Houston’s Lunch of Secrets Earns the Symphony League a Coveted National Gold Award

Applause, applause for the Houston Symphony League which has received a coveted Gold Award for one of its special events from the Volunteer Council of the League of American Orchestras, a national leadership group of individuals recognized for outstanding support of their local symphony orchestras.

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Musicians bring Houston Symphony to people in communities that may not have access otherwise

The holiday party at CarePartners’ Dementia Day Center is in full swing. Maybe 30 to 40 clients, known as “members,” mingle with family members, enjoying cookies and hot chocolate in the center’s day room. Seventh-graders from nearby St. Mark’s Episcopal School fan through the crowd, passing out treats.

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Charlie Wilson’s War Heroine Shares Tales of the Earliest Days of the Houston Symphony League — Joanne King Herring Has Been Involved Since 1946

What: The Houston Symphony League Fall Membership Luncheon

Where: The Junior League of Houston

PC Moment: The age-defying Joanne King Herring — who has lived many exciting interludes in her 90-plus years, including having Julia Roberts portray her in Charlie Wilson’s War — took a step way back to recall the early days of the Houston Symphony and her memories of Ima Hogg, principal of the symphony founding in 1913. Herring was just 17 when she first became involved with the symphony in 1946.

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Jones Hall is undergoing a $25.5M upgrade to improve sound and replace aging infrastructure

Over the span of a month, Jones Hall served as the setting for an emotional farewell to Houston Symphony music director Andres Orozco-Estrada and a grandiose welcome to his successor Juraj Valcuha.

Rather than Mahler’s “Resurrection” symphony or Beethoven’s Ninth, the sounds emanating inside the downtown hall this week are from construction, the first step in an endeavor called “Overture to the Future,” a multi-year, multi-million-dollar update of the performing arts space that opened in 1966. In a city known for tearing buildings down, Jones Hall will — like the Alley Theatre a few years ago — be the beneficiary of a significant renovation rather than demolition.

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Inspiring Conversations with Jacquie Baly of BalyProjects

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jacquie Baly. She shares her story with us below:

*Native of St. Croix USVI, came to Texas at the age of 7.
*Parents are from the French West Indies and a majority of my relatives live in St. Martin/Maarten
*I am the first of my family to graduate from college (however my mother earned her degree soon after).
*My parents taught me that hard work, discipline, dedication and a good work-ethic will take me very far.
*After graduate school (I have a master’s in City Planning with a concentration in Public Affairs) I began my work career as a city planner and progressed to Vice President of the Greater Houston Partnership before starting my own consulting practice.

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Ellen Kelley 2022 Volunteer of the Year Award Winner – April Lykos

April Lykos

The Ellen Kelley Volunteer of the Year Award is given in recognition of outstanding service to the Houston Symphony League and the Houston Symphony. It was established in 1984 and named after its first recipient, Ellen Kelley. The honoree has special qualities of purposeful involvement, the ability to inspire others, meets goals with a vision for the present and the future, hard work in the trenches, productivity, ingenuity and ongoing support and leadership are all important qualities of the recipient.

The Ellen Kelley Volunteer of the Year recipient for 2022 is April Lykos! April truly exemplifies these qualities and the award is richly deserved.

April was born and raised in Dallas. Her love of music was influenced by her parents, who provided 14 years of piano lesson. This paid off for April. While she attended UT, she played piano for sororities and the business school follies for $1/song!
April then went on to earn a law degree and became a bankruptcy lawyer in NYC. A chance meeting with Stanley Marcus led to a successful retail career at Neiman Marcus, where not only was she a buyer, but also turned around merchant divisions.

April moved to Houston 22 years ago with husband Tom, who yearned to be back with his beloved Greek community, accompanied by baby Tommy. Two other children Helen and Phillip followed. It was through her daughter, Helen and her preschool, that April met Houston Symphony cellist, Brinton Smith. April soon become a subscriber, a Houston Symphony Society Board member and joined the League in 2007.

Since 2007, she has served in 11 Board positions including President’s Luncheon Co-Chair, Store Merchandising Chair, Ima Hogg Co-Chair and Chair, Presidential Advisor, Orchestrated Luncheon Co-Chair, President’s Council, and TASO, LAO and AMSOV Rep.
In addition, she helped with the inaugural Children’s Fashion Show, Magical Musical Morning and as Auction Chair for the Casablanca Gala as well as Opening Night and Wine Dinner committees. April often made volunteering at the Symphony a family affair by bringing her daughter, Helen along to work in the Store and The Children’s Fashion Show.

Ellen Kelley 2022 Volunteer of the Year Award Winner – April Lykos

April received multiple nominations this year for the Ellen Kelley Award. Comments from the nominations noted that she was seminal in making the Symphony Store a success for many years. It is also mentioned that she went above the call of duty by holding workshops for computer payment knowledge when she was Merchandising Chair. It is certainly due to April’s love of music and retail genius that the Symphony Store income exceeded financial goals. And how many items did we all buy at the Store from charming April behind the counter?

When she was the Ima Hogg Competition Chair, she put in place a major underwriter that raised the first prize money from $5,000 to $25,000, which helped improve the competition’s standing. She also put in place the Host Family Program and secured medical cards from Methodist Hospital’s, The Center for the Arts Medicine, for the competition finalist.

During April’s time as TASO and LAO Rep, she was instrumental in co-writing submissions about the League’s accomplishments so that other organizations could learn from our successes. Submissions for Lewis Elementary and Fundraising Pop-ups won TASO and LAO awards in 2021. A submission on Interface Improvements Between the Symphony and League Websites and Conversations with an Icon won TASO awards in 2022. A submission co -written by April about John and Lindy Rydman and SPEC’S won a Business Award of Excellence.

April continues to be Symphony patron. She enjoys not only attending concerts, but loves all the League projects she has been able to contribute to and the friendships that she has made during her time as a League member.

Congratulations April!