We DID It - Thank you for Anna Lena's Professional Violin!!!

Thank you so much for your donations to her professional violin - please see the latest and last update, and if we have your address, you'll be receiving a Thank You note from Anna Lena, as she is able to send them out amidst all the practicing!!

With Endless Gratitude,

Christina, Anna Lena, and Gramma

Hello friends, family, and music lovers!!

This is a call to action for the purchase of Anna Lena's professional violin - we have 5 days to make it happen - DEADLINE 3/19. Will you help us?

Please feel free to share this campaign far and wide, even if you can't donate at this time. Enjoy all the updates of photos and videos :)

Consider supporting Anna Lena in this next phase of her musicianship: the purchase of her professional violin! This is the top notch violin that will see her through high school and college. Big love and gratitude to both Maureen Smiley who gifted Anna Lena the beloved violin that has carried her this far, and Mark Heffernan for funding much of this purchase. Anna Lena has been studying music since 1st grade through violin and piano lessons. You can witness her journey via her YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MsCd1978 This past year, Anna Lena was invited to perform both on Milwaukee Public Radio and in honor of philanthropist Isabel Bader.

Anna Lena will perform under the tutelage of Ravenna Helson in the Bach Festival at the Bradley Symphony Center next week. She was recently awarded Honorable Mention through Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra's Stars of Tomorrow competition, and will perform Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony alongside the MSO in April. In May, she will have 6 performances: a unique and special project with Danceworks, and her year-end Chamber Orchestra, Senior Symphony, and high school orchestra performances.

Anna Lena is a member of Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra's Chamber Orchestra and Senior Symphony, both under conductor Carter Simmons. She is a member of Shorewood High School Orchestra under Karen Frink.

Anna Lena also has students herself! She teaches three grade school violinists on a weekly basis. She is using her income as a teacher to purchase a back-up bow for her international travels.

Her high school offers music theory classes and MYSO offers composition courses she will take in the coming years to build on what she learned with Steven Rydberg who mentored her through Mysterioso - a piece she composed last year. Her private instructor, Pamela Simmons, continues to challenge Anna Lena and we are so grateful for her wisdom and love - she is truly a member of our family.

This very special violin is made by Geigenbaumeister Huajie Hu, and has breathed a new spirit of inspiration into her practice sessions and rehearsals, as she discovers new capabilities in herself. To say Anna Lena loves her violin is an understatement: "I'm excited to see where this violin takes me and I can't wait to experience the capacity of this new violin as my skill sets grow. In the short term, I'm most looking forward to playing Tchaikovsky's 4th with the MSO."

Last year at Interlochen, she was recognized for her hard work and musicianship by Creston Herron of Kansas City University. He has a one-week intensive, Midwestern Music Camp, in June that she has her eye on. She will also perform on a summer tour with MYSO Senior Symphony in Prague and the Czech Republic in July. She will tour Spain in 2027 with her high school orchestra. (Note: none of the costs for these camps and trips will be crowdsourced).

Thank you for your support as Anna Lena continues to follow to her star, her musical destiny!

In sincere gratitude,

Christina and Anna Lena

Shorewood, WI (formerly Viroqua, WI)