Dear Friend of Star Series,

As summer comes to an end, we are looking forward to another exciting season. During the past year, The Star Series has brought some of the best of the performing arts right here to Berks County. Our season featured Grammy Award winning classical guitarist Sharon Isbin, a Celtic Celebration with Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill, Tanglefoot folk singer/songwriter Jake Armerding and a Blues Festival featuring world famous guitarist Albert Cummings.

The Star Series mission has evolved over the past few years to strengthen our focus on providing a variety of musical experiences for children of Berks County. Each season, we present outreach programs to county youth in conjunction with every performance, thereby creating unique opportunities for students to learn from some of the brightest performing stars. This past season we were pleased to also offer performance and master classes with Philos Brass Quintet from the Curtis Institute. Over 660 Berks County youth as well as a few adults enjoyed the benefits of these enriching opportunities. Each year we support Partners in Music, an organization that brings talented musicians to teach and perform to the elementary and middle schools in the City of Reading. We believe that exposure to music at a young age is critical to the emotional and intellectual development of our children.

We are proud of Berks County and the diversity of activities available to its residents. We feel very strongly that it is important to the viability of the region that our residents have access to multi-cultural music. The Star Series plays an important role in providing access to a selection of artists that are not offered by "for profit" promoters.

We are pleased to announce that we will partner with Albright College for the first two concerts of our 2009-2010 season. We will once again provide access to highly acclaimed artists including:

• Tapestry- an award winning classical
  a capella ensemble
• Salsamba- a hot Latin jazz quintet
• Beoga- a multi-award winning Celtic ensemble

Over the past few years, we have faced ever increasing artists¹ fees, as well as higher marketing and production costs. As a non-profit organization, we strive to offer our performances at prices that allow the broadest possible access. Won¹t you help us to continue to bring these high quality performers to Berks County? During these times when funding for the arts is in jeopardy, your support is even more important.

Thank you for your thoughtful consideration. Please remember that your contribution is tax deductible.

Best Regards,
Amy H. Reinsel
President, Star Series Association