.png)
IN THIS UPDATE:
2. GRANT ROUND 3 AWARD ANNOUNCED
2021 GRANTS - IMPACT
In March, thirteen live concerts took place - in Cornwall, Devon, Glasgow, Kent, London, Norfolk, Suffolk and Worcester - four new episodes from Ensemble Augelletti’s ‘Pick a Card’ series became available on YouTube, one new recording was made and a CD made by Ensemble Marsyas last year - Mozart’s Bassoon - was released on Linn Records. The figures so far:
£248,400 disbursed to 36 ensembles 899 musician engagements since April 2021
We wished to share this feedback from the report by Instruments of Time & Truth:
"Continuo Foundation’s grant gave us the confidence to carry out this ambitious project (this is the largest number of musicians we’ve ever engaged for a performance in the Holywell Music Room). The student consort coaching project that the grant allowed us to run was an entirely new scheme for us, and the enthusiastic response from the participants and their friends has encouraged us to offer similar coaching going forward!"
GRANT ROUND 3 AWARDS ANNOUNCED!
On the 17th March, we announced the twenty-five ensembles who will receive a third round grant award. We were delighted to support the projects of fourteen ensembles who are new to Continuo, extending our community of grantees to fifty-one ensembles in total. Five of the new groups applied in the recently-formed ensemble category, to which we allocated approximately 20% of the £100,000 in grant funding. The Telling published the following comment about their award:
"We are so grateful to Continuo Foundation for their support in so many ways. As well as being one of our funders, they tirelessly work in promoting early music projects and support the entire early music sector in a thought-through and holistic way that no one else has before. Their work is so very much needed - now more than ever.”
More details about the projects supported are available here and the performances with confirmed dates and venues are listed on our Events Calendar.
FUNDRAISING - ROUNDS 4, 5, 6 (JULY 2022 TO JULY 2023)
It is humbling to receive each donation that arrives at Continuo and we are delighted to report that we have now secured over £500,000 in donations and advance commitments for our initial 3-year grant making programme. £360,000 has already been awarded and £140,000 is allocated to the next three 6-monthly Grant Rounds (4, 5 and 6).
Covid restrictions have been relaxed, but musicians continue to be affected by cancellations due to positive tests and audiences which are nervous about returning to public spaces and using public transport, both of which are hampering their ability to move forward with projects and to rebuild their careers. The demand for support remains great.
Our immediate goal is to raise the remaining £27,000 needed to reach our £100,000 minimum launch target for Round 4 by 12th July 2022. At the same time, we are working hard to close the larger gap for Rounds 5 and 6, due to launch in January and July 2023.
If you'd like to contribute or renew your support for our work, please contact Tina by email on tina@continuofoundation.co.uk to discuss how you can make a difference.
RIITTA HIRVONEN JOINS AS A TRUSTEE
We are delighted that Riitta Hirvonen, Executive and Finance Manager of the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO), has agreed to join Continuo as a Trustee. Riitta’s focus on supporting and encouraging young musicians, and her many years of experience and in-depth understanding of running music organisations, including the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestras (2003-2012), will bring enormous value to our trustee group. Her love of baroque music will be an added bonus.
At the end of March, we bid a fond farewell to Hannah French, on board from the start of Continuo in September 2020. Due to the far-reaching impact of our grants, it had become virtually impossible for Hannah to avoid encountering ensembles and projects supported by Continuo Foundation (and hence, potential conflicts of interest) when presenting the Early Music Show and other programmes! We are very grateful to Hannah - and also to Nick Morrison, whose term as a trustee came to an end in February - for their valuable contributions and for helping us to make such a strong start. And we look forward to seeing them at our future events.
MARCH PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
Istante Collective – ‘Little Things in Odd Shapes’
Istante Collective gave the final two concerts in their imaginative series of five concerts at Heath Street Baptist Church in Hampstead featuring works and historical arrangements for various combinations of period instruments. Please click below to hear an excerpt from one of the concerts.
The Brook Street Band – ‘Handel in our Communities’
The Brook Street Band presented three of their series of four concerts (plus schools concerts and workshops) of vibrant chamber music (solos, sonatas, trio sonatas) for strings, woodwind and continuo by Handel, Boyce, Arne, Burney and Gibbs. The tour brought live music to new venues in three under-served regions in The Brook Street Band’s own communities in South Norfolk, Suffolk & Kent.
Passacaglia Trio – ’To Touch the Heart’
Passacaglia Trio presented a new programme centred on the music of CPE Bach, and including contributions from three talented women composers: King Frederick’s cultivated sisters Wilhelmina von Bayreuth and Anna Amalia; and Wilhelmina’s remarkable young Italian protégée, Anna Bon. This programme was toured to Cornwall, Devon, Norfolk, Somerset and Worcester. The Birmingham concert had to be postponed due to Covid, and has been rescheduled for September.
Florilegium - Haydn: Morning, Noon and Night Symphonies
Florilegium made a new recording of Haydn’s Morning, Noon and Night Symphonies, with the same number of musicians (18) that Haydn had at his disposal in Esterhazy when they were first performed in 1761. Please click below to hear a video clip from one of the sessions.