Dear Friends,

Oh these are trying times!  From East and West, high and low, we are witnessing recession effects on creative, engaging and beloved arts institutions.  Along with an eternal need to make art, each one depends on the prosperity of the nation to flourish.  We depend on your passion as well as ours for art, and your commitment to sustain it.

Is this so different from the past?  When Germany was engulfed in religious conflicts, Heinrich Schütz stopped writing in the grand and voluptuous style of Venice.  He replaced choirs, brass bands and full strings for one or two voices with simple symphonies to accomplish a music of focused and intense expression.  Opera houses closed, silver furniture of astounding opulence was melted and minted, building projects were halted when Louis XIV went to costly war and depleted the country purse.  The French spirit however flourished in chamber music and intimate song that filled music rooms.  When 18th century financier John Law set off one of the great depressions of history, artists and composers responded with a musical and visual world of sensual delight perfumed with melancholy.  Art is resilient and responsive.

What should we all do now?  What is our role as performers when resources dwindle and anxieties flourish?  We have the privilege of singing the eternal and inescapable beauty of this world and the life-affirming thrill of communicating on an elevated plane.   And yes, we need your support now more than ever.

Donations, large and small, will get us through, whether to the Four Nations Ensemble or the New York City Opera. More important, we need you to put your hearts on your sleeves and your ears to our music. 

Click here for information about the entire series.

Best regards,

Andrew Appel