This hits me with many many emotions. I’m very sad that PFW is dissolving: I have seen it do so much good for so many organizations working to promote peace and understanding through the arts. And the generosity of PFW enabled QCO to expand considerably when we had just started and we were figuring out how to start out.
This gift will be tremendous for us, and will set us up to make a huge impact with our environment projects this year! We are also starting to prepare for some projects that focus on critical thinking and bridge building/constructive conversations for next year.
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Dear Trustees and Staff of the Puffin Foundation West, This letter contains our report for the generous grant of $5,000 we received in February 2023 in support of our Environmental Harmonies season, as well as the $75,000 award we received in April 2023, which we also applied to this project. The Federal EIN Number and/or SS# that the 1099 is to be sent to: 46-2698269 Project Name and Dates: Environmental Harmonies: Coffee Symphony, and Tchaikovsky’s eco-opera Undina. Our performance took place as planned. Coffee Symphony took place on June 18, 2023 at the Finneytown Performing Arts Center, featuring Bach’s Coffee Cantata and Beethoven’s Symphony no. 6. The production was a collaboration with Green Umbrella and Deeper Roots Coffee, who helped us to focus on sustainable coffee production. The project was an enormous artistic success, and we heard from many audience members in a post-performance talkback about how they are going to reexamine their coffee sourcing and brewing methods to minimize their environmental impact. The performance attracted 150 audience members. The following week, we reprised the Coffee Cantata in a free performance for 200 audience members at the Price Hill Music Festival, featuring supertitles in both English and Spanish. This free performance was livestreamed on Facebook, where it reached hundreds more. This livestream is still available online: https://fb.watch/ohRBu3wy8F/ We have also attached a photo from that performance here with this report. We are especially grateful for the Puffin Foundation West’s support of our recordings. We are releasing the different portions of the recordings of this project piecemeal, as some are still in post-production. Our performance of Beethoven’s Symphony no. 6 as part of this project is available on YouTube, and has already attracted hundreds of views internationally in only a few days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6SNEwXdpr0 The other video components of this project will be released once they are ready, and we anticipate that they will reach all least tens of thousands in the coming years. |
The world premiere reconstruction of Undina, Tchaikovsky’s lost eco-opera took place on October 7 and 8, 2023, at the Finneytown Perfomring Arts Center. The project attracted international attention, including a preview in the Wall Street Journal. (Link here behind paywall, with a screenshot attached with this report: https://www.wsj.com/arts- culture/fine-art/arts-calendar-happenings-for-the-week-of-october-1-airdigital- 85254a27). There is also a forthcoming article in the next edition of the journal of the International Tchaikovsky Society, based in Germany.
The performances were presented in collaboration with the Cincinnati Nature Center and Green Umbrella, who helped us focus on water stewardship and green energy. The costumes for the production were produced from recycled materials and repurposed trash; we have included a slideshow about the costume construction, including photos.
The performance was an enormous artistic success, with over 300 tickets sold for the in- person performances. The recording is still in post-production editing, and will be available for free on YouTube as soon as it is ready.
The production also received a glowing review in the international online publication All About the Arts: https://allabouttheartscoms.com/2023/10/07/tchaikovskys-lost- opera/?fbclid=IwAR0pSjYqgBG-UfOWU04- 40ppCPLf5AyyE7ArkkR0m7W2yrz3SgUbIBpk7qA
Combined, these projects offered 105 compensated, career-launching engagements to emerging artists.
We have attached a complete budget here, and we are very grateful for your continued support, which has allowed us to connect people through the universal language of art!
Sincerely,
Isaac M. Selya
QCO Founder and Artistic Director
