The Saltarelli String Orchestra's next concert will be Monday May 30. The concert will include Bela Bartok's Romanian Folk Dances arranged for string orchestra. Here's a video of the original version for violin and piano:

The free concert will take place at the First Mexican Baptist Church, 201 Meredith, San Antonio at 7:30. Join us for a relaxing evening of music!

The concerts of the Saltarelli String Orchestra are usually scheduled for the last Monday of the month, but in May that date falls on Memorial Day, so the concert will be one week earlier on May 19. The concert will include music from Handel's Water Music, Dvorak's Slavonic Dances, and Richard Rodgers' music from Oklahoma.

The free concert will take place at the First Mexican Baptist Church, 201 Meredith, San Antonio at 7:30. Join us for a relaxing evening of music!

In this time of rising prices I'm sure many of us are looking for ways to cut down on expenses. One area I urge you to examine is internet subscriptions with automatic renewal provisions (hereafter autorenew). Sometimes the vendor will clearly give you an option to autorenew at the end of the current subscription, but it is becoming increasingly common to not offer any option but autorenew. Even worse, the autorenew provision is often found way down in the small print. Some vendors are courteous enough to send you an email warning that your subscription will autorenew unless they hear from you before a given date. But many will leave you in the dark. The only notice you get is the appearance of an unexpected charge on your credit card bill. Once they charge you it may be next to impossible to get your money back, since you may have unknowingly agreed to such renewal under the guise of something like a "continuing customer satisfaction program"!

What can the consumer do? Frankly, while we can complain to the vendor when there is no provision to opt out of autorenew subscriptions, the responsibility and choice still belong to each of us. Here's what I recommend:

Read the small print and see if a subscription autorenews. Choose the manual renewal option if you aren't absolutely sure you'll want to renew.

If the vendor only offers automatic renewal then you need to remind yourself to consider whether you want to keep the subscription. Don't count on the vendor to remind you. They trust on you remaining blissfully unaware that anything is about to be charged. Then, when you see the charge, you'll think "oh, I should have cancelled that since I haven't read it in 6 months... well, maybe next year." No! Use a calendar or software program to remind yourself well in advance so you can save the money. Just think how much these companies make from those who passively go along with autorenewals! Let's make them earn their money!

The next concert by the Saltarelli String Orchestra will feature the Capriol Suite by Welsh composer Peter Warlock. Warlock (a pseudonym, his real name was Heseltine) wrote the suite in 1926. Like Grieg's Holberg Suite we played last month, the Capriol Suite was originally conceived as a piano work, in this case a piano duet. Also like Grieg, Warlock soon arranged the work for string orchestra as well as full orchestra. Warlock lived a decidedly bohemian life and was said to have been involved in the occult and drugs. He life ended in severe depression and it is unclear whether his death at age 36 from gas poisoning was accidental or suicide. The Capriol Suite is from a happier period. The six movements are patterned after renaissance dances.

The concert will take place at the First Mexican Baptist Church, 201 Meredith, San Antonio at 7:30.

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