JASSYL/JASNA Summer Concert on Sunday, August 7

The Jane Austen Singing School for Young Ladies (JASSYL) and the JASNA Syracuse Region will present a summer concert of music, readings, and dance in the Fellowship Hall of the First Presbyterian Church of Skaneateles, 97 E. Genesee St., Skaneateles, on Sunday, August 7, 2011, at 5:30 p.m. The concert is free and open to the public. Free will donations of any amount are greatly appreciated and go toward the continuing work of JASSYL.

As most of our members and many of our friends know by now, JASSYL was created in Fall 2009 by soprano Joanna Manring of Skaneateles as a historical performing experience for young women ages 12-18.  Dr. Manring, a graduate of Peabody Conservatory, aims to help young women develop self-esteem and public presence by learning healthy vocal technique and musicianship in a supportive environment. More information about the Singing School is available at its website.

The Young Ladies appearing in the summer program will be Emily Short (home-schooled in Marcellus), Imogen Olson (home-schooled in Skaneateles), Abbie McMahon (Fayetteville-Manlius Central Schools), and Christina Marshall, Phoebe Glowacki, Maria McLean, Maddie VanRiper, and Ellie Meyer (all of Skaneateles Central Schools).  They will be joined by these Young Gentlemen for the dancing: Kyle and Shawn Cherchio (Onondaga Community College), Jon Marshall and Christopher Hartnett (Skaneateles Central Schools), and Thomas Grande (Country Dancers of Rochester). The supporting musicians will include Anna Egert on piano and Caroline Manring on viola/violin.

As always, Dr. Manring has worked to select music that would have been familiar in Jane Austen’s world. The program also includes short readings from Austen’s letters and novels. And, as in last year's Christmas program, JASNA Syracuse Co-Coordinator Lisa Brown is teaching English country dancing to the Young Ladies and Gentlemen. JASNA Syracuse Regional Coordinator A. Marie Sprayberry will introduce the concert and give a reading.

So, now that “summer finery and summer engagements” (in Jane Austen’s own words) are upon us, we hope you’ll join us for a “summer engagement” in Skaneateles!








Lorenzo Driving Competition

Your intrepid Co-coordinator braved the tropical heat to attend the Lorenzo Driving Competition last Saturday. The photos can be found here.

News Flash: "The Watsons" Manuscript Sells for a Record Price!!

Our reporter in London, JASNA-NYM Co-RC Meg Levin, tells us that the portion of JA's "The Watsons" manuscript on view at the New York Sotheby's last month (see the June 26 "A Belated Report from the Big Apple" post) has just sold for 850,000 pounds, or $1.3 million!! Believe us, we had this as breaking news: Meg attended the auction in person, and rushed to send a message to us on her iPod from the Apple store in Regent Street.

And now let's take a moment to imagine what JA, in her lifetime, could have done with 850,000 pounds. Sigh...

Update #1: The BBC website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-14152092) reports the final price as 993,250 pounds, which presumably includes all the usual auction house fees. It also reports that the purchaser is an institution, not a private individual--which means that the rest of us may get to see the manuscript once in a while in the future.

Update #2: Mags Sullivan reports on AustenBlog that the Bodleian Library at Oxford is the purchaser (although several other groups, including Jane Austen's House Museum, chipped in). And the Bodleian will be featuring the ms. in an exhibition this autumn! Huzzah!

Now's a Great Time to Join JASNA!

Just a reminder that now is a great time to join (or rejoin) the Jane Austen Society of North America at the national level. The JASNA membership year officially runs from September 1 to August 31--but if you join between July 1 and August 31, you'll receive an extra issue of JASNA News (the Society's thrice-annual newsletter) and otherwise be enrolled for the coming full membership year. To join, you can go to the JASNA national website and click on the "Membership" link on the home page. Remember that joining JASNA at the national level automatically makes you a member of the JASNA Syracuse Region--this is our one and only regional membership requirement at present.

Our next JASNA Syracuse Region meeting will be at the Liverpool Public Library on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2011, at 2 pm. In keeping with our custom of holding meetings on the Regency "quarter days" and "cross-quarter days," this will be our Michaelmas meeting. Details about this meeting, and times/dates of other Syracuse Region 2011-12 meetings, will be given in a future post. Don't forget to check the "Events" column for news of JASNA Rochester meetings and other Austen-related activities in Central NY, too.

(Special note: Details about the Jane Austen Singing School for Young Ladies summer concert we mentioned to some of you at the June 25 "Box Hill" event are still being worked out. At the moment, it looks as if the concert will be on Sunday, August 7. Stay tuned!)