African American Composer Initiative News - Save the Date, January 30 & 31, 2016

Valerie Capers 2015

We musicians of the African American Composer Initiative send you warm mid-summer greetings! We are pleased to share some wonderful news with you and to let you know of our exciting plans for our 2016 benefit concerts. Please mark your calendar for Saturday and Sunday, January 30 and 31, 2016 at 3 pm. We are thrilled to present a musical celebration of a living legend, Valerie Capers. Joining her will be the brilliant bassist John Robinson, our core group of musicians, and guest artists from the jazz and classical worlds.

Gratefully we announce that AACI has been awarded a  generous $10,000 grant, along with matching  grants, by the Carpenter Fund of the  Philanthropic Ventures Foundation. This support  will make it possible to continue our joyful mission  of bringing the people of our community together to  experience the amazing and powerful music of  African American composers in live concerts. The  matching grants will make contributions by our  donors go twice as far in covering production and  commissioning costs. AACI continues to donate all  ticket proceeds to the marvelous Eastside College  Preparatory School of East Palo Alto. Our connection with the Center for Black Music  Research at Columbia College in Chicago continues  to deepen and grow. Their archives now house new  musical scores by Valerie Capers, John Robinson,  and Joshua McGhee, as well as archival DVDs of all AACI concerts, representing over twenty-five African  American composers. In June, Jodi Gandolfi made a  fruitful visit to the archive, returning to California with  a bounty of beautiful music to share in upcoming  seasons. We appreciate you, our enthusiastic audience  members and supporters, and can’t wait to share  another program with you! With best wishes, LaDoris Cordell, Jodi Gandolfi, and Deanne Tucker for AACI For more information on the African American  Composer Initiative, please visit: www.aacinitiative.org. Copyright © 2015 African American Composer Initiative, All rights reserved.