2023-24 season recap!

It took us a while to come back from the quarantimes, but what a comeback!

Citywater’s presence at the Festival of New American Music in the fall was huge! We performed at the Opening Gala concert, featuring a work written for us by Josiah Catalan, and the Student Composers Competition, premiering works by Sac State students. We shared a concert with members of Kaleidoscope, coming together to perform Steve Reich’s Double Sextet. On the closing concert, we performed keynote composer David T. Little’s piece Ghostlight, which included some sounds never before heard from our group, including an e-bow on the piano strings and magnets being thrown into a metal tube!

Citywater was also honored to perform on the 1000th Music at Noon concert at Westminster Presbyterian Church on May 15th! Our very own Jennifer Reason was the star of the show and brought together her favorite collaborators to help celebrate the event. That concert is still available to be viewed on the Music at Noon You Tube page HERE.

Thanks to the generosity of friends and supporters, Citywater performed our first house concert! What a fun event that was! Hosted by Graham Sobelman and Brandon Pace, who graciously opened their home, we celebrated our Big Day of Giving donors and introduced ourselves to a whole group of soon-to-be die hard Citywater fans. Delicious food, wine, and scintillating company made created a stellar stage for our short concert. Here’s a short clip from the evening, courtesy of Graham:

We are already planning a program for the fall, another house concert in January, and more in the spring! Plans for another commissioning project are already in the works as well.

As details on all of these plans come together, we’ll keep you posted! Be sure to follow us on facebook and instagram for the most up to date information.

And thanks for being a fan!

The Countdown to Big DoG 2020!

Hello Friends of Citywater, 

We are excited to announce that we have received pledges for a substantial matching pool for this year's BDOG2020 fundraiser! What does this mean for you as a Citywater supporter?

It means that from now through midnight on May 7th any donation you make on our BDOG2020 web page will be matched dollar for dollar with funds that have been pledged to our matching pool. We are very excited to have the opportunity to participate in the matching pool this year. 

We have also decided to make the best use of living virtually. One of Citywater's goals  is to work with up-and-coming composers. Tim Stanley, our cellist and Director of Operations, will be interviewing a few of the composers whose compositions Citywater has recently performed. We will be sharing those interviews with you via our email and Facebook in the coming weeks. Our mission to bring the best contemporary chamber music to our friends in Sacramento and beyond has never felt more immediately vital and important. We've all come to understand deeply how much the artists among us contribute to the quality of our daily lives. We want to thank you for helping us continue to move forward, and after we emerge from these very strange days, Citywater will be ready to bring you our best performances yet. Thank you and please stay safe.

Your Friends in Citywater

 "Music is a living art. It is always growing and evolving. You, as a Citywater donor, play a key part in every stage of the creative process! You help fund the creation of new pieces, help sponsor concerts where these pieces are performed, and make it possible for listeners to experience world premieres. We could not do what we do without you."
     - Dan Sackheim, Citywater Board President

Hello from Citywater!

Hello Citywater Friends, Family, Fans, and Supporters:

Citywater is pressing pause on most of our current musical activities. We are still preparing for a great fall season of concerts and premieres. Rest assured that your favorite new music sextet will return revitalized, rested, and very eager to play for you when we are safely able to gather again.

As many of you may know, the six players in Citywater are freelance musicians. With concert and event cancellations their economic situations have become more tenuous. Due to the generous support of our donors Citywater has been able to operate in the black recently, and has been able to maintain a small rainy day reserve. The board has decided to disperse this small reserve to the musicians to provide some financial relief during this current crisis.

We do want to hear from you, our extended Citywater family. We miss you. Please feel encouraged to send us an email to let us know you miss Citywater's concerts, and can't wait to see us again. If you are moved to support Citywater prior to the Big Day of Giving on May 7, we will use those funds to create a “matching pool” to be used to match other donations on the Big Day of Giving. Funds raised during the Big Day of Giving will be earmarked for our performances in the fall. Our goal right now is to help keep the current members of Citywater financially secure so that they can still choose to be the musicians of Citywater, and to make sure that this ensemble survives this time of economic uncertainty.

Citywater has enjoyed bringing new music recently to the Empress Theatre in Vallejo as part of the Visions of the Wild Festival, to Sacramento State and the Crocker Gallery for the Festival of New American Music, and to the E. Claire Raley (CLARA) studio in Sacramento, with the Midtown Vanguard Jazz Series. Your support during the Big Day of Giving on May 7 will make you the most important part of Citywater's ability to share our music. We believe in the future of music in Sacramento, and will continue to plan to give performances. We hope that if you are able, you will still consider a donation this year. We really look forward to seeing you at a performance. 

Our next confirmed performance is in September for the 2020 Visions of the Wild Film and Arts Festival in Vallejo, CA. Our fingers are crossed in the hope that we can safely give a concert for you at that time.

Take good care of yourselves and each other. We’ll soon be back making awesome art for everyone.

Your Friends in Citywater

FeNAM is Coming!!

Citywater is thrilled to be playing on not one, but three concerts this FeNAM! We’ll be at the opening gala on Sunday, November 3rd, performing Griffin Candey’s Buckboard Charlie, written for us last spring. On November 8th at 4pm, we’ll perform the finalists for the Student Composers Competition. The winner will be announced that afternoon by adjudicators Frank Tichelli, Ryan Suleiman, and Derek Keller.

Our big concert is at 3pm on Sunday the 10th at the Crocker, where we will present Derek Keller’s NorCal Water Music, a stunning multi-media work that plunges into one of California’s most important resources - water - and celebrates the beauty, complexity, and fragility of the Sacramento River watershed.

For more information, visit Derek Keller’s webpage.

We will also feature Christina Rusnak’s beautifully evocative work Oregon Trail in its entirety. We were honored to perform one of the movements at the Visions of the Wild Festival in Vallejo a year ago and are so happy to be able to present the whole thing!

To learn more about Christina and her work, click HERE.

To see the whole schedule for FeNAM, click HERE.

Can’t wait to see you at a concert! And don’t forget to wear your Citywater t-shirts! We love to get photos with our fans!

The Big Day of Gratitude!

Presenting a letter from Skye Bergen, our Big DoG Team Captain, Board Treasurer, Succulent Siren, and all-around amazing human being:

To All Citywater Big Day of Giving Donors:

Wow. You really showed up and made a difference this year! I am completely overwhelmed by how amazing you all are.

If we haven’t met yet, let me introduce myself. My name is Skye Bergen. I am an artist, owner of Succulent Sirens, cello student, and state worker. I started on my path of learning the cello 10 years ago when Tim Stanley compassionately took me on as an adult student. The only musical knowledge I had was from being a drummer in a punk band, and he still agreed! Little did I know that I would become a Citywater board member a few years later, and recently step into the role of Citywater’s Board Treasurer. This year I was honored to be the Citywater Team Captain for the Big Day of Giving.

To those of you who have supported Citywater year after year...from the bottom of our cello we thank you. Citywater is approaching its ten year anniversary soon and we would not have made it this far if it weren’t for your incredibly generous support.

To those donors who gave to Citywater for the first time this year… thank you so much. And welcome! Your names will be forever written in our history books as Citywater supporters.

As some of you may have heard, the City of Sacramento is considering slashing its annual budget for the arts. Citywater has received art grants via the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission several times, and that funding came directly from the city budget. If the city does in fact slash the arts budget for the coming fiscal year, then we will rely solely upon funding from our donors for our 2019/2020 season. So we are extra extra grateful to you all this year in particular, in case the city does in fact slash the budget for the arts. (If you have an opinion concerning the city budget please contact your city council member.)

Part of Citywater’s Mission Statement says that classical music is often perceived as elitist, out of date, and isn’t for everyone. I was one of those people who thought classical music was elitist. As an artist I tend to gravitate towards art that makes me think differently about the world, society, or my own beliefs. Citywater changed my whole perception of classical music, and continually opens my ears to a whole new genre of music. I am honored to be a board member for a unique ensemble with an exciting and challenging mission.

Don’t forget to come to the performance on May 17. Let us thank you in person. Meet the ensemble, meet the board members, meet other audience members who also like modern classical music. Hear music that has never been performed before. When we say “new”, we mean it.

Thank you,

Skye Bergen
Citywater Board Treasurer and Social Media Maven

It's the Big Day of Giving!!

A huge thank you to everyone who has donated so far! You are helping to make this our best year yet!

And, not that you donated just to get a gift, we’ve got some special thank yous:

• All first-time donors receive a Citywater CD.

• Donors who give up to $100 receive a Citywater button and stickers.

• Donations above $100 receive all of the above, plus a colorful new Citywater Tee.

• Donors who give above $150 receive all of above, plus a pint glass emblazoned with the Citywater logo.

• Donors who give $300 and above will receive two VIP tickets to the May 17, 2019 concert (see below!) and a Citywater tote bag to hold all of the above.

• Donors who give $500 and above will, in addition to all of the aforementioned goodies (stickers, buttons, pint glass, T-shirt, tote bag, and VIP tickets), be recognized as co-sponsors of a Citywater performance.

• Donors who give $1000 will be recognized as co-underwriters of an entire Concert, and get all of the aforementioned goodies (stickers, buttons, pint glass, T-shirt, tote bag, and VIP tickets). 

You might be wondering what those VIP tickets are all about! That’s our upcoming concert on May 17th at CLARA! If you need to get MORE tickets, click on THIS LINK!!!

And now, a message from the epically-bearded, soon-to-be-clean-shaven Director of Operations, Tim Stanley:

Hello Citywater Fans!

Please join us on May 17th when Citywater will premiere a new work by Griffin Candey, titled “Buckboard Charlie.” (Composed just for Citywater!)

In addition to that, we will be premiering the second movement of Christina Rusnak’s Oregon Trail work. We performed the first movement in Vallejo last summer at the Visions of the Wild Festival. Lastly, the venue for our concert is also a new one for us. It will be held at CLARA as part of the Midtown Vanguard Jazz Series. The other pieces in the concert are from Professor Rusnak’s colleagues from the Landscape Music Composers Collective, which creates music inspired by the natural wonders of our planet. This concert is not to be missed! Help us by being a part of new classical music created and performed in Sacramento. 

Yours,
Tim Stanley
Cellist and Director of Operations, Citywater

Thank you everyone for all of your support! It means everything to us!

Photo credit: Jonathan Reveles

Don't wait! Donate!

You can schedule your Big DoG donation any time!

If you are planning on donating to Citywater for the Big Day of Giving, you don’t need to wait until May 2nd! This year you can schedule your gift ahead of time by simply visiting www.bigdayofgiving.org/citywatermusic  and clicking on the Donate Now button. As Tim Stanley would say, “Easy peasy lemon squeezy.” Donations as little as $15 make a big difference!

Some of your donations will be immediately supporting the costs of our May 17th performance, “Buckboard Charlie: Modern Chamber Music Exploring the Spirit of American Landscapes”, part of the Midtown Vanguard Jazz Series at CLARA. We are very excited to share a lot of brand new music with Sacramento this season. Other pieces are coming to us over the next year, so there are great short-term and long-term goals to give toward! Remember that supporting us also means supporting living composers.

Succulents!

What a blast we all had at the fundraiser! Derek Keller stopped by and gave everyone a preview of the new piece he’s working on for us (premiering this fall at FeNAM), Cathie and Ben performed and talked about Linda Chase’s piece Wildfire Rages. River Whispers. Resilience., and everyone made their very own succulent arrangement! Check out the slide show! And remember to mark your calendars for our next two big events: Big Day of Giving on May 2nd and our concert at CLARA on May 17th!

The Succulent Sirens of Sacramento Sponsor Citywater!

This is going to be a unique and FUN event!! We are taking over the Barrio Cafe for the evening! Have a glass of wine (or beer), learn how to put together a delightful arrangement of succulents, all while listening to a flute and vibraphone duet by members of Sacramento’s own new music ensemble, Citywater. The performance will include a short talk about new music and an open discussion. This is a fantastic opportunity for a unique and intimate Citywater experience at The Barrio, a small cafe in South Land Park. 50% of all tickets sold will go towards Citywater’s Big Day of Giving fundraising campaign. Tickets are very limited! Get your HERE to make sure you have a spot!

Big DoG 2019!

Winter is over, and that means that the 2019 Big Day of Giving is coming soon. Be sure to put a big star in your calendars on May 2nd, because Citywater is participating again!

Here is a message from the President of Citywater’s Board, Dan Sackheim (who has been with us from the very beginning!):

We know that you know that music makes life better.

Music is a living art; it has always grown and evolved.

Citywater is Sacramento's only new music ensemble.

You, as a Citywater donor, help bring new music to new and experienced listeners.

You, as a Citywater donor, play a key part in all stages of this creative process!

You help fund the creation of new pieces.

You help sponsor concerts where these pieces have their world premieres.

Save the date and watch for big news from Citywater in the coming weeks.

Visit our Website. Follow us on Facebook...and watch for BDOG details.

Support and join our friends at Citywater in making this world a little better.

Here is the link to our profile on the Big Day of Giving website. Just click on that link on May 2nd to donate to Citywater! It's that easy.

https://www.bigdayofgiving.org/citywatermusic

More details coming soon!

Upcoming Collaborations!

Citywater is excited to announce TWO new collaborations!!

This spring, we will be premiering a new work written for us by Griffin Candey! Griffin was recently named the composer-in-residence at the Cleveland Opera Theater and while most of his works are for the opera stage, we are thrilled to be working with him on his latest instrumental work, Buckboard Charlie, written for Citywater! The premiere will be May 17th at E. Claire Raley Center for the Performing Arts in midtown Sacramento. Save the date now and we’ll keep you posted with details as we get closer!

We’re also working on a multi-media project with local composer Derek Keller. The premiere will be the feature of our concert on FENAM 2019! Dates and details soon!!

Thank you!

Citywater had a fantastic time in Vallejo for the Visions of the Wild Festival! The Empress Theater is not just beautiful visually but acoustically as well…what a great place for a concert! The audience was so gracious and most people stuck around for the reception to say hi and chat with the band.

A huge thank you to Nell Shaw Cohen, who was the organizing force behind the event. Another huge thank you to all the composers who wrote pieces for us; Nell, Ryan Suleiman, Christina Rusnak, Linda Chase, Ben Cosgrove, Oliver Caplan, Libby Meyer, and Rachel Panitch.

Look at the navigation bar!!!

Did you notice there is a new button?! DONATE! We are set up to take your donations here on this webpage! You'd really be helping us out if you checked out the page and maybe even just made a donation while you're there...you know, just to make sure it all works...and to show us how much you love us.

Rivers and Trails and Visions of the Wild!

We have some very exciting news for Citywater friends and fans!

We have just confirmed that we will be performing a program of world premieres in the Rivers and Trails concert series, presented at the Visions of the Wild Festival in Vallejo. The concert will be September 23rd at 3pm, at the beautiful Empress Theater in downtown Vallejo. We are very excited about this cool opportunity and we want you to be there! Several members of Citywater, performers and board members, are avid backpackers, hikers, kayakers, and general outdoor adventurers, so this concert series couldn't be a better fit!

This concert will kick off our season, followed by several more in and around Sacramento.

We realize you haven't heard from us in a while, and want you to know that we have been far from idle...professionally and personally! Watch for updates on facebook and here on the webpage to see what exciting things we're doing in the "off season," and get to know the band and board a little better. 

Fall is here...

...and that means FeNAM is coming! For the uninitiated, that is the Festival of New American Music, an annual event that has been held at Sac State for 40 years!

Well, dear fans, Citywater will be back at FeNAM again this year, with not just one, but THREE concerts! We'll be a part of the Opening Gala concert on Friday, November 3rd at 8pm. On Saturday, we'll split the noon concert with the University Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Thomas Derthick. Then, at 3, we'll play for the Student Composers Open Reading Session. 

In all of our performances, we'll be joined by guest artist Jennifer Ellis, a harpist who specializes in modern music. Check out her work here! We are thrilled to be collaborating with Jennifer! In the search for repertoire to play with her, much of it based on her recommendation, we've found some fantastic composers we might not have found otherwise. Can't wait to tell you about them! Check back soon for some previews!!

For the full festival schedule, click HERE!

Citywater on Insight

Local celebrity alert!

A couple of weeks ago, Jennifer, Ben, Cathie, and Tim went to the Cap Radio studios to record some music and an interview with one of Cap Radio's classical hosts, Kevin Doherty. It was a blast! Kevin had great questions and the whole production team over there was fantastic.

Well, the show aired today! If you missed it, no worries! We've got the link for you right here: CLICK ME!

Enjoy! And then join us in the fall for our next season....sure to be the best yet!

Big DoG 2017 Update

Thank you all for your support!!

We Can't Do This Without You.

 

Hello Friends of Citywater!
 

The Big Day of Giving is just a few short weeks away, and we are excited to have a new Director of Operations (Congrats Tim Stanley!), a new goal, a plan for a new season, and a couple of new gifts in store for our donors. 

The Big Day of Giving for 2017 is May 4th. We love this. Because May the 4thbe with you. Always. (We are nerds.)

Here is the link to our profile on the Big Day of Giving website. Just click on that link on May 4th to donate to Citywater! It's that easy. 

https://www.bigdayofgiving.org/citywatermusic
 

If you won't be able to donate on May 4th, but you would like to donate beforehand, you can! This year you will be able to make an "offline gift" after the website is activated on April 14th. Any offline gifts made prior to May 4thwill be added to the total amount after the event closes at midnight of the 4th. Pretty great, right?

Our Goal
 

Our goal for the coming 2017/2018 season is $12,000!
This is our biggest goal yet.
Let's do this. 

Our plan for the funds is to create a series of public concerts that will celebrate new American chamber music. We also want to commision, perform, and record pieces written specifically for Citywater by local composers. Part of the funds raised during this BigDOG will go to studio recording costs and commissioning fees. We want to get started this year on making enough recordings to have a full CD by the end of 2019.
 

Donor Rewards

Show your Citywater pride! One of our new thank you gifts this year is a limited edition T-shirt that you can wear to all of your social engagements. Wear it to our concerts, your best friend's wedding, bar mitzvahs, Second Saturday, or even city council meetings. The T-shirts will be available to those who donate $50 and above. Below is the list of other gifts that we are offering this year. 

$25 - Receive a personal thank you note and photo from Citywater’s rescue dogs, Ichi and Pepper, signed by the ensemble.

$50 - Limited edition black Citywater T-shirt with Citywater logo on the front and BigDOG 2017 on the back, AND get a personal thank you note and photo from Citywater’s rescue dogs, Ichi and Pepper, signed by the ensemble.

$100 - Join the ensemble for beer at a local Sacramento craft brewery, receive a limited edition black Citywater T-shirt, AND get a personal thank you note and photo from Citywater’s rescue dogs, Ichi and Pepper, signed by the ensemble.

$500 - Enjoy an intimate, in-depth look into Citywater's creative process at a Donor-Only open rehearsal. Beer and wine will be served, and possibly even snacks! You will also receive a limited edition black Citywater T-shirt, AND get a personal thank you note and photo from Citywater’s rescue dogs, Ichi and Pepper, signed by the ensemble.

$1000 - One-of-a-Kind Citywater Art Print by local artist and board member Skye Bergen, framed and ready to hang on a wall of your choosing. You will also receive a limited edition black Citywater T-shirt, AND get a personal thank you note and photo from Citywater’s rescue dogs, Ichi and Pepper, signed by the ensemble.

$2500 - Co-sponsor a Concert. Your name or business name, along with any other co-sponsors will be included in all concert advertisements and will be seen by everyone attending. You will also receive a limited edition black Citywater T-shirt, AND get a personal thank you note and photo from Citywater’s rescue dogs, Ichi and Pepper, signed by the ensemble.

$5000 - Sponsor an entire concert! Your name or business name will be included in all concert advertisements and will be seen by everyone attending. You will also receive a limited edition black Citywater T-shirt, AND get a personal thank you note and photo from Citywater’s rescue dogs, Ichi and Pepper, signed by the ensemble.

$12,000 - Be recognized as a Season Sponsor and receive a private concert. Your name or business name will be included in all season advertisements and will be seen by everyone attending every concert during our 2017/2018 season, and Citywater will perform a private house concert for you. You will also receive a limited edition black Citywater T-shirt, AND get a personal thank you note and photo from Citywater’s rescue dogs, Ichi and Pepper, signed by the ensemble. 

All first time donors will receive our first CD featuring some of our favorite live performances, and all donors get their name in every program. 
 

Save the date!

Big DoG is coming!!

Mark your calendars for May the 4th (be with you) for Big Day of Giving 2017! Bookmark this page for the big day, too!