In 1984, a 10 year-old child in Merseyside listened to Vivaldi's Four Seasons on the radio for the very first time. The encounter resulted in a lifetime's dedication to the music of 18th-century Venice for violinist Adrian Chandler and the birth of La Serenissima: a world-class ensemble bringing life-affirming Italian baroque music to a global audience. This fund will help support delivery of the organisation's mission at a time when opportunities for public performance remain scarce.
La Serenissima is a freelance organisation with neither a home in a concert venue nor any recurrent funding to underpin its artistic programme. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, the group has suffered an inevitable reduction in live concerts which is detrimental to both its artists and audiences and threatens the sustainability of its mission. Additional funding is needed to support the ensemble's music-making in this post-pandemic environment.
This project will raise money to support the group's promotion of Italian baroque music around the UK and globally by creating a flexible fund to support activities as needed. This will help projects go ahead when regional promoters are unable to afford the full cost of a performance or educational workshop. The fund will support necessary travel and operational expenses and contribute towards freelance opportunities for work via concerts, filming, outreach, podcasts & recordings.
In doing so, La Serenissima will give more people access to the life-affirming music of the Italian baroque, broadening opportunities to engage in culture and enriching lives. The project will help to safeguard increasingly-precious opportunities for skilled musicians to sustain their careers and will also create new routes into the profession for emerging artists. We can only keep going with the help of our crowd.
