Help La Serenissima make Brescianello Op 1 happen!

Dear Supporter,

We are close to signing off the CD booklet for Brescianello's Op. 1 Vol. 1 and are very excited about the album's forthcoming release this autumn. The album will be entitled 'Behind Closed Doors' and Adrian writes in his sleeve notes:

The title for this recording was inspired by the situation in which many ensembles and musicians found themselves after the arrival of the devastating Coronavirus pandemic in 2020.  Countries were locked down; concerts and recordings were cancelled; musicians everywhere were out of work.

The act of documenting the pandemic and the impact it has had on our group was a cathartic one and we are glad to have found a fitting way to acknowledge the challenges of 2020-21 in a lasting format.

You may have noticed that we have increased our funding target now to cover the release costs for Volume 2. This is in anticipation of recording sessions due to take place early in 2022 at Cedars Hall, Wells. In going ahead with the second disc we will be able to create employment for our stellar team of artists and complete a project which means a huge amount to Adrian and the progress of La Serenissima. The second volume will be produced and edited by Andrew Mellor following the departure of Simon Fox-Gal to Greece; Andrew worked on our June recording patch and was fantastic.

If you are able to give further support to this campaign, your help will go a long way to making our project viable. Thank you for your generosity and interest in our work: the music is superb and we are grateful to be able to play together and reach new listeners through Brescianello's Opus 1. 

With our thanks and best wishes

Camilla

Dear Supporter,

I'm thrilled to be able to write to you to let you know that thanks to the generosity of our crowd - and some very handy match-funding from GlobalGiving - we have reached our fundraising target for the post-production costs of the first volume of Brescianello's Opus 1. This album will be released on the Signum label in October 2021. 

This is particularly significant to La Serenissima because 2021 still looks to be a year where very little live performance work will be possible - promoters are still very much in uncertain waters when planning events and we are reliant on their confidence to return to the stage. This means that our recording work has never mattered so much when reaching audiences. The release of this album is doubly important because it will enable us to release something in the second half of this year, in place of our planned project which was scuppered by the UK's return to lockdown in January 2021. The lead times for recording releases are such that we couldn't have released a second album this year without the extra material we courageously gathered in October 2020 - the only project we have been able to pull off since Covid-19 halted the UK's progress in March last year.

Adrian is in the closing stages of the editing process and confirms 'it promises to be a very fine disc'. This looks like to be an understatement in print, given the enthusiasm and delight the first two edits have prompted in our house: we are hopeful this will represent some of our best work yet!

In getting this project signed off, we will be able to begin efforts in earnest to record and release the second album of Brescianello's vibrant orchestral works. You will see over the coming days that we will be editing our GlobalGiving project page to increase our funding target, in the hope that we can secure further donations to support the release costs for Volume 2 - more extraodinarily good music to lift the spirits. Watch this space, and thank you in advance for any further support you are able to give to the project.

Finally, don't miss La Serenissima's LIVE STREAM concert from Wigmore Hall on 31 March. A rare chance to see the group perform a wonderful one-off programme of Ariosti, Telemann, Valentini and Vivaldi with rising star, contralto Jess Dandy.

Thank you for your continued support. Everyone at La Serenissima is hugely grateful.

Camilla

Links:

• Our Wigmore Hall Live Stream event page
• Visit the Wigmore site to create a free account to view