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Southwest Chamber Music Executive Director Jan Karlin is pleased to announce that the Expanding Horizons Benefit held on Sunday, May 1st at the Altadena Town and Country Club exceeded expectations by 30% for both financial goals and attendance. All proceeds support the educational programs of Southwest Chamber Music (SCM), including Project Muse, Mentorship Program, Open Rehearsals, and Music Unwrapped.
Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard was the Honorary Chair. Master of Ceremonies Vice Mayor Sid Tyler and SCM Artistic Director Jeff von der Schmidt hosted the Benefit, which was attended by SCM donors, supporters, musicians, and mentored students from John Muir High School. The program included a performance by two–time Grammy Award-winning SCM musicians, student ensembles from John Muir High School, followed by dinner and a silent auction of special items from around the world. Mr. von der Schmidt also took the opportunity to announce to its donors SCM’s new international cultural exchange programs, Expanding Horizons. A press conference is planned for July 22, 2005, to announce these new programs to the general public.
  Mayor Bogaard quoted PUSD Superintendent Percy Clark – "where else in our nation are Grammy Award-winning musicians mentoring students in the public schools?"
  The Benefit program started with a side-by-side performance by SCM musicians and seven John Muir High School students of Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu’s The Seasons. Following the performance was a silent auction of items including exquisite wines and tickets to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Ford Amphitheater, Luckman Center, Pasadena Jazz Institute, and many more. Items also included many gift certificates to fine restaurants, along with delicate hand-crafted objects from South East Asia and Mexico and beautiful paintings and ceramic vases by local artists. The I Cavalli Musici chamber music ensemble from John  Muir High School provided background music for the delightful dinner prepared by the Altadena Town and Country Club.
SCM Executive Director Jan Karlin, Master of Ceremonies Vice Mayor Sid Tyler, Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard and Artistic Director Jeff von der Schmidt were the speakers during the evening. Mr. von der Schmidt spoke about new artistic initiatives to be announced publicly in July that will "Bring California’s music to the world, and the world’s music to California."
 
Southwest Chamber Music Educational Programs
 
Project Muse, Mentorship Program, and Music Unwrapped are SCM’s educational programs, offering concerts and mentoring with professional musicians to low- and moderate-income public school music students in Los Angeles County. Project Muse in-school concerts and the Mentorship Program have been in operation since 1994, currently serving up to 1,200 music students monthly at six middle and high schools in the Los Angeles Unified and Pasadena Unified School Districts. Mentorship programs are held in each school’s music building during regular school hours. Music Unwrapped began in October 2004, and is SCM’s newest educational program, targeted to families and students.
 
About Southwest Chamber Music
 
Founded in 1987 by Artistic Director Jeff von der Schmidt and Executive Director Jan Karlin, two-time GRAMMY Award-winning Southwest Chamber Music is the most active chamber music ensemble in the Western United States and maintains a full season of over 100 concerts, community and educational events throughout the year.  Since its inception, the mission of SCM has been to provide Southern California audiences with innovative concerts and groundbreaking educational programs designed to energize and renew the standard chamber music repertory by integrating the best of contemporary, world and early music.  Southwest Chamber Music’s events include subscription concert series at Pasadena’s Norton Simon Museum and Los Angeles’ Colburn School of Performing Arts, and a celebrated summer chamber music festival at The Huntington Library in San Marino, now in its 12th season in 2005.
 

Honorary Chair Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard with  Event Chair Betsey Tyler

Executive Director Jan Karlin and
Master of Ceremonies Sid Tyler