Quarter Notes

Hooray! Our BSAV Recognition Event was actually held in May this year after last year’s May date postponement due to a spring COVID outbreak. And we had a beautiful spring day to celebrate.

Our BSAV Chair Bob Braun opened the meeting with a welcome to all. He then went on to recognize all the Boston Executive Committee members and Project Leads, thanking all for their wonderful service while noting a special thanks to Executive Committee members Greg Chetel and myself, whose terms are concluding after the August meeting this summer. The new Executive Committee members were also introduced; Melissa Riesgo will be moving from her current post to Boston Vice-Chair; Elizabeth Michalak will be Co-Chair for Education, Boston; Carol Brown will be Co-Chair for Patron Experience, Boston; and Howie Arkans will be the Chair-Elect. Howie will serve as such for a year and then take over as Chair when Bob's term concludes. Bob also made a point of introducing the new volunteers who attended the meeting.

He ended the first segment of the meeting with a few moments of silence for a bittersweet remembrance of those volunteers who passed away during this past season.

BSO Chief Development Officer Maureen Flores provided an update on recent happenings. Of course, the most exciting news was that the BSO has hired a new CEO, Chad Smith, who will start on the job in the fall. Chad has many ties to the Boston music community as well as Tanglewood, where he was a Fellow. Maureen made a point of thanking the interim CEO Jeffrey Dunn, who is quite happy to be returning to his post on the Board with Chad's hiring!

Maureen did have other news including her report on the recent very successful Gala that brought in over $1.4 million. The Symphony season has ended on a very positive note, and everyone is looking forward to a wonderful summer at Tanglewood.

Next Erin Asbury and I presented the Years of Service Awards to those volunteers who had served in Boston for 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 years, and even a 40-year service award (to Cynthia Lovell). Congratulations!

Erin introduced two "new" awards. The first went to a small, very hard-working group of volunteers who put in over 100 hours of service in Boston this past year. The final service award was the "change of color lanyard" ceremony, for those new volunteers who have "graduated" from green to red lanyards!

Congratulations to all!

I then presented this year's Hessie Sargent Spirit of Volunteering award to Judith "Judy" Albee. Judy was unable to attend this event, as she was traveling in Greece. But we did have some good photos of Judy to show during the award announcement. Congratulations to Judy on this well-deserved honor for her many years of gracious service on a variety of projects. We can congratulate her in person next season or on the August 6 Tanglewood trip for Boston volunteers.

We ended the meeting on a very high note, with our guest speaker, Benjamin Markham, CEO of Acentech, taking us into the Hall for an entertaining and educational talk on acoustics in music auditoriums, and what makes Boston's Symphony Hall such a celebrated auditorium for great sound!

The meeting adjourned with a yummy Mexican buffet reception where volunteers could mingle and catch up before the summer hiatus. Until next fall!