First competitive grant received

I am pleased to report that the Aaron Copland Fund for Music has awarded Cultures in Harmony a grant of $1,000 in support of our performances of contemporary American music.

One of the ways in which Cultures in Harmony represents the United States abroad is through performing its greatest classical music. We have performed the Quartet No. 5 by Philip Glass in Pakistan and the Philippines; Barber's Adagio for Strings in Tunisia and Pakistan; works by Virgil Thomson in Cameroon, Egypt, Papua New Guinea, and Qatar; and many other American pieces. We have also given premieres of works by a wide variety of American composers.

To listen to Cultures in Harmony perform American music, head over to our MySpace and check out the world premiere recording of Sextet by Ricardo Romaneiro, written especially for Project IV in the Philippines.

This grant is a momentous occasion for Cultures in Harmony, because it is the first time in our five-year history that we have ever received a foundation grant from a competitive application process.

We are so grateful to the Copland Fund for this recognition of our work. Thanks to their generosity, we are well positioned to return to the countries where we have forged friendships in the past. We have added the Copland Fund to our donors list, and of course, each of our projects in 2010 will also feature America's greatest contemporary music.