Riverwalk Jazz Receives Grant from San Antonio Area Foundation

We are pleased to announce that Riverwalk Jazz received a grant from the Ruth Lang Charitable Fund of the San Antonio Area Foundation. The grant will assist with the creation of new music arrangements based on melodies composed by Stephen Foster. This exciting project is a collaboration between Jim Cullum and the internationally acclaimed San Antonio Symphony Concertmaster Stephanie Sant' Ambrogio. The music will be presented in live concert and will be recorded for two hour-long radio broadcasts, interpreting Foster's familiar melodies in new music arrangements written for jazz band and classical strings.

Stephen Foster was the first American songwriter to earn his living solely through his music. He composed some 200 songs including "Oh! Susanna" and "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair," and invented popular music as we recognize it today. Interest in Stephen Foster's contribution to American music has been renewed with the 1997 publication of Ken Emerson's biography, Doo Dah! and by the 2004 release of the CD, Beautiful Dreamer.

Thanks to the San Antonio Area Foundation for partnering with Riverwalk Jazz to bring the arts to the public.

Established in 1964, the Area Foundation manages donors’ charitable funds and distributes assets to support arts and culture, community and human services, education, medicine and healthcare, biomedical research, visual research and services, animal welfare, historic preservation and the environment throughout San Antonio, Bexar County and the surrounding area.