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Letters to the Editor

Coastal Concerts thanks all for understanding

Denise Emery
February 13, 2014

I would like to thank Coastal Concerts ticket holders and friends for their kindness and understanding this past weekend when our 2 p.m. matinee featuring the Danish String Quartet had to be cancelled.

The group performed two wonderful outreach concerts on Friday at Sussex Academy of Arts & Sciences and the Jefferson School. Audiences were attentive and enthusiastic. Unfortunately, one of the violinists had injured his wrist several weeks earlier and it got worse as the day progressed. He went to Beebe’s Emergency Room Friday night and the wrist was splinted. Their agent called us late Friday night with the unhappy news that they would be unable to perform on Saturday.

I must offer kudos to our dedicated and tireless board members and volunteers who worked throughout the morning: Jean and John Boyer, Sharon and Dan Crampton, and Joanne and Pete Harrigan all made phone calls to ticketholders. Frank Payton added news of the cancellation to our website and sent a message to those on our mailing list; we also used Facebook to spread the word. Dan got an announcement on WSCL. Gavin Braithwaite notified Bethel Church, which hosts our concerts in its Fellowship Hall. Our fabulous Executive Director Edna Ellett assembled phone lists of ticket holders for us to call, fielded calls to our telephone line, notified WGMD, and performed a myriad of other tasks.

Kudos also to you, our public. Every person I spoke with was kind, understanding and gracious, and expressed concern for the injured musician. Everyone seemed pleased with our early notification and the option to use their ticket for a future performance, get a full refund, or donate it to Coastal Concerts. Someone told me that our early notification of the cancellation allowed more people to attend the Rehoboth Beach Film Society’s Met Simulcast of “Rusalka,” so some good did come from the cancellation of our concert.

This is a great community and I am thrilled to be a part of an arts organization here. We have two excellent concerts remaining: Elena Urioste (violin) with Michael Brown (piano) at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 1, and Ching-Yun Hu (pianist) at 7 p.m., Saturday, March 22. I hope you will join us!

Denise Emery
president
Coastal Concerts

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