Guitars Under the Stars will be great fun for a great cause this year!
Our annual gala will be Saturday, February 9th at One World Theatre with Cocktails and Dinner at 6:30 and a phenomenal (truly, I mean phenomenal) Tango show beginning at 8! Tickets are $125 – get ‘em online here or call 512-300-ACGS.
One World Theatre is one of Austin’s coolest venues, from valet parking, to post-concert dessert buffet – we’re working to make this a perfect Valentine-weekend evening.
Proceeds from the gala benefit our education program. If you don’t know much about the program you can learn more here. In a nutshell it is the most important thing we do, it’s our largest single program making up about half of our annual budget, and in ten years its grown from 1 class in 1 school with 15 kids, to many classes in 30 schools with over 1,500 kids (in daily, for-credit classes!). We have gotten remarkable results we are very proud of, and along the way we created a unique and significant online curriculum that’s now in use all over the world!
Valentine Surprise Boxes will be available throughout the evening ($75) to benefit ACGS education. They’re beautiful, and they’re fun! Inside you might find generous passes and food gifts from Alamo Drafthouse, our friends at Chez Zee and Gusto Italian Kitchen, or the Blanton Museum. A Google Nexus 7 (thanks to Doug Stoakley and Nvidia) is in there somewhere along with signed artist CDs, gorgeous imports from Tesoro’s Trading Company, Flamenco Dance Lessons from Pilar Andujar, and tickets to spectacular events ranging from Austin Chamber Music, to The Long Center, Texas Choral Consort, ACL – Live (Gypsy Kings!), Texas Performing Arts, Austin Lyric Opera, Conspirare, Ballet Austin, Austin Symphony Orchestra, Violet Crown Cinema, UT Basketball and, of course, ACGS.
Dinner is being prepared by Austin’s fabulous Word of Mouth Catering and includes highlights like Peppercorn-crusted Beef Loin with Tempranillo Demi-glace with Roasted Rosemary New Potatoes or Phyllo Napoleon layered with Sauteed Mushrooms, Wilted Spinach & Fontina Cream (for the vegetarians like me), an array of sides, and a post-show dessert buffet including Carrot Baby Cakes, Pear Almond Tartlets and Chocolate Whoopie Pies with salted caramel crème!
Who doesn’t love Whoopie Pie?
The Tango will be amazing. Cesare Chiachiaretta (Bandoneon) and Giampaolo Bandini (guitar) blew us away two summers ago on our Pasión Latin Summer Series and we’ve been clamoring to get ‘em back ever since. I firmly believe there will be no better Valentine music played in Austin in 2013 – than the Tango they’ll bring to us at Guitars Under the Stars. Here’s a shot of Cesare with his Bandoneon!
Thank you to our Guitars Under the Stars presenting sponsor: Austin Asset. Our Platinum Sponsors are: Jeff & Gail Kodosky, Louise Epstein & John Henry McDonald Trust, H-E-B, Kendal & Ken Gladish, and AW Media. Our co-chairs for the evening are David & Catherine Wildermuth, Ken & Kendal Gladish, and Jeff and Gail Kodosky.