Over 80 Volunteers shared an afternoon of fun, food and friendship on February 9 at the Carmel Women’s Club. The Volunteer Love a-Faire was the kick off event for the 82nd Carmel Bach Festival Season, July 13-27. Sandie Borthwick, Volunteer Committee Board Chair, welcomed the Volunteer guests, CBF Board members, Volunteer Committee, event volunteers and CBF Staff.
Sandie noted that the five guest presenters represented a small part of the Festivals volunteer needs.
Gail Dryden represented the first volunteer opportunity for Cottages and Cantatas. The event will be Saturday, April 27th, from 11 a.m. to 4:00 pm. Gail discussed volunteer duties and the five homes that will be featured during the day. She noted that one of the site, Harmony House, was the “birth” place of the Carmel Bach Festival. Harmony House was faithfully reconstructed after a devasting fire.
Gail reminded us that several of the homes will has live classical music performances by young musicians who live on the Monterey Peninsula.
Volunteer online sign-up opportunities for Cottages and Cantatas will start on March 1st and will end mid-April. This volunteer event will require that you sign and turn in a CBF Liability Form that must be turned into the CBF office by April 10th.
Mary Hill and Kay Morris represented the CBF Art Raffle. Each year we invite local artist to donate small art pieces that are put on display during the Festival and then raffled. Mary and Kay shared that this venue requires a large number of volunteers and shared what was required of each volunteer.
Carol Hilburn, Musician Sponsorship Chair, explained the needs of the Musician Welcome Party. Carol, who is also the owner of Harmony House, pairs up sponsor and musician every year to help defray the cost of our musician salaries. This is a very personal party and allows our volunteers to meet and greet both our musicians and their sponsors in a festive setting.
Do you want to get close and personal with musicians, crew and staff? Consider volunteering for Musician Hospitality. Gloria Souza, Musician Hospitality Chair, noted that we feed our musicians daily meals for the month of July. Local Restaurateurs supply the food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Volunteers set out the food and tend to it during rehearsals and performances. Gloria shared, “This is a great opportunity to meet our world renown musicians in a very personal setting.” This volunteer opportunity does require a training session.
Have you ever dreamed of being in the Festival? Well, here’s your chance. Susan Mehra and Susie Woodford shared information regarding our Wednesday night Mission concerts. This venue offers our volunteers an opportunity to be a participant in the musical event. You can be
a processional candle bearer and be part of the Mission concert performance. If you’re a little shy and don’t want to share the candle light, we also have needs for concert ushers. If you are a candle bearer there will be a mandatory rehearsal prior to the first concert given by Gloria Souza.
CBF Box Office Manager, Julie Lim, noted that the Festival needs extra help at the Carmel Bach Festival’s front desk. Volunteers will work in the office from May-July once a week to sell tickets and answer the phone. She discussed this opportunity and more at the Office Support and Ticket Sales/ Will Call volunteer table.
The event closed with several door prizes ranging from, wine, passes to the Refuge, tickets to Pacific Repertory Theatre, LuLu’s Chocolate and Champagne.
Here are the important dates to remember:
- March 1 at 12 pm: Signup Genius Opens for Volunteer Registration for both the 2019 Festival season and Cottages and Cantatas.
- April 10th: Cottages and Cantatas liabilities forms are due.
- Mid-April: registration for Cottages and Cantatas ends
- April 27th: Cottages and Cantatas Event
- May 1st: is the last day to sign-up for the 2019 Carmel Bach Festival
- May 15th: 2019 Carmel Bach Festival media release and liability forms are due
- TBA: Hospitality Committee training
- TBA: Candle Bearer training
- TBA: July Volunteer Open Rehearsal and Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast at Sunset Center