the Crowden Letter
Making Music While Sheltering-in-Place
music to—as the apocryphal Plato quote goes and Anne Crowden loved to say—“give a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness, and life to everything.” Within the Crowden family, we are already driven by that belief, and our teachers, students, and families are rising to the occasion to both keep making music and support our local communities.
The world is reawakening to the power of
The Crowden School finished the spring semester using distance learning Monday through Friday. The transition proved arduous, but our families and faculty persevered with admirable fortitude, grace, and dedication.
Music classes had to pivot, although students continued to rehearse and practice together as best as possible. Public performances shifted online: watch parties for the seventh and eighth grade solo performances, an excerpt of spring repertoire for a violin instrument class video, and an all-school performance video of Fiddle Faddle, which traditionally closes the school’s public Spring Concert. As usual, students applied the empathy they cultivate playing music together to their study of the world around them, and taking action. Eighth grade leadership organized a school-wide “Practice-a-thon” during spring break to raise money for local food banks like Alameda County Food Bank, where students usually volunteer as part of their study of nutrition and hunger awareness.
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In the face of adversity, unable to play together in person, the Crowden community is responding to the pandemic with creativity, empathy and action, and an even deeper belief in the power of music to change lives.
Crowden School students and parents teamed up to create face shields for local hospitals and senior centers-thus far they have distributed 4,500 shields, and counting! Inspired by their fall Italian repertoire, the Allegro and Con Brio choruses created a heartfelt video letter to the people of Italy and across the world so impacted by the coronavirus. “It’s been incredibly challenging,” says Principal Brad Johnson, “We faced steep learning curves, but students and faculty dug deep and found creative and inspiring ways to adapt. I am especially appreciative of our students and families’ efforts as we navigated this together.”
Over in our community programs, private lessons and Suzuki Strings have continued unabated online, despite the considerable limitations of instrumental study without in-person teaching. Other programs like beginning piano classes have also adapted to remote learning. Our faculty are finding fun ways to make the best of things and keep students engaged, like pajama recitals and costume workshops. We’ve been offering online community student recitals, which have turned out to be a joyful surprise, with grandparents across the country able to watch and cheer on in real time. The John Adams Young Composers Program presented its spring concert live on our YouTube channel, complete with interviews with each
Young Composer and live performances from several locations. Unfortunately, though, our chamber music programs and many summer programs have been severely impacted-many simply canceled. Despite this heartbreak, we are encouraged in our planning to be able to safely resume on-site ensembles when public health authorities advise it is safe to do so. “Our quirky historic landmark building is actually proving a huge advantage logistically, because so many of our classrooms are accessible from outdoor spaces and have walls of windows, and we have so many different entrances,” explains Executive and Artistic Director Doris Fukawa. “Our split-level campus means that we can separate different populations with relative ease, and safely create ‘pods.’ I am extremely lucky to have the consultation of several public health experts and officials who are members of the Crowden community, and am working with guidelines from the City of Berkeley and Alameda County health departments. All that, and the nature of small ensembles in and of themselves, inspires my optimism on our ability to safely resume our chamber music soon. It is the heart of our community.”
Until that joyous day, our music at Crowden continues to flow, from the soul.
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In Memoriam
school’s inception.
While Anne was establishing her teaching practice in Berkeley, STEVIE CORCOS was living in Layfayette, where she had established a violin program serving the town’s elementary schools. In Stevie’s own words (published in an early Crowden Letter), “Our interest soon shifted to Berkeley, where [my daughter] Niki started cello with [fellow founding Board member] Colin Hampton, and [daughter] Laura studied violin with Anne Crowden. Add one more parent, JEAN CHASTAIN , whose daughter Nora was the same age as Laura, and you have the germinating seeds of The Crowden School: the musical genius of Anne, plus three dedicated founding Board Members-Colin, Jean, and myself. But we were to wait 15 years for those seeds to sprout.”
would not be here without their efforts.”
Stevie passed away in November 2019. Jean left us in January 2020, sadly just before her daughter performed this year’s Winter Benefit concert. The concert was held in her memory.
The origins of “Anne Crowden’s Grand Experiment” are legendary within the Crowden family. Extremely well-known to our longtime Crowden friends, but perhaps not to today’s community, is the crucial role that these two founding Board members played in our
Newsflashes
“In addition to serving as a founding Board member, and helping Anne in so many ways with the school, Stevie was one of the most amazing ‘starter’ violin teachers. She also taught for years in Crowden’s Extension program, the early version of today’s community education," remembers Doris Fukawa. “Jean was a longtime child psychologist and a pioneer in the field of pet therapy for children. She served as the school’s first psychologist as well as on the Board, and was instrumental in giving Anne the structure needed to get the school started as a nonprofit. The support they both gave Anne and our academic founder, Piero Mancini, was truly invaluable. We simply
We are also celebrating the lives and accomplishments of two other beloved members of the Crowden community, KATE BERENSON and GOODWIN SAMMEL , who also recently passed. Kate is a former Crowden Trustee, who served on our Board from 2013 to 2016. A development professional, philanthropist, and singer, Kate brought passion, fun, and fundraising acumen to the Crowden Board, and is extremely missed. Goodwin was considered a “musician’s musician” by Anne. He was an incredible teacher, colleague, and friend to so many of us in the Crowden family and Bay Area classical music community. Both Kate and Goodwin left Crowden with beautiful pianos, in addition to very many wonderful memories. Our sincere condolences go out to the families and friends of Jean, Stevie, Kate, and Goodwin. They are sorely missed.
Many thanks to the Crowden Letter’s original editor, Steve Fankuchen, for reporting that informed this memorial (Jean Chastain, Volume I, Issue 3 from February 1988, and Stevie Corcos, Volume III, Issue 2 from May 1990).
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It is with extremely heavy hearts that we share the recent passing of two of Crowden’s original Board members, Jean Chastain and Stevie Corcos.
• Crowden launched our new website this March!
We
think you’ll love it. Please visit us at crowden.org.
• The Crowden School is extremely excited to welcome our first class of third graders this fall.
• One of Crowden’s outreach programs is working with Berkeley Unified School District to provide kindergarten teachers with early childhood music class videos online.
Retrospective: Back When We Could Gather
Celebrating Göran Berg,
Crowden’s founding Suzuki Strings Director Göran Berg has retired from his longtime leadership role. We thank and honor him for his dedication and passion in establishing our thriving program.
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Berg, Suzuki Strings Director Emeritus
When Crowden’s Executive and Artistic Director Doris Fukawa decided to start a Suzuki Strings program back in 2006, she named Suzuki pedagogue GÖRAN BERG to found and shape the program. “I was familiar with Göran’s work, and I knew that his love of chamber music, his formidable training and experience, and his personal integrity and warmth, made him the perfect person to establish the Suzuki program at Crowden. I am tremendously grateful to him for integrating the Suzuki program into Crowden’s culture.”
Under Göran’s leadership, Suzuki Strings has developed into one of our most robust and perennially popular community offerings, serving roughly 48 students and their families each year, and employing seven faculty members.
Göran will continue to serve as a Suzuki faculty member, and has been named Director Emeritus of the program in honor of his nearly 15 years of service in that role.
We are pleased to announce that REBECCA REED-LUNN has assumed
directorship of the Suzuki program at Crowden. Rebecca has served on Crowden’s violin and viola faculty since 2016 and is well-known and liked within the community. We are confident that the program will continue to thrive under her leadership.
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With Your Support, Music Changes Everything!
The Crowden Music Center gratefully acknowledges the support of the following Crowden families, employees, individual members, government agencies, foundations, and businesses between July 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020. Kindly notify us of any inadvertent omissions. Thank you!
Crowden School
Families
Barrett Anderson and Meng Lu
Wye Ming Choo and Kayo Kurokawa
Natasha Distiller and Lisa Retief
Emerson and Sara Dubois
Jessica and Robert Duran
Alexandra Foote and Daniel Patterson
Mei Guo and Yudong Zhang
Jamie Hampton and David Seetapun
Tom Konner and Jeanne Noble
Chris Lam and Lyn Phan
Yasaman & S. Young Lee
Zhi Min Huang and Gui Zhou Liu
Carol and Eddy Lui
Donna Jones-Bhandari and Rakesh Bhandari
Naomi Marks and Michelle Klucsor
Thomas Nemeth
Charlotte and Drew Waters
Sarah Weinstein
David and Sara Wilmore
Faculty and Staff
Marion Atherton and John Reager
Heghine and Michael Boloyan
Maria and John Danielson
Rachel Durling
Doris Fukawa and Marijan Pevec
Lisa Grodin and Adam Cohen
Jane Lee
Heidi Mattson
Debra Mauro
Andrew McKleroy
Annie Nalezny
Moana Newman and Scott Sanders
Kerrilyn Renshaw
Michel Taddei
Stephannie Tornow
Betsy and Craig Wahl
Op. 18 SocietyAlumni
Emily (’97) and George Adams
Samuel Carl Adams (’00) and Helen Kim
Elizabeth Alonso-Hallifax (’96)
Noah Bendix-Balgley (’97)
Anna Bonnell-Freidin (’00)
Quen Cheng (’97)
Olivia Choi (’19)
Maya Cox (’19)
Meena Bhasin Dalby and Owen Dalby (’98)
Tracy Dooley (’95)
Camille Duran (’19)
Emma Gravel (’19)
Shun Graves (’19)
Meilani Huyhn (’19)
Milo Klise (’19)
Cary Koh (’86)
Evie Koh Thibeault (’95)
Annika Lin (’19)
Christo Logan (’97)
Helen Marks (’01)
Kai Matera (’19)
Ellora Mookherjee-Amodt (’19)
Mali Nguyen (’19)
Nathan Olson (’00)
Nina Pak (’07)
Paige Palmer (’19)
Karna Jean Nisewaner and Arne Stokstad (’88)
Sebastian Schwelm (’03)
Helene Lee Toralba (’95)
Jonah Van Bourg (’99)
Sebastian Weinberger (’19)
Leila Yokoyama (’19)
Anne Crowden Legacy Society
Richard Carll
Kent Hammarstrand
Jacqueline Hoefer Estate
Walter Rex III
Julian and Laurie White
Individual Donors
conductor ($25,000 & up)
Anonymous (2)
Shelby and Frederick Gans
Soo Hang Kang and Jacob Pak
benefactor ($10,000–24,999)
Anonymous (1)
Sallie and Edward Arens
Jennifer Berlekamp
Bruce Burnam
Carol Davis and Joel Marcus
Lois De Domenico
Sukey Lilienthal and David Roe
James Marks and Edna Lee Warnecke
sponsor ($5,000–9,999)
Nick Gerson
Patrick Golden and Susan Overhauser
Anne Nesbet and Eric Naiman
Gina & Harry Loucks
Amy and Eddie Orton
Anonymous (1)
Zach and Peggy Griffin
presenter ($2,500
Angela Archie
Bonnie Hampton
Cary Koh
Yasaman and Young Lee
4,999)
Richard and Myriam Misrach
Maria Poncel
Jennifer and Jeremy Renton
Stephanie Wei
composer ($1,000–2,499)
Joan Balter
Donna and James Eyestone
Arezoo Fakouri and Doug Yokoyama
Charles and Harriett Feltman
Iden Goodman and Roberta Schwartz
Cara and Timothy Hoxie
Annamarie and John McCarthy
Mary Lynn Miller and Ray Meister
Mark Moss and Lisa Braver Moss
Sally Nichols
Marjorie Randolph
Victor Rauch and Ingrid Madsen
Michael Rubinstein
Earl and Rosalinda Rupp
Elizabeth and Frank Sor
Julie and Robert Stokstad
Dr. and Mrs. Paul Swinderman
Elizabeth Weston
Tim Wilkinson and Nomi Harris
Debbra Wood Schwartz
patron ($500–999)
Sean and Caroline Casey
Dorianne Cotter-Lockard
Robert Diaz
Allyson and Michael Ely
Shinji Eshima and Sandra Jennings
Thomas Foor
Joan and Roger Glassey
Margot Harrison
Elaine and Herrick Jackson
Ken Kalman and Robin Bernstein
Sophia Kessinger and Shmuel
Katz
Jerome Matthews and Jenny Yu
Dr. Roberta Brokaw
Karen Schwelm and Bernhard Schmidt
Ran Wei
June Wiley and Bruce McCubbrey
Jovina and Vita Yee
Eric Young
Kent Young
friend ($250–499)
James Bloom
Howard Bulos and Linda Tedjakusuma
Elisabeth Christensen
Dean Curtis
Linda Deaktor
Gregory Freidin and Victoria Bonnell
Haruko and Kumiko Fukawa
Ursula Gritsch and Richard Borcherds
Eugene Hanacek
Kenneth and Jane Heng-Chun Liu
Elizabeth Joh and Charles Reichmann
Noah Kahn and Victoria Leonard
David and Nora Koh
Fred Konkel and Kathy Kaspar
Valerie Lieu
Myla and Charlie Manese
Andrew Mason
Douglas MacLaughlin
Jennifer Pellman and Scott Topper
Carol Robertson
Judith May and Peter Schumacher
Maria and Otto Taddei
Lisa Taylor
Elizabeth Varnhagen
Florence Wong
Mieko Young
associate ($100–249)
Patricia Albinson Kirk
Ron and Sepeedeh Olson
Autumn Arias
Noreen Axelson and Don Archer
Sarah Bakker and Sean Kellogg
Pamela Banning
Karen Beard
Dorian and George Bikle
Claudia Bloom and Daniel Pitt
Robinson Brown and Sarah Satterlee
Lara and Aydin Buluc
Nancy Bybee and Sally Lambert
Emmeline Cais and Jonathan Sklute
Robert Clear and Barbara Judd
Elena Conis
Julia Copeland
Julia Cosgrove and Jeffery Cross
Michel and Leticia Del Toro
Gasquy
Eve and Thuong Dinh
Paul Dresher and Philippa Kelly
Patricia Durham and Douglas Hammer
Mary Ellen Fine
Robert Ellis and Jane Bernstein
Rachel Fine and Christopher Hawthorne
Marsha and Michael Gardner
Heather and Brendan Gately
Christine and Victor Gold
Raphael Gold and Shayna
Hirshfield-Gold
David Goldstein
Geoffrey Gowan
Robert and Gunilla HaegerstromPortnoy
Natalie Hahn
Tamra C. Hege
Mónica Henestroza
Valerie and Richard Herr
Paula Hollowell
Jing Huang
Susan Ingerman and Arlene Siegelman
Rick Irving and Valerie Lagueux
Hiromi Itoh
Naomi Janowitz and Andrew Lazarus
Sharon Lee Kim
Jan Kuchinsky
Steve and Cathy Lazarus
Ronald Lebofsky
Dorothy Lee
Jonathan Leichtling and Wendy Stern
Te-Hsuan Liao and Shih Shin Wu
Olivia Lim
Kunxin Luo and Qiang Zhou
Janet Maestre
Jennifer and Blake Markham
Anthony and Rosa Martin
Marjan Mashhadi and Matthew Specter
Michiko Matsuo Luzmoor and Stephen Luzmoor
Karen McKie
Nancy Merrill and Wesley Underwood
Keisha Mitchell
Heather and Faris Natour
Touch Ny
W. B. Peale and Kristina Sepetys
Claire Peeps
Kit Ratcliff and Janet Tam
Joe Rice
Krehe Ritter
Ron and Gail Rubenstein
Irene Schreier and Dana Scott
Sammy Seo and Lauren Rha
Gerald Sevier
Sarah Song and Gabriel Schnitzler
Kaethe Weingarten
Janet Weinstein
Juliet Welch
Jackie and Drew Wheeler
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–
Gilad and Kirsten Wolff
Lewis Woods
Gloria Wu and David Chen
Peter Wyrick and Amy Hiraga
supporter ($50–99)
Nairn Albert and Elaine Montague Albert
Anonymous
Susie and Schuyler Bailey
Valerie Behrendt
Crystal Chan
Kathy Chastain
Catherine Choy
Meta Clarke
Steven Cohen
Betsy Ditmars
Kathryn and William R. Dumas
Julianne Feldman
Sarah Garrett
Bernice Green
Ann Harvey
Lorraine Hauser
Annette Herskovits
Lilyana and Brock Hudson
Steven Joseph and Corey Hansen-Joseph
Donald E. Kelley Jr. and Susan Getman
Jieun Lee
Deborah Lee and Kaipo Baysa
Michael and Ayelet Lindenstrauss
Larsen
Sally Logothetti
Georgia Maslowski
Nancy Ranney
Laura Reynolds
Anthonia Roller and Wayne Heiser
Caitlin Rosenthal
Martha Russell
Nina and Nathan Shoehalter
Jackie Shonerd
Jane and Rebekah Stern
Mary Wildavsky
Yu-Ling Wu
In Kind Gifts
Joan Balter
John Bennett
Peter Chastain
Sara and Scott Dasovich
Emerson and Sara Dubois
Donna Eyestone
Alexandra Foote and Daniel Patterson
Louise Gaston and Mark Woyshner
Rose Marie Ginsburg
Peggy & Zachary Griffin
Jamie Hampton Seetapun and David Seetapun
Barbara Hauser
J. Lohr Winery
Joanna Hirsch
Angelina Hunter
Jay Ifshin
Paul Kamen
Bruce Klimoski
Cary Koh
William Knuttle
Michael Lew
Harry Loucks
James Marks
Jerome Matthews
Elizabeth McCoy
Carolyn Minton
Jacob Pak
Ditsa Pines
Maria and Jose Luis Poncel
Ronald Olshausen
Martha and Norman Rabkin
Cristina Renschen
Gary Takemoto
Stephen Thomas
Amy Thornton
Dave Walcott
Charlotte Waters
Carolyn Wehrman
Janet Weinstein
Leah Wollenberg
Businesses and Organizations
Barbara Hauser
Stephen Thomas
Cristina Renschen
Anne Rosenthal
Joan Balter/ Balter Violins
William Knuttel
Ifshin Violins
Roland Fellers Violin
Institutional Donors
Amazon Smile Foundation
Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation
Berkeley Civic Arts Commission
California Arts Council
City of Berkeley Office of Economic Development
Hurlbut-Johnson Charitable Trust
Jewish Community Federation
Pacific Harmony Foundation
Gifts in Memory
in memory of willie archie
Angela Archie
albert braver music
instrument fund
Robert & Gunilla HaegerstromPortnoy
in memory of jess and elizabeth birnbaum
Jan Kuchinsky
in memory of jean c. chastain
Nancy Bybee and Sally Lambert
Meta Clarke
Gerald Sevier
in memory of erwin hahn
Natalie Hahn
Crowden
Board of Trustees
officers
Cary Koh, Chair
James Marks, Jerome Matthews,Vice Chairs
Harry Loucks, Treasurer
Donna Eyestone, Secretary
members
Joan Balter, Doris Chen, Tracy Dooley, Shawn Freedberg, Zachary Griffin, Fred Konkel, S. Young Lee, Jacob Pak, Maria Poncel, Stephannie Wei, and Doris Fukawa, ex officio
music advisory board
John Adams, Bonnie Hampton, Gary Karr, Michael Morgan, Sir Simon Rattle
advisory board
Sallie Arens, Patrick Golden, John Lowitz, Bennett Markel, John McCarthy, Helen Meyer, Deborah O’Grady
founder Anne Crowden (1928–2004)
honorary president
Lord Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999)
founding president
Colin Hampton (1911–1996)
Administration
Doris Fukawa, Executive and Artistic Director
Rachel Ahrenstorff, Programs Assistant
Marion Atherton, Chief Operating Officer
Maria Danielson, Staff Accountant
Monica Frame, tcs Counselor
Brad Johnson, tcs Principal
Michelle Lee, Communications Assistant
Heidi Mattson, tcs Assistant Principal
Debra Mauro, Director of Finance
Andrew McKleroy, Development Associate
Jorge Mendoza, Building and Grounds Assistant
Moana Newman, Director of Development
in memory of amy hsi
Yu-Ling Wu
in memory of catherine maclaughlin
Douglas MacLaughlin
in memory of duane and hildred merrill
Nancy Merrill and Wesley Underwood
in memory of milly rosner
Patricia Durham and Douglas Hammer
Helene Lee Toralba
in memory of godwin sammel
Annie Nalezny
in memory of otto taddei
Moana Newman
Jennifer Strauss
Gifts in Tribute
in honor of joan balter
Paula Hollowell
Susan Ingerman and Arlene Siegelman
in honor of stephan and caelin boman
Carol Robertson
in honor of daniel fogel
Ventura-Yvette Chalom
in honor of doris fukawa
Gregory Freidin and Victoria Bonnell
Annamarie and John McCarthy
in honor of john lowitz and fran kriegerlowitz
Eugene Hanacek
in honor of james jaffe and lori hennessy
Peter & Jane Jaffe
in honor of jesse jenks
Alden Jenks and Mikako Endo
in honor of phyllis kamrin
Dorothy Lee
in honor of brigitte and piero mancini
Anna Freidin Bonnell
in honor of arkadi serper
Anthonia Roller
in honor of eugene and karen sor
Michael and Heghine Boloyan
Reynaldo Rodriguez, Building and Grounds Supervisor
Eugene Sor, Associate Artistic Director, Director of tcs Music
Anette Skloot, tcs Admissions Manager
Erin Stafford, Receptionist, Aftercare Coordinator
Jennifer Strauss, Director of Communications
Michel Taddei, Director of Artistic Administration
Stephannie Tornow, Operations Coordinator
Olivia Vazquez, Morning Receptionist
Diana Wahl, Receptionist
Karen Zevallos, Receptionist
Crowden Letter
Jennifer Strauss, editor, graphic designer, writer
Joan Balter, Sam Breach, Mark Constantini, Tim Coy, Dominic Glynn, Irina Makkaveeva, Kimiko Ryokai, Monica
Scott photography
Special thanks to Fanny Fankuchen, original editor of this Crowden Letter, and to Joan Balter, for catching that wild turkey outside of Crowden in the midst of pandemic.
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Music Changes Everything
In this Issue
1. Hear how we’re making music remotely
2. Remember Stevie Corcos and Jean Chastain
3. Reminisce on when we could gather together
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