd with her husband Jack (Lester), where they both enthusiastically became charter members of the Friends of the National Music Festival. Both are avid NMF advocates and hands-on NMF supporters.
William May was born and raised in Buckingham County, VA. His musical education began at nine years old, when he took classical piano from a Catholic nun who was living and teaching in a Hindu spiritual community near his house. At eleven years old, he became the de facto music director and organist for a small Episcopal church. Will graduated from the College of William & Mary with a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry in 2007. He attended Virginia Tech to pursue a master’s degree in Enology and Grape Chemistry, but later dropped the program. He currently lives in Floyd County, where he is pursuing a winemaking career in a less academic setting.
Kinga Powers of Roanoke is a trauma surgeon an instructor in surgery at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. She earned her medical degree from Queen’s University and completed surgical training, as well as a doctorate in molecular biology, at the University of Toronto. She came to the United States to complete an advanced fellowship in minimally invasive surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, where she most recently served.
Sabatino Scirri is a professional flutist who is entering into an administrative career. He first came to the Festival as an Arts Administration Apprentice, and has now joined the Board of Directors. He has taught flute at the State University of New York at Buffalo and Nazareth College, and has performed with orchestras including the New World Symphony in Miami, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (in three solo appearances), and the Orquesta Sinfonica Sinaloa de las Artes in Mexico. He lives near Washington, DC.
The Festival is seeking to enlarge the board in the near future.
As well as its governing Board of Directors, the Festival also has an advisory board. Members of this advisory group include Floyd resident Bill Bell, Hollins University faculty member Judith Cline as well as Roanoke Symphony conductor David Stewart Wiley, Charleston (SC) Jazz Initiative director Karen Chandler, and the founder and chairman of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and noted musician S. Frederick Starr.
The inaugural season of the National Music Festival took place May 29-June 11, and brought over 110 musicians to Floyd from all over the world. The over 90 apprentices (college and graduate level musicians) attended on full tuition scholarships. The 2012 Festival is slated for June 3-16, 2012.
For more information about the National Music Festival, visit www.nationalmusic.us, e-mail info@nationalmusic.us or call 540.525.6296.
