Chairman’s Message to the Members of the 

Friends of Orchestral Music

15 April 2021 

Dear Members,

MEMBERSHIP DRIVE – 2021 

2020 was a year like no other. We only had time to enjoy the CPO Summer Season before the Covid pandemic changed our lives so dramatically.

Lockdown prevented FOM from presenting any of our planned soirees nor our annual quiz in 2020. We were also not able to assist the CPO with any live performances.

In spite of these sudden changes, our 2020 membership renewals played a vital role in our being able to assist some of our educational portfolios to continue through the year with data for their online lessons, as well as help Jordan Brooks, Zico George and Cameron Williams further their individual studies.  Both the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival and Franschhoek Chamber Music Workshop have held their funding over until their events are allowed to take place.

We continued with our fundraising throughout 2020 and were able to raise R150,000 in addition to the membership fees.  This has enabled us to donate to our portfolios for 2021 as follows:

Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra: R50 000

Education for 2021

Beau Soleil Music Centre: R20 000
Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre: R20 000
Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra Youth Projects:  R20 000
Bursaries for students from the Western Cape to attend SANYO: R20 000 (South African National Youth Orchestra)

FMR as part of our concert broadcast project: R20 000 

TOTAL to date: R150 000

We need your help to give more to our projects in 2021.

2021 membership renewals are open. We are looking for opportunities to bring member benefits that comply with the Lockdown regulations while keeping our members and their family and friends safe.  The first of such will be an opportunity to purchase reduced price tickets for the Cape Town Concert Series who will be hosting members of the CPO in a concert of chamber music at the Baxter Concert Hall on Saturday 24 April.  We will send you a separate email about that shortly.

While we strive to make more events happen, we ask our members to:

  • Renew for 2021 and, if possible, add a donation as many of those who have renewed thus far have done;
  • To make payments easier, we have established a new Debit Order option, and attach our Appeal to help us meet our education and music appreciation fundraising targets;
  • Purchase a ticket for the online Cyber Symphony Season with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra running to 22 April. Every ticket helps.  Book here:  https://www.quicket.co.za/events/131209-cyber-symphony-series-1-series-4/#/

We hope it won’t be too long before we can meet again at a FOM Event and we thank you for helping to build the future of music in Cape Town.

Roderick Stevens
Chairman
Friends of Orchestral Music