Philharmonic gets $1M from late Bonanza founder

EAST PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School today announced a $1 million bequest from Bonanza Bus Lines founder George M. Sage.
Part of his gift will go toward the Carter Center for Music Education and its new Sage Hall, an acoustically designed recital and rehearsal space that will have a seating capacity of 100 to 150, depending on the size of the performing ensemble.
The remainder will be used to establish, in perpetuity, a Mr. & Mrs. George M. Sage Chair for the orchestra’s principal timpanist.
Sage died Dec. 4, 2006, at the age of 74. Though he had sold the Bonanza line to Coach USA nearly a decade earlier – before that company was acquired by Peter Pan Bus Lines – he had continued to run the local operation, whose motor coaches bore the legend “Sages Stages.” (READ MORE) A noted philanthropist and community leader, he was a supporter of United Way of Southeastern New England, Junior Achievement, St. Andrew’s School and Providence Country Day, among others.
He and his wife, Barbara Sage, were devoted Philharmonic subscribers and supporters. George Sage had a special fondness for the orchestra’s percussion section – a fondness reciprocated by the percussionists, who hosted his birthday bash in 1996. “And we do know that, whenever and wherever he attended a concert, he made a point of sitting so that he could watch the timpanist perform,” Philharmonic executives recalled in a statement this afternoon.
“We are extremely grateful for the extraordinarily generous commitment of George and Barbara toward our shared goals of expanding the artistic growth of the orchestra and building the future of music education in Rhode Island,” said Almon Hall, president of the Philharmonic’s board.
After the orchestra merged with the Music School in 2000, the organization launched a seven-year search for a space able to house both its music education programs and its administrative offices.
Last January, the Philharmonic moved into its new East Providence headquarters – thanks in part to a challenge grant from the Carter Family Charitable Trust – and began the renovations that are to culminate this fall in the opening of the new Carter Center.
“This facility, when completed, will allow us to maximize the mutually-enriching exchanges between orchestra musicians, Music School faculty, staff and students from all over the state,” said David Wax, the Philharmonic’s executive director.
In addition to its namesake group, The Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School fields a number of performance education ensembles, including the the Rhode Island Philharmonic Youth Orchestras and Wind Ensembles and the Junior Providence Singers. Its education and community partnerships department also offers private instruction in voice and instruments, and provides educational performances and instruction at local schools, community center and social service agencies. To learn more, visit www.ri-philharmonic.org.