Season Annual Report

Transcription

1 Season Annual Report

2 Mina Miller President & Artistic Director Board of Directors David Epstein Chair Nickolas Newcombe Vice Chair Pamela Center Secretary Thea Fefer Treasurer Henry Butler Carole Ellison Toni Freeman Alice Greenwood Russell Lebert Earl Sedlik Sandra Spear Leo Sreebny Kyoko Taguchi Petra Walker Gregory Wallace Frederick Yudin Stanley Zeitz David Sabritt Executive Advisor Advisory Board Leon Botstein Samuel Brylawski John Corigliano Bob Goldfarb Richard Goode Speight Jenkins Gary Karr Thomas Pasatieri Murray Perahia Steve Reich Paul Schoenfield Gerard Schwarz David Shifrin David Stock* Bret Werb Pinchas Zukerman *in blessed memory ( ) Mission Founded in 1998 by pianist Mina Miller, Music of Remembrance (MOR) fills a unique role throughout the world by remembering the Holocaust through music with concert performances, educational programs, recordings and commissions of new works. Along with its large and varied repertoire of Holocaust-era music, MOR commissions and premieres new Holocaust-inspired works by some of today s leading composers, building bridges across generations and sharing stories that underline the Holocaust s urgent moral relevance for us now. While MOR has a special place in the Jewish community, its mission is not religious and its scope is not limited to Jewish music or experience. Our programs have also focused on the Holocaust s impact on homosexuals, women, children, Roma, political prisoners and courageous free-thinkers. Musicians resistance took many forms, and crossed many national and religious boundaries. This resistance cannot have been in vain. We remember these musicians by preserving and performing their music. A Letter from the Chair of the Board Potentia Tenebras Repellendi the power to repel the darkness. For more than three years this Latin phrase was front and center in my thoughts, for it was the motto of the submarine on which I served as a young naval officer, a motto engraved on our ship s logo, a phrase I saw every day. Little could I have known some forty years ago how these words would eventually help guide me as the MOR board chair in carrying out our mission, and how they complemented our stellar 18th season and the landmark MOR Seattle and San Francisco premieres of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer s extraordinary Out of Darkness. As we follow the news today and are reminded of familiar, ominous David Epstein undercurrents both at home and abroad, I would argue that the arts in general, and Music of Remembrance in particular, take on a role even more powerful than that submarine. Rather than simply having the power to repel darkness, MOR with your continued support first shines a light on injustice and exposes it for what it is, and then, through music, pivots and radiates as a beacon of hope for the future. We reject injustice past and present in all forms, we rejoice through our inspirational, uplifting performances, and most importantly, we remember. We remember. I thank you again for the trust you have placed in us to ensure the voices of musical witness be heard, and am honored by your ongoing interest, and look forward yes, forward to seeing you at an upcoming performance of MOR, an organization vital for our times. David Epstein Board Chair 2 MOR Season Annual Report

3 A Letter from the President and Artistic Director When the witnesses disappear and only witnesses to those first-generation witnesses can speak, art s role is to create a humanizing space. While art evokes memory, it invents a memory for the future. Bracha L. Ettinger, The New York Times (December 2016) When I take a step back and reflect on MOR s programs for its eighteenth season, I m reminded of the distance we ve traveled over those years. We ve remained consistently true to our founding mission of remembering Holocaust-era musicians by performing their works, but over the last decade and a half the world has changed and we have evolved with it. Many of the banned composers whose works we ve featured from the beginning have become more broadly known, and we d like to think that we ve played a small part in rescuing beautiful music and important stories from undeserved obscurity. But we do much more than bring back musical voices from the past. MOR is the only organization in the world with a commitment to commissioning new Holocaust-inspired works by some of today s leading composers (and lyricists and choreographers!). We try to share stories that teach important lessons and challenge us to question our thinking. Appropriately, we remember the courage of musicians and others who used their art to speak out against injustice that they saw and experienced. At Music of Remembrance, we feel a calling to honor their examples by responding to events that challenge human rights and dignity in our own world. In MOR s recent season we brought forth two more new works. For our November 2015 concert, the provocative choreographer Olivier Wevers breathed exciting new life into the jazzy ballet suite La Revue de Cuisine by Bohuslav Martinů, a Czech-born composer forced to flee Europe after the German invasion of France because of his active role there in the Czech underground. May 2016 saw the world premiere of our newest opera commission, Out of Darkness by the acclaimed team of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer, in Seattle and San Francisco. With its haunting portrait of the experience of homosexuals during Nazi rule and its aftermath, and its intimate depiction of the emotional costs of survival, Out of Darkness reminds us why the Holocaust s lessons remain as important today as ever. Looking ahead to 2017, our audiences in Seattle and San Francisco will experience our newest commission, a multi-media work by rising young American composer Mary Kouyoumdjian about the fate of Europe s Roma during the Holocaust. And the following year will bring two more new works, this time focusing on the wartime internment of people of Japanese ancestry. Our programs always combine new works like these with the music of composers whose lives were touched directly by the Holocaust: those who perished; those forced into exile; those whose music was banned and whose lives the Nazis sought to erase; those who stood up to evil through their art. We do all of this because it matters so deeply. Our performances, and the new works that we commission, don t simply remember and honor the past. They address questions for today, in a world where human rights demand our vigilance more than ever. Through music, we try to make a difference in the world. Mina Miller Mina Miller Artistic Director MOR Season Annual Report 3

4 Rikki Ward photo Everyone touched by the Holocaust had a story, a name: those who perished and those who survived; famous people and people littleknown who were just as important. All of them had dreams, stories to tell, and unanswered questions that still need to be asked. Through music, we try to remind the world that their lives still matter. Mina Miller A REPORT ON MOR S SEASON Since its inaugural year, MOR has presented two major concerts annually at Seattle s Benaroya Hall: a fall concert marking the anniversary of Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass) and a spring concert honoring Holocaust Remembrance Day. Beginning in 2015, we introduced an annual appearance in San Francisco. Our expanded programming in two cities gives us the flexibility to offer varied events staged operas and musical dramas, new dance creations, chamber and vocal music without compromising our ability to continue exploring a core repertoire that fuses known works with new discoveries. November 8, 2015: (Benaroya Hall): La Revue de Cuisine Music of Remembrance launched its 18th season with a concert showcasing dance-inspired music by three composers. Our November program featured Bohuslav Martinů s 1927 jazzy ballet La Revue de Cuisine, our first collaboration with the innovative choreographer Olivier Wevers and his provocative Whim W Him Seattle Contemporary Dance. With dazzling wit, Wevers dances depicted the amorous entanglements of four kitchen utensils brought to life. Would the orderly Broom help the jealous Lid regain the love of the Pot, who had succumbed to the temptations of the seductive Whisk? The music captured the exuberance of 1920s Paris that made it so alluring to artists and intellectuals from everywhere. But with the German invasion of France in 1940, Martinů was forced to flee because of his associations with the Czech underground. Franz Schreker was one of Nazism s earliest musical casualties, forced to resign as director of the Berlin Hochschule für Musik in 1932 when he resisted demands to carry out discriminatory policies against Jewish faculty members. His early chamber work The Wind was inspired by a poem by ballerina Grete Wiesenthal for her own now-lost dance score. We also performed Dutch composer Dick Kattenburg s innocently unpretentious Deux Valses à la Ravel for piano four hands. Kattenburg experienced the early war years in hiding in Amsterdam, followed by deportation to Westerbork and then Auschwitz, where he was murdered on arrival. He perished at age 24 without hearing these pieces or most of his other music performed, and it s only through a remarkable chain of coincidence that the scores were recovered years later. Left to right: Mikhail Shmidt, Leonid Keylin, Julia Benzinger, Jonathan Green, Mara Finkelstein and Susan Gulkis Assadi The program also included a selection of songs in Yiddish from the Vilna ghetto. Vilna s Jews held out in proud struggle to defend a unique heritage, and within the ghetto s walls poetry and music took on special importance. These songs embody the courageous resilience of those who bared their souls through music, and bring us on an inspiring journey that spans heartbreak, hope, defiance and even humor. Concert photography: Michael Beaton 4 MOR Season Annual Report

5 We also introduced our audience to the powerful and poetic music of Mieczyslaw Weinberg with his Capriccio and Aria, two early string quartet miniatures from Weinberg bears the unfortunate distinction of persecution at both Nazi and Soviet hands. With the German invasion of his native Poland, the young Weinberg fled eastward with the hope of finding safety in the Soviet Union, only to face mistreatment there as well. Weinberg was touched by tragedy and loss in both his life and his art. His parents and sister stayed behind in Poland and perished in a Nazi concentration camp. After some early successes in the Soviet Union, his music was denounced for Jewish bourgeois nationalism, and he was imprisoned on the fantastical charge of plotting a Jewish coup in Crimea. For years afterward his music was marginalized, but still Weinberg continued to compose prolifically. In the years since Weinberg s death his music has begun to receive the appreciation it deserves. May 22, May 25 and 26, 2016: Out of Darkness The world premiere of Out of Darkness, the bold new opera that we commissioned from composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer, was a landmark occasion. Following our Seattle performance at Benaroya Hall, we returned to San Francisco with two performances at the Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Out of Darkness is a powerful portrait of survival that probes the Holocaust s vast scope through emotionally rich depictions of those caught in its grasp. The first act, Krystyna, tells the true story of Krystyna Zywulska, whose daring poems became anthems of defiance among her fellow prisoners in Auschwitz. Act Two, Gad, explores the fate of homosexuals during the Holocaust through the experience of Gad Beck and Manfred Lewin, two idealistic young lovers in 1930s Berlin whose lives and love were torn apart under Nazi rule. The music, of heart-stopping beauty, conveys a wisdom that helps us to appreciate those touched by the Holocaust in all their complicated humanity. It tells their stories with deep compassion that never descends to pathos or sentimentality. Baritone Michael Mayes Left to right: Robert Orth and Michael Mayes Cory Weaver Photography The production featured a stellar cast. Soprano Caitlin Lynch, applauded by the New York Times as luminous, appeared as the mature Krystyna, joined by soprano Ava Pine, who portrayed Krystyna in flashbacks to her youth. Catherine Cook, who has performed more than 50 roles with San Francisco Opera, sang the role of Zosha, Krystyna s friend and fellow prisoner in Auschwitz. Veteran baritone Robert Orth, for whom Heggie created roles in Dead Man Walking and Moby Dick, portrayed Gad. Baritone Michael Mayes portrayed Manfred and mesmerized our audiences with his powerful voice and arresting stage presence. The imaginative production was directed by Erich Parce and conducted by Joseph Mechavich. Thank you so much for having the courage to do works like this that keep the memories of these people alive for bringing these stories out of the darkness and into the light. Michael Mayes The cast is one that any opera house, from Seattle and San Francisco to New York's Met, would hunger for. The performance was a triumph, not just of dedication and will, but also of artistic coherence. Jason Victor Serinus, Bay Area Reporter MOR Season Annual Report 5

6 Cory Weaver Photography Out of Darkness is a remarkable achievement by Heggie and Scheer, and we spared no effort in giving the performances the impact they deserved. In addition to its world-class cast, the production used set and lighting designs that swept audiences into the heart of the musical drama, and visual projections that captured the shifting and porous boundaries between memory and imagination. We also produced a professionalquality video recording of the performance, along with behind-the-scenes chapters, that is now available in Blu-Ray and DVD formats. Left to right: Michael Mayes, Catherine Cook, Robert Orth, Caitlin Lynch and Ava Pine This concert was one of the most moving musical events I have ever attended. Thank you so much for this incredible experience. Audience member There is no other organization in America today that has the same convictions for this cause as Music of Remembrance. City Arts Commemorating the 71st Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz On January 27, 1945, Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp, was liberated by the Soviet army. Seventy-one years later, on Wednesday evening, January 27, 2016, Music of Remembrance presented a community-wide free concert at Seattle s Benaroya Hall to honor this important moment in history. The musical program featured works by composers whose lives were cut short by Nazi persecution: Gideon Klein, Zikmund Schul, Robert Dauber, Erwin Schulhoff, David Beigelman and Dick Kattenburg. It also included cabaret music from the Terezín concentration camp and a selection of songs from the Vilna ghetto. With this concert, Music of Remembrance joined organizations around the world in commemorating International Holocaust Remembrance Jack and Adina Almo Day. Made possible through the generous sponsorship of Jack and Adina Almo, this free concert provided an opportunity for the entire community to come together to honor the liberation of Auschwitz, and to experience a small part of the musical legacy left by those who continued to create remarkable music even while in the hands of their Nazi captors. The moving introductory remarks of Jack and Adina Almo set the tone for a deeply inspiring evening. Education & Outreach: Serving our Communities MOR s constant challenge is to help people explore both personal and universal meanings of the Holocaust, and reflect on the meaning of the Holocaust s lessons in today s world. Not everybody can come to the concert hall, however, and our outreach program is designed to bring MOR s music and mission to people of all ages and backgrounds across our community and beyond. Sparks of Glory: Our Eleventh Season of Free Performances Beyond the Concert Hall The Sparks of Glory education outreach series continues to be an important element of MOR s service to the community. Originally supported in part with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, for the past two seasons we have relied on the generosity of individual donors to present free concerts in partnership with the Seattle Art Museum. 6 MOR Season Annual Report

7 These concerts at SAM are always linked with the museum s current exhibits. MOR s September 2015 concert complemented SAM s exhibit Intimate Impressionism from the National Gallery of Art. MOR s Mina Miller discussed several of the 71 extraordinary paintings in that collection and their counterparts in musical impressionism. Echoes of Debussy and Ravel permeated the hauntingly evocative music of Rosy Wertheim and Henriette Bosmans, two Dutch composers who lived and worked in Paris between the world wars. The program s art museum setting was also ideal for sharing the story and music of After Life and its encounter between the ghosts of Pablo Picasso and Gertrude Stein with a wider audience that might have missed our premiere of the Tom Cipullo opera at Benaroya Hall that May. In the Schools and Community Through MOR s Sparks of Glory program, we also reach out to students and educators, and to other partners across the community. During the months leading to our premiere of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer s Out of Darkness, an important emphasis of this outreach was to introduce the work and promote discussion of the profound questions it addresses. In the Bay Area, this included a presentation at San Francisco s Temple Emanu- El, and a concert preview hosted by the Consulate of the Federal Republic of Germany in partnership with the Consulate of Israel and the American Jewish Committee. That event drew a broad audience from the diplomatic community and the general public, and it featured musical highlights with vocal stars accompanied by the composer. Our free concerts, school and community presentations in were attended by nearly 1,200 people. But this number alone does not tell the entire story. We try to involve community members and especially young people in other ways as well. We offer steeply discounted concert tickets to students, and open the doors for dress rehearsals. Our continuing Seattle Art Museum partnership and our other outreach programs reach a diverse community. They open dialogues, and begin important conversations that continue beyond the school, auditorium or lecture hall. Testimonies for Tomorrow Commissions and Recordings The commissioning of new music forms a cornerstone of MOR s mission. Through significant new Holocaust-inspired works by major composers, MOR s commissioning program builds a bridge between Holocaust musicians and a new generation of artists and audiences. Music of Remembrance s Testimonies for Tomorrow program of commissioning new Holocaust-inspired works by today s leading composers is unique in the world. With these works we move beyond historical memory by focusing on the continued relevance of the Holocaust s moral lessons for today. Entering its nineteenth season, MOR has already commissioned over 20 works by composers including Paul Schoenfield, Thomas Pasatieri, Jake Heggie, Lori Laitman, Betty Olivero, Gerard Schwarz and David Stock, among others. In our recent season we unveiled two more new works: a brilliant dance creation, and a full-length opera that has already begun to enter the repertoire in companies around the world. Our November concert featured Olivier Wevers choreography for Bohuslav Martinů s jazzy 1927 ballet La Revue de Cuisine. With exuberant wit, Wevers new dances depict the amorous entanglements of kitchen utensils brought to life. The whimsical plot is a love Great music performed by outstanding musicians! These Sparks of Glory concerts are a gift to Seattle. I hope they can continue next year. Audience Member Left to right: Israel Consul General Andy David, AJC SF Executive Director Sarah Persitz, David Sabritt, Mina Miller and Jake Heggie The way Music of Remembrance touches the memory of the Holocaust is not through bitterness or vengeance, but by conveying positive experiences. Andy David, Consul General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest MOR Season Annual Report 7

8 Thank you, Music of Remembrance, for creating a radiant space for us to remember, share, laugh, cry, celebrate and dream together. Jake Heggie Working on these pieces has been one of the highlights of my life. Gene Scheer A most stimulating release. The two pieces are excellently matched. Both exude a sense of questioning what was and what might have been. Performances and recording are of the highest standard. Fanfare July 2016 triangle between newlyweds Pot and Lid, and the Stirring Stick who is determined to come between them. Wevers gives each utensil an expressive personality of its own, with dances where the orderly Broom helps the jealous Lid regain the love of the Pot, who has succumbed to the temptations of the seductive Stirring Stick. The dances are tender and wickedly funny at the same time, with gender roles that are juggled at unexpected moments. This was our first collaboration with Wevers and his talented performers at Whim W Him Seattle Contemporary Dance, and we look forward to working with them again when they return in 2017 to premiere the first-ever dance to a very different type of work: Osvaldo Golijov s Lullaby and Doina, depicting the doomed young love of a Jewish woman and a gypsy man. Commissioning a new opera and introducing it to the world is an exciting adventure, and it s also a special challenge for a small organization like Music of Remembrance. But opera offers a uniquely compelling vehicle for reaching people s hearts in a visceral way with stories that the world needs to hear. Out of Darkness is the culmination of MOR s collaboration with Heggie and Scheer that began a decade ago. Their first MOR commission, For a Look or a Touch (2007), explored the fate of homosexuals during the Holocaust through the experience of Gad Beck and Manfred Lewin, two idealistic young lovers in 1930s Berlin whose lives and love were torn apart under Nazi rule. Another Sunrise (2012) and Farewell, Auschwitz (2013) shared the story and words of Krystyna Zywulska, whose daring poems became anthems of defiance among her fellow prisoners in Auschwitz. In the two acts of Out of Darkness and an unforgettable epilogue, Heggie and Scheer bring these stories together in a powerful testament to memory and the emotional costs of survival. Recordings When we take the lead in commissioning and premiering these new works, it s always with the hope that they will be absorbed into a repertoire that reaches people everywhere. Our CD recordings play an important part by making our commissions permanently available to listeners around the world. In February 2016, Naxos released our recording of Tom Cipullo s chamber opera After Life, which we premiered the previous year. In this oneact opera, the ghosts of Gertrude Stein and Pablo Picasso confront each other about how artists can respond to evil they see in the world. At the time of this report, the work is one of three finalists for the Best Chamber Opera award of the National Opera Association. This CD, our seventh recording on the Naxos label, also includes Lori Laitman s song cycle In Sleep The World Is Yours, an MOR commission from This haunting song cycle is based on the poignant poetry of Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger. Selma died at 18 in a Nazi labor camp, but her poetry remains as witness to her talent, her sensitivity and her commitment to deeply-held principles. The recording has already received critical praise in international publications such as Gramophone, Opera News and Fanfare Magazine. Dmitriy Lipay, the audio engineer for this CD and our other recent recordings, has been a frequent Grammy Award recipient. We also captured this year s Out of Darkness production in a professional-quality opera video. The recording, now available in Blu-Ray and DVD formats, also includes a bonus chapter with interviews and behind-the-scenes glimpses of how the work was conceived and brought to life. Anyone who has created an opera film can attest to the demands of artistic subtlety and technical complexity. Our team of audio engineer Dmitriy Lipay, media designer and videographer David Murakami, and post-production engineer Andrew Mayatskiy succeeded magnificently in communicating the intensity of Out of Darkness s powerful musical drama. 8 MOR Season Annual Report

9 The Sostenuto Society Preserve a precious cultural legacy Create new music through commissions Educate our children and grandchildren Since its inception in 2002, the Sostenuto* Society has formed the core of MOR s fiscal stability. The Sostenuto Society welcomes as members those farsighted and generous donors who make a three-year gift commitment to Music of Remembrance. Through their dedication to MOR s mission, Sostenuto Society members provide sustained support for MOR programming. This enables us to plan and undertake long-range projects such as the commission of new works by some of today s most important composers, our educational programs, and special initiatives like our documentary film The Boys of Terezín Season Crescendo ($7,500 and above) Pat and Marcus Meier Lori Laitman & Bruce Rosenblum Mina Miller & David Sabritt Beth Ann Segal Sostenuto Platinum ($5,000 to $7,499) Isaac Alhadeff Foundation Rebecca Crown Angel (Over $50,000) Anonymous Cornerstone ($25,000 to $49,999) Pat & Marcus Meier National Endowment for the Arts Sherry & James Raisbeck Pillar ($10,000 to $24,999) Carole Ellison Susan Shanbrom-Krabbe & Moe Krabbe Bernard Osher Gerald Rosenstein* Mina Miller & David Sabritt Ululani Foundation Frederick Yudin Founder ($5,000 to $9,999) 4Culture Isaac Alhadeff Foundation Adina & Jack Almo Donna Benaroya Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany - San Francisco Rebecca Crown Barbara & Theodore Daniels David Epstein H. David Kaplan John Laughlin Bernice & John Lindstrom Lori Laitman & Bruce Rosenblum Susan Corwin & Joseph Rothberg Seattle Office of Arts & Culture Benefactor ($2,500 to $4,999) Jan & Kenneth Block Pamela & Dr. Robert Center Carole Ellison Susan Shanbrom-Krabbe & Moe Krabbe Frederick Yudin Sostenuto Gold ($2,500 to $4,999) The Purple Lady/Barbara J. Meislin Fund Ursula Rychter Sostenuto Silver ($1,200 to $2,499) Jan & Kenneth Block Olga & Henry Butler Pamela & Dr. Robert Center Judy & Krijn DeJonge David Epstein Thea Fefer Toni Freeman Alice & Howard Greenwood DONORS SEASON Brenda Berry & Jonathan Green Judy & Krijn DeJonge Nancy Livingston & Fred Levin, The Shenson Foundation In memory of Ben & A, Jess Shenson The Purple Lady/Barbara J. Meislin Nickolas Newcombe Dr. Nancy Powell Lucy & Herbert Pruzan Ursula Rychter Dr. Leo Sreebny Gregory Wallace Sponsor ($1,000 to $2,499) Lynn & Howard Behar Olga & Henry Butler Janet & Lloyd Cluff Thea Fefer Toni Freeman Devorah & Saul Gamoran Alice & Howard Greenwood Jake Heggie Marcia Wagoner & David Hewitt Gale Kessler Eva & Jon LaFollette Frederick McDonald Dr. Erika Michael Lin & Dr. Murray Robinovitch Pat & Jon Rosen Rabbis Beth & Jonathan Singer (Temple Emanu-El) Kyoko & Michio Taguchi Valli Benesch & Bob Tandler Philanthropic Fund Eileen Glasser Wesley & Mark Wesley Nancy & Dr. Stanley Zeitz Anonymous Patron ($500 to $999) Dr. Shelley Bookspan Barbara & Dr. Joseph Buchman Anne Cahn Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest Joseph Crnko Barry Davison Jane Bernstein & Bob Ellis The Honorable John Erlick Anthony & Joan Japha Drs. Betty Miller & Marvin Kolotkin Arabelle & Simon Liepold Microsoft Matching Funds C. Louise & Dr. Stafford Miller Naomi & Jonathan Newman Jenny Knapp-Parce and Erich Parce Connie Gould & Phil Rudman Charyl & Earl Sedlik Barbara & Dr. Richard Shikiar Sonia Spear Michael Waddell Donor ($250 to $499) Rene Alkoff Diane & Jean-Loup Baer Judith Block Pamela & Edward Bridge Lisa Delan Gregory Facktor Ann & Donald Frothingham Natalie Gendler Joanna & Lane Gerber Gena & Sonny Gorasht Nancy Griffin Dr. Martin Greene H. David Kaplan Dr. Erika Michael Nickolas Newcombe Lucy & Herb Pruzan Lin & Dr. Murray Robinovitch Pat & Jon Rosen Dr. Leo Sreebny Kyoko & Michio Taguchi Craig Sheppard & Gregory Wallace Nancy & Dr. Stanley Zeitz Camille & David Jassny Aidan Lang Laura Ingham & Roy Lundgren Leo Medeiros Helene Ellenbogen & Wayne Parker Carol Pruzan Bernice Mossifer Rind Gene Scheer Dr. Irene Silverblatt Rosalind Singer Joanne & Larry Smith Mary Helen Smith Sandra Spear Helen & Thomas Spiro Lisa Unsoeld-Chang Petra Walker In-kind Supporters Jan & Kenneth Block Dmitriy Lipay Recordings Encore Media Group The Hilton Seattle Hyatt Hotels Seattle The J-Weekly KING FM 98.1 Michael Beaton Photography Jon LaFollette Photography Mina Miller Perkins Coie, LLC Sabritt Solutions, LLC San Francisco Classical Voice Seattle Gay News Seattle Art Museum Spear Studios The Stranger Kyoko & Michio Taguchi *in blessed memory *Sostenuto a musical term meaning to sustain MOR honors the past while instilling hope for the future. Audience member MOR Season Annual Report 9

10 Financial Summary $800,000 $700,000 $600,000 $500,000 $400,000 $300,000 $200,000 $100,000 0 $800,000 $700,000 $600,000 $500,000 $400,000 $300,000 $200,000 $100,000 FY FY FY FY Figure 1: Total Expenses by Year n In-kind n Cash Figure 2: Total Revenues by Year n Income n In-kind contributions FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY Figure 3: Cash Reserves by Year FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY $350,000 $300,000 $250,000 $200,000 $150,000 $100,000 $50,000 $0 MOR continues to dare going places that stretch the scope of what many people would expect of a small organization like ours. With fully-staged productions of Out of Darkness in Seattle and San Francisco, the season represented another bold leap forward. Commissioning and premiering a complete opera by Jake Heggie, seen by many as the most important opera composer of our time, was a precious and timely opportunity that culminated a decadelong collaboration. It also was our most financially ambitious venture to date, with one-time opera production expenses: building stage, lighting and media designs; transporting the entire production between Seattle and San Francisco; creating a professional-quality video of the performance. The total cost of the Out of Darkness project was $186,050, about 43% of MOR s cash expenses for FY With the help of a highly-focused development campaign that anticipated the scale of the project, MOR s FY cash revenues covered 96% of its cash expenses in this special year. MOR s inaugural season consisted of two major concerts at Seattle s Benaroya Hall, with total expenses of about $16,000 (excluding in-kind contributions of professional services). By the end of the season, MOR s accomplishments have grown to include the commissioning and premiere of over 20 important new Holocaust-inspired musical works and six dance commissions, eight CDs (seven released on the worldleading Naxos label), an annual major free concert marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, an annual series of free concerts-with-commentary in partnership with the Seattle Art Museum and other community settings, an extensive educational outreach program in local schools and colleges, and two documentary films. With this expanded scope, the organization s total expenses (excluding in-kind equivalents) for the FY were $427,847 (Figure 1). MOR s base of supporters has continued to grow, and to embrace the organization s mission and its musical and educational programming. From its inception, the organization s revenues (excluding in-kind contributed services) have grown from about $20,000 for MOR s first season to $410,300 in FY (Figure 2). Throughout these years of rapid growth, and response to new opportunities, MOR has remained a careful steward of its resources. At the end of FY , it held cash reserves of $289,572 (Figure 3). Ticket sales can never account for a major portion of MOR s 10 MOR Season Annual Report

11 budget (Figure 4), and the organization depends on the support of donors who believe in its mission. In FY , individual donors contributed $240,257, or about 59% of MOR s revenue excluding in-kind contributed services and receivables. Of this amount, approximately 21% ($51,545) was generated by MOR s Sostenuto Society, whose members pledge a minimum annual gift of at least $1,200 for three years. Individual donations also included gifts totaling $47,500 from MOR s Commissioning and Recording Circle, a group of donors focused on MOR s unique Testimonies for Tomorrow initiative. These sustained donors make a lasting impact, adding to the organization s ability to anticipate resources that will be available for long-term projects. This ability is especially important as MOR plans future commissions, recordings, and other large-scale projects that require proactive funding. Although government funding provides a small fraction of the organization s total cash revenue, it is an important reflection of the role that MOR plays in the cultural life of our city, our state and our nation. At a time of reduced government spending, MOR maintained its support from the Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs and 4Culture. We also received a highly competitive Art Works grant of $22,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts to help support the Out of Darkness opera commission and production. MOR takes very seriously its responsibility to control its costs, and to focus its resources on its musical programming. In FY , about 52% of cash expenditures were for artist fees, composer commissions and other artistic production expenses (Figure 5). This number does not include the considerable portion of the Artistic Director s effort devoted directly to the programming and management of performance events, and does not reflect her participation as a key performing artist. MOR s personnel includes the Artistic Director (compensated at 50% of a normal professional salary) whose creative vision forms the core of MOR; a Development Officer charged with expanding MOR s funding CD Sales < 1% Contracted professional services 2% Figure 4: FY Revenue Sources, Excluding in-kind and net receivables (Total $410,300) Foundations 1% Corporate donations <1% Commissions 6% Interest <1% Figure 5: FY Cash Expenses (Total $427,847) Fundraising expenses 3% Fundraising Events 23% Ticket sales 9% Government 8% Facilities and equipment 4% Personnel 34% base; and an Administrator whose expanded responsibilities include marketing and promoting MOR s events as well as managing the organization s office operations. The approved FY budget anticipates expenses of $383,300, a reduction of about 10% from FY This budget allows us to continue offering the innovative programming, superior performances and meaningful community involvement that have distinguished Music of Remembrance. It includes a May concert at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in addition to our three Benaroya Hall concerts and our other programs in Seattle. It also supports another major commission, this time a multi-media work exploring the fate of Europe s Roma during the Holocaust. In building for the future, we are focused on MOR s long-term sustainability, and on extending our reach to all sectors of the community and to all generations everywhere. MOR and its growing family of supporters continue to create and preserve memories for the future. Sostenuto/ Crescendo 13% Commissioning/ Recording Circle 12% Other Individual donations 34% Commissions 6% Other operating expenses 5% Artist fees 14% Artistic production costs 32% MOR Season Annual Report 11

12 Music of Remembrance Commissioning & Recording Circle MOR s Commissioning and Recording Circle consists of visionary donors who enthusiastically embrace MOR s unique Testimonies for Tomorrow the commissioning and recording of new works by leading contemporary composers inspired by Holocaust themes and stories. Through their generosity, members of the Commissioning and Recording Circle are committed to providing MOR the resources necessary to continue these uniquely important projects. Learn more about MOR s Commissioning and Recording Circle: call MOR at (206) or MOR s artistic director: mina@musicofremembrance.org MOR Commissions MOR s supporters have funded the creation of twenty new musical works and six dances. Jake Heggie Out of Darkness 2016 Olivier Wevers choreography to Bohuslav Martinů s La Revue de Cuisine 2015 Tom Cipullo After Life 2015 Donald Bryd choreography to Arnold Schoenberg s Transfigured Night 2014 Donald Byrd choreography to Dick Kattenburg s Tap Dance 2014 Alicia Svigals The Yellow Ticket 2014 (expanded instrumentation) Lori Laitman In Sleep The World Is Yours 2013 Pat Hon Destination Unknown, choreography to Betty Olivero s Zeks Yiddishe Lider Un Tanz 2013 Jake Heggie Farewell, Auschwitz 2013 Jake Heggie For a Look or a Touch (song cycle) 2013 Jake Heggie Another Sunrise 2012 Betty Olivero Kolo t 2011 Lori Laitman Vedem (song cycle) 2011 Donald Byrd choreography to Joel Engel s The Dybbuk Suite 2010 Lori Laitman Vedem (oratorio) 2010 Donald Byrd choreography to Franz Schreker s The Wind 2009 Aharon Harlap Pictures from the Private Collection of God 2009 Paul Schoenfield Ghetto Songs 2008 David Stock Mayn Shvester Chaya 2008 Gerard Schwarz Rudolf & Jeanette 2007 Jake Heggie For a Look or a Touch 2007 Gerard Schwarz In Memoriam 2005 Lori Laitman The Seed of Dream 2004 Thomas Pasatieri Letter to Warsaw 2003 Paul Schoenfield Camp Songs 2002 David Stock A Vanished World 1999 At the end of its eighteenth season, MOR had performed over 130 works by 75 composers, including music from the Terezin, Kovno, Lodz, Sachsenhausen and Vilna ghettos. Some of these works were already known, but many others awaited rescue from undeserved neglect. Support Music of Remembrance Music of Remembrance depends on donors who, through their generosity, become partners in our mission to remember. Every gift directly supports our concerts, education and outreach activities, allowing us to serve the community and beyond through our unique and compelling programs. MOR is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. To learn about opportunities for giving, call Lia Deromedi, Development Officer, at (206) , or lia@musicofremembrance.org. Contributions can be mailed to us at: Music of Remembrance, PO Box 27500, Seattle, WA You may also contribute online through our website: