Dear Friends of the Kamuela Philharmonic,

The Board and staff of the Kamuela Philharmonic Orchestra Society (KPOS) sincerely hope that you and your friends and family are safe amidst storms, both pandemic and meteorological. Our island has not been as gravely assaulted, but we know that many of you have family and friends elsewhere.

Sadly, we had to cancel our March MasterWorks concert, the last of our 2019-20 season. Mahalo to those of you who donated your ticket cost to the KPOS. You have helped to sustain us!

Now we are planning our 2020-21 concert season. We must be mindful of government and public health rules and guidelines. All these affect who can travel, how many can assemble, and many protocols for any gathering. Given how long various restrictions might be in place, and what may be required, planning is a challenge.

Our home concert venue, Kahilu Theatre, may not fully reopen before January 2021, and even then they might reopen at a socially distanced, reduced capacity. It’s also not clear if any other venues on-island will be available. So we are left with no option but to cancel our October 4, 2020 MasterWorks concert at the theatre, and our November 3-4 fundraising recitals that were to be held in a private home.

Going forward:

• MasterWorks concerts for January and April 2021 are tentatively on the calendar.

• Music education programs for school children are taking shape.

• Chamber music recitals in smaller venues around the island by our professional musicians may be offered before the end of this year. In this respect, we’ve recently learned that depending upon government rules; the Kahilu Theatre may open between October and December for bi-monthly chamber music concerts by local artists with socially distant seating for 50-99 people. If that occurs, it will be possible for small groups of KPOS musicians to participate.

• The Madeline Schatz-Harris Concerto Competition for instrumental music students is this Fall. Auditions will be by recorded video. The winners will perform with us next year, in April.

Strengthening our leadership, we welcome three new and returning Board members, Lori Huff, Paul Koehler, and Colleen Whitty. Officers are myself as President, Karl Lizza, Vice President, Sharon Cannon, Treasurer, and Lori Huff, Secretary.

We still have a few vacancies on our Board. Please make yourself known if you are available to serve. We also welcome volunteers for a host of tasks, and for our Advisory Committee. For details, please visit our website, www.KamuelaPhil.org.

Aloha and Mahalo for your interest and support,

Joel Gimpel, President
Kamuela Philharmonic Orchestra Society