Like the release on a filter contour, 2022 fades behind us… Here’s what we accomplished, together:
January
As part of our mission to preserve and share the deep history of electronic music, we created Synthesizer Pioneers, our 18-month calendar sharing the stories of 18 iconic pioneers. Filled with historic color photos, it recognizes and shares the stories of 18 innovators in the field of synthesis from the past 60 years, including dates of note from their legacy careers, many of which the pioneers provided to us themselves.
Synthesizer Pioneers is the fifth calendar released by the Foundation focusing on the rich history of Bob Moog’s legacy and the web of innovation in synthesis to which he was so deeply connected.
February
We honored the great Herb Deutsch (1932-2022) by raffling off a Minimoog he signed for us, enabling us to raise thousands for our projects, including Dr. Bob’s SoundSchool.
Sadly, 2022 was our last year with the composer, innovator and educator, who passed away in December after a magnificently long and accomplished life as an educator and musician. In the words of our executive director, there is no one more important to the Moog legacy than Herb Deutsch.
The Minimoog he signed for us now has a special place of honor in the Toronto studio of our winner, producer Gus Coriandoli, AKA Gusvango.
Proceeds from our twice-yearly raffles for fully restored vintage synthesizers power our work!
March
In March, we worked to restore the historic Moog modular heard on the soundtrack to “Apocalypse Now.” It’s now the focus of our new 2022 Moogseum exhibit, “Patching Sound,” sharing the fundamentals of modular synthesis with over 10,000 visitors annually.
We even expanded the Moogseum to accommodate the exhibit!
All smiles on a big day: Here’s our executive director Michelle Moog-Koussa, center, with special guests David Mash (L), president of our board of directors, and Terence van Arkel (R), our board treasurer, at the ribbon-cutting for Patching Sound.
April
In April, the 2022 Asheville Maker Faire felt like Christmas morning when Michelle and Assistant Director Craig got to see the current crop of Dr. Bob’s SoundSchool grads gathering excitedly around our theremins to show their parents what they learned!
Emmy Award-winning composer Michael Whalen generously donated all of the proceeds from his new release Imaginary Trains to the Foundation and the work we do. Thanks, Michael!
And as we do every spring, we trained a new crop of second-grade teachers to share the science of sound with the next generation via the Dr. Bob’s SoundSchool curriculum.
May
For our observance of Bob’s birth month, our friends at Cherry Audio honored us with their own celebration — “Bob Moog Appreciation Month,” in which they raffled off prizes and donated a portion of sales toward sharing the science of sound. Thanks, Cherry Audio! You sure know how to treat a nonprofit.
June
(The Bob Moog Foundation team at NAMM 2022, L-R: former Moogseum operations manager, Scott; Assistant Director Craig; our executive director, Michelle; board secretary Jerry; online education coordinator Lee; and graphic designer Dave)
In June, our team traveled cross-country to Anaheim, California, USA, for NAMM 2022, sharing some of the restored vintage synths from the Bob Moog Foundation Archives with attendees from all over the world — including our Moog Liberation, shown here with Jordan Rudess.
Thanks for one of our favorite smiles of the year, Jordan.
Also at NAMM, we paid tribute to the great Dave Smith (1950-2022), another irreplaceable icon of our community who left us this year.
By June, it was clear that 2022 was going to be a tough year for our community. We marked the loss of several of our brightest leading lights. We were here for the synth community, as a place for remembrance and respect, stewarding the timeline of synthesis.
July
The visionary synth designer Tom Oberheim honored us this summer by joining our “Captains of Industry,” a special group of supporters who empower our work on a larger scale.
August
In August, we welcomed a magnificent tribute from Dutch animator Leslie van Berkel, who colorized this iconic image of Bob for us, and for posterity. Leslie, thank you so much.
Here’s Billy Joel backstage at Madison Square Garden, signing the fully restored vintage Minimoog we raffled.
You bought 3676 raffle tickets; we put the profits toward Dr. Bob’s SoundSchool.
We’re happy to share that our 2022 Minimoog winner, Jack McGaughey, a young American musician living and working in England, is a fan of Billy Joel and his music director, David Rosenthal — the previous owner of our raffle Minimoog!
Seeing beautiful vintage technology in the hands of talented young people makes us happy.
Enjoy that Micromoog mod, Jack!
And to help share the rich sound of our raffle Minimoog, Bob Moog Foundation hero, composer and keyboardist Robert Schindler, who records under the name Robeone (rhynes with Obi Wan!) demonstrated our Mini in a live solo concert we livestreamed on Facebook.
September
In September, after 12 years of painstaking research, the world at last welcomed the definitive biography of Bob Moog. The Foundation’s significant contributions towards its research and creation merited author Albert Glinsky thanking our executive director in his acknowledgments, for her role in facilitating interviews and providing access to rare documents and photos.
You’re going to love this book. Check out this review from Engineering & Technology Magazine.
As part of the book’s release, we even hosted Albert Glinsky for “The Nuances and Complexities of Bob Moog,” an insightful livestreamed discussion of his book.
Our friends at Make Noise, independent makers of modular synths, empowered our work with a raffle for an XPO analog synthesizer module. Thanks, Make Noise!
Meanwhile, Reverb helped power our work sharing inspiration by hosting the Official Reverb Moogseum Shop, where 100% of the profits from a sweet selection of like-new synths and gear support our work. Big Moog Love to Reverb!
October
As fall arrived, we attended ProgStock 2022 with our special guest Larry Fast, sharing signed CDs and copies of Bob’s biography.
We also got to watch Robeone/Robert Schindler perform live in Bob Moog Foundation Park.
Next, on Halloween weekend, we attended Synthplex 2022 in Burbank, California, USA, as the event’s official nonprofit partner, with Synthplex organizers generously sharing the ticket proceeds of their pop-up synth museum with us.
We made some new friends while sharing the science of sound with eager learners of all ages. Thank you, Synthplex!
While we were at Synthplex together, our rock star supporter (and Bob Moog Foundation Board of Advisors member), synthesist and sound designer Erik Norlander, donated his Moog Source — signed by Bob Moog! — to the Bob Moog Foundation.
Just look at that smile. Thanks, Erik!
His fellow rock star volunteer Robeone/Robert Schindler also stepped us for us, sharing proceeds from his 2022 release, “Dream Suite“ to power our work. Thank you, Robert!
November
We created a new promo video for the Moogseum, sharing our interactive exhibits, historical timelines and more! If you want to know what the Moogseum is about, check it out!
Want to visit us? Get your Moogseum tickets here.
We built community and reached out to our local neighbors here in our home base of Asheville, NC, USA, working with our downtown Asheville neighbors to create a special evening event including free admission to the Moogseum.
We received some help along the way in 2022, with grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Spark the Arts/the NC Arts Council.
We also owe ongoing thanks to Spectrasonics Virtual Instruments for powering our work in 2022 with the proceeds of purchases of the Bob Moog Tribute Library 2.
It’s easy to be part of what we do.
As 2022 comes to a close, your donations are essential to to our work to inspire kids through the intersection of science, music, and technology.
