Dear friends of Incantare,

It's that time of year! We are excited and grateful to launch our annual holiday fundraiser once again. Before we start, we need to express a profound "thank you" to all of you. We met and exceeded our fundraising goal last year which, in addition to our projected costs, also helped us us do the following:

1. Continue to tour "EXILE: Music of the Early Modern Jewish Diaspora" throughout the country, totaling eight cities and counting
2. Develop and perform "Musical Landscapes Across the New World" for our residency at Florida State University
3. Remount our debut program "From Darkness Into Light" at the Hamilton College Performing Arts Series
4. Hire a grant researcher to assist us with funding our programs
5. Expand our audio-visual presence by creating new high-quality videos that we will unveil throughout this campaign on a weekly basis
6. Provide travel, lodging, and fees for our guest artists and core members
7. Provide funding for organ rental, insurance, and transportation in cities across America

This year, we hope to raise $6,000, which will go toward the following projects and goals:

1. The development of our new program, "Il Furioso," with music influenced by the life and art of Jacopo Tintoretto. Presented as a sixteenth-century Dialogo—a scripted pedagogical discourse—between Tintoretto and his daughter, the artist and musician Marietta Robusti, this visually and aurally sumptuous program explores music by Italian composers from the Venetian School and their contemporaries. Spoken dialogue and imagery enhance this multimedia program, which features music by Andrea Gabrieli, Gioseffo Zarlino, Leonora Orsina, Madalena Casulana, Diego Ortiz, and many more.

2. Increase our general operating budget to provide payment for administrative work. A lot goes into our programs besides the music! We need to book venues, liaise with presenters, apply for grants, create editions of the music, organize transportation and lodging, lift and transport heavy organs and harpsichords to concerts and rehearsals, record and edit our videos, maintain our email and social media presence, write program notes and prepare concert literature, draft and negotiate contracts, and more. This is time-consuming but very important work that makes our concerts happen! We would love to be able to pay ourselves or an administrator for this work, giving us more flexibility and time to make as much music as we can.

We are beyond grateful for your continued and yearly support, which has allowed us to thrive as an ensemble. We continue to expand our repertoire and performance presence throughout the United States, and we continue to grow as an ensemble. We are so proud of what we have created over the years, and we're even more proud to have created it with you. The friendships we have formed with our audiences and community are indeed some of the most special things about what we do.

We hope you will once again consider helping us with a financial contribution this holiday season. We have a LOT of fun rewards this year, but any amount at all helps us tremendously and keeps us growing and performing. And of course, look out for our weekly videos, which will last until the end of our campaign

We can't wait to bring our music to you, and once again, THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts. 

Happy holidays and yours in friendship,
Alice, Cynthia, Liza, Ben David, Garrett, and Naomi
 
www.incantaremusic.com