Early Music America Spring 2014 - (Page 25)

Donors ex machina Gifts of a significant size are beginning to descend on many of our best-known early music organizations N JANUARY 2012, the early music world got a big surprise: the Juilliard School announced that its board chair, Bruce Kovner, had given $20 million to endow its graduate-level program in historical performance. Kovner, who had just retired as chairman of the $10 billion hedge fund Caxton Associates, had a proprietary interest in the program: he funded its startup in 2009, and had been giving between $500,000 and $1 million each year to pay for the curriculum. Kovner, who plays piano, organ, and harpsichord, is said to be a big early music fan and a friend of William Christie, who acted as an advisor to Juilliard on starting the program. Kovner wasn't the only billionaire making news in early music philanthropy. In 2011, Ronald Stanton, the founder and chairman of Transammonia, a privately held agro-chemical company, gave $3.1 million to revive Les Arts Florissants' iconic production of Lully's Atys, not seen since the 1990s, and bring it to the Brooklyn Academy of Music as the opening event of its 150th anniversary in September. Stanton, a contributor to I arts, health, and Jewish causes, had been deeply impressed by Atys when he saw it in Paris in 1987. These were large numbers for early music. Major donors to culture tend to bestow their largesse on big community institutions like the Boston Symphony or the Metropolitan Opera, which boast multimillion dollar budgets and high social prestige. A big gift in the early music world is usually more in the $25,000 to $35,000 realm and comes from a person, not possessed of extravagant wealth, who is deeply committed to the music. One more typical donor is Kay Sprinkel Grace, who has been on the board of the Bay Area's Philharmonia Baroque for six years. When she began attending the orchestra's concerts 29 years ago, she was smitten with the orchestra's energy and its conductor, Nicholas McGegan. She found PBO to be "one of the friendliest orchestras" and liked the intimacy of its venue, as opposed to the San Francisco Symphony's large concert hall. "I've have watched them for more than 20 By Heidi Waleson Illustrations by Peter Elwell Early Music America Spring 2014 25

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Early Music America Spring 2014

Editor's Note
Reader Forum
Sound Bytes
Musings: My No Early Music Dream
Profile: Choral Conductor Amelia LeClair
Recording Reviews
Donors ex machina
Three Small Nails
Early Music Is a Capital Idea
Composing Electronic Music for Baroque Instruments
2014 Guide: Workshops & Festivals
Book Reviews
Ad Index
In Conclusion: 4,568 Pages Ago

Early Music America Spring 2014