This year Summer Symphony will celebrate its 50 years in style with a performance by British soul singer Seal, on Saturday, Sept. 12, at Frost Amphitheater. Concert co-chair Betsy Matteson promises the event is going to be “amazing.”
Instead of nodding to nostalgia, the Children’s Health Council benefit concert will have a brand new format: The concert will be held in September, not July (can you call it Summer Symphony in September?) and will take place on Saturday night, instead of Sunday. Also new is an after-concert party for VIP ticket holders, instead of a before-concert reception as in years past.
“I think this will be a little bit more of a grown-up affair,” says Ms. Matteson, who reports that response has been “phenomenal,” especially with Seal as the headliner.
“For the 50th, we’re bringing back the quality of entertainer from Summer Symphony’s early days. It’s been a personal dream of mine to have Seal perform. He’s also been fabulous to work with,” says Quin Whitman, co-chair with Ms. Matteson.
Doors for the event open at 4:30 p.m. The concert starts at 6 p.m. Concert-goers will still be able to picnic on the lawn, as they have for the past 50 years, with general admission tickets at $50. There will be concierge seats at $250 each, with a reserved beach chair and mat and a gourmet picnic dinner.
Before Seal takes the stage, there will be music by the Summer Symphony Orchestra. After the concert, there will be a Club 50 party for those with VIP tickets in the Arrillaga Alumni Center. The party will feature cocktails, after-dinner fare, music and dancing. Premier concierge tickets at $450 a seat will include access to Club 50 and valet parking, as well as a reserved beach chair and mat, and gourmet picnic dinner.
For really big spenders, there are “Up Close and Personal” tickets at $1,500 each, or $15,000 for a table of 10, which includes a table stage front with catered dinner by McCalls, premium wines, access to Club 50, valet parking, VIP entrance and program listing. Dinner and wine at a table for six in the first tier, plus valet parking and access to Club 50, is $1,250 each.
A sellout crowd is expected Sept. 12. For many Peninsula families, Summer Symphony is a tradition that dates back to its first 17 years when Arthur Fiedler directed the San Francisco Symphony every year. Some of the music world’s most famous entertainers, from Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman, Rosemary Clooney, and Pearl Bailey to Burt Bacharach, Smokey Robinsons and Peter, Paul and Mary, have taken center stage at the annual concert to benefit the Children’s Health Council.
This year’s event is also expected to draw new concert-goers who’ve never been able to attend before, because they were on vacation in July.
Betsy Matteson of Menlo Park and Quin Whitman, co-chairs of Summer Symphony, bring years of experience to the job. Betsy served as Summer Symphony chairman in 1996 and 1997. Quin was chairman in 2005 and 2006.
“Our job is to get the most out of people. It’s like being a CEO,” Ms. Whitman says. “We have an incredible committee and a wonderful advance staff.”
The co-chairs recall coming to Summer Symphony meetings when their kids were small. Now the Mattesons’ older daughter, Courtney, is off to college at Duke University. Ms. Whitman’s children, Corey and Katherine, are now teenagers.
“It’s been a wonderful experience coming back to the CHC to work on this event,” says Ms. Matteson, who hadn’t been active with the organization since 2004. She also persuaded several “oldtimers” to come back as committee members for 50th. They include: Lulu Frye, Jan Harris, Shelley Hutter, Anne Lawler, Ellen Rose, and five past Summer Symphony chairs: Eve Jaffe, Lisa Keith, Lisa Wan, Kim Young, and Lou Ann Winchell.
“All these women are extremely savvy,” says Rosalie Whitlock of the entire committee. Ms. Whitlock took over as executive director of Children’s Health Council on Aug. 17. She comes to the position after 11 years as head of the Charles Armstrong School in Belmont. She has served on the CHC board for nine years.
Ms. Whitlock and the concert co-chairs agree it’s worth putting in long hours to make Summer Symphony a success since it is the Children’s Health Council’s chief fundraiser.
CHC was founded in 1953 by Dr. Esther B. Clark to assist children with complex behavioral and development problems. It offers clinical services to children, parent education, and operates the Esther B. Clark Therapeutic Day School for between 50 and 70 students. It is located on the Health Council’s campus at 650 Clark Way in Palo Alto.
“After all these years, many people still don’t know we’re here,” says Ms. Whitlock. “We’re the best kept secret in the community and we don’t want to be!”
For tickets to Summer Symphony, call 725-2787 or got to summersymphony.org.
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