Collaborative Arts Ensemble

CAE Rwanda Team in Akagera National Park .

Day 1 in Kigali: Making new friends and gearing up for the collaboration of a lifetime
@ Kigali, Rwanda

All smiles as we begin our preparation for CAE’s first international collaboration in Kigali, Rwanda. This team is on 🔥🔥

BIG NEWS: Collaborative Arts Ensemble is thrilled to be the recipient of a $15,000 grant from the McNulty Foundation for its joint collaboration with The Peace Studio (founded by Maya Soetoro-Ng) and the Ubumuntu Arts Festival in Kigali, Rwanda (founded by Hope Azeda). This gift will empower four incredible CAE artists to travel to Rwanda this July to collaborate with Hope Azeda and the Mashirika Theater Company on the creation of a brand new, hour-long, interdisciplinary concert work in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. We hope this work will build bridges across cultures and contribute to our understanding of how art can be a critical tool for peacebuilding. We cannot wait to share what is made with you all very soon!

Getting ready for our Bach Project premiere showcase tomorrow at Juilliard! Thank you and all the team for having us in your beautiful space all this week for our 2nd Bach Project Residency!!

Today we’re excited to begin highlighting some of the incredible artists in our upcoming Bach Project, which begins its 2nd NYC Residency on May 12.

Mezzo-soprano Olivia Cosio, originally from San Francisco, CA, is a Master of Music student in Vocal Arts at The Juilliard School. She will tour to Europe with Juilliard this coming June, performing Second Witch in Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas” with performances at London’s Holland Park and Versaille’s Opéra Royal. She will be a mezzo-soprano fellow at Tanglewood this summer where, last year, she performed Bach cantatas conducted by John Harbison, the world premiere of Michael Gandolfi’s “In America”, and the role of Susie in Bernstein’s “A Quiet Place”. Olivia received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory, where she performed Cherubino in Mozart’s “Le nozze di Figaro”, Dorothée in Massenet’s “Cendrillon”, and Bradamante in Handel’s “Alcina”. Olivia has worked with world-renowned artists such as Dawn Upshaw, Marilyn Horne, Isabel Leonard, and Stephanie Blythe. In addition to her vocal studies, Olivia is also an experienced educator, having held teaching fellowships with both the Breakthrough Collaborative and Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program.

Today we are so grateful for everyone who supported our first ever online fundraiser! Over the past few weeks, we were able to raise $12,000 in support of our amazing artists. Thanks to you - we are now racing into our summer season of bringing THREE amazing new projects to completion. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you! We look forward to reaching out to every one of you personally over the next week to further express our gratitude.
-Thomas and Philip

“By bringing together artists of different talents and backgrounds, CAE embraces seeing the differences of each other's art and experiences to allow for more empathetic, sincere storytelling.”-Corey A. Worley, violist and CAE Artist. Only a few hours left to give on our Indiegogo campaign!! Link in bio.

Shoutout from artist on the final day of our fundraising campaign! Check out the link in our bio • “CAE not only gave me the opportunity to share pivotal pieces of my heritage with those of different cultures, it allowed me the opportunity to deepen my relationship to the legacy and future of that heritage. Visiting the Civil Rights Museum and Memorial for Justice and Peace was an experience I will never, ever, ever forget.”