To our treasured community of students, their families, and our wider base of music lovers and supporters: We hope this letter finds you all safe, healthy, and weathering the current uncertainty as best as possible. While we at Lark hoped that our normal activities would soon resume where we’d left them off in the spring, with California’s extended lockdown through August, it seems, unfortunately, that this will not be the case. We are assiduously following the recommendations of our Governor and Mayor, and attempting to adapt our operations to meet city and state guidelines and keep our community safe. As such, we have made certain determinations about each of our several departments, and wanted to keep you abreast of those developments so that you can plan accordingly. Thank you for staying flexible with us as we navigate towards a better tomorrow and for your continued support.
The Dilijan Chamber Music Concert Series Season XV has concluded.
Our sixth and final concert of the 2019/20 season which could not go forward, will be bumped to the 2020/21 season, which will have 7 (instead of our typical 6) concerts.
Plans for when Dilijan will resume are currently on hold, dependent on further updates from our venue (Zipper Hall at Colburn School of Music). As soon as operations there resume and we can safely produce our concerts, we will schedule and announce the 2020/21 season.
We look forward to having more information in September by which to re-evaluate and reassess our plans.
Please note that we at Lark are working from the same changing informational landscape as everyone else. We are firmly committed to continuing the work of our mission and to serving our students and community as soon as we can safely do so with State and Government sanctioning. As such, we will keep abreast of all new developments in the reopening of California and reassess our plans as we go along. If you do not receive a new update from us before September, we will provide you with the most up-to-date information on our activities at that time.
A WORD OF GRATITUDE
We have also heard from so many of you in the community, inquiring after us and wondering how you can help. We know that you stand behind us, that you are rooting for us, and that you will continue to be with us when we can finally be together again.
Furthermore, Lark is sincerely grateful to the parents who have been so understanding and patient as we have jointly navigated an unprecedented moment. We are particularly moved by those parents who have, unasked, continued to pay tuition knowing how much their support is essential to our functioning. We thank you for being unwavering in your dedication to your children’s education through our hands.
We’d like to take this opportunity to extend our heartfelt thanks to the incredible flexibility and understanding of our teachers who have worked to adapt to the new reality and keep up with their students’ progress via online classes. It is due to their tireless efforts that we can provide even a modicum of stability in this uncertain time.
Thank you.
Lark Administration
May 21, 2020
Violist Morgan O’Shaughnessey has performed live on RAI Radio 3 at Palazzo Quirinale for the President of the Italian Republic. He has also presented several recitals of modern Italian works at Teatro la Fenice in Venice as a part of festival lo spirito della musica di venezia, as well as recorded an album of the complete chamber music of Gino Gornini in collaboration with the Giorgio Cini Foundation, which was released on the Tactus label. He performs on a fine viola by Vincenzo Cavani di Spilamberto, and a bow by Darrell Hanks of Ashland, OR. His extensive discography with legendary producer Sylvia Massy includes string arrangements for Johnny Depp, Rihanna, and Soilwork. He holds a BM from San Francisco Conservatory, where he studied with Jodi Levitz and members of the Kronos Quartet. His other musical interests include the Scottish highland bagpipes, Swedish nyckelharpa, and Quebecois fiddle music. A passionate advocate for community involvement in music and art, Morgan is the artistic director for Springsart Series: a non-profit community concert series that produces accomplished regional artists in interactive artistic community events in a yurt deep in the forest near Ashland, Oregon.