2026 Grantees
The Musical Fund Society granted $65,500 to 14 organizations for projects in the 2025–26 season.
| Arcana New Music Ensemble | A Year of Pauline Oliveros | Arcana celebrates Oliveros’s work and legacy with a six-concert series showcasing the breadth of her practice. Presented in locations across Philadelphia, these performances explore Oliveros’s early compositions, electronic experiments, Sonic Meditations, and immersive Deep Listening practices. | $3,000 |
| Dolce Suono Ensemble | Woman in Gold | David Serkin Ludwig will compose a new work for flute and string quartet, inspired by the story of Gustav Klimt’s famous portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer. Informed by the family histories of the painter, his Viennese artistic circle, and his own family, the work touches on themes of antisemitism, Nazi art theft, brutality, and survival. | $6,000 |
| Esperanza Arts Ensemble | Fiesta De La Calle De San Sebastián En Filadelfia | Esperanza presents Artist in Residence Tony Mendez and his musical ensemble Los Bomberos de la Calle, performing music in the Plena and Bomba traditions. This will be an evocative, multidisciplinary experience that immerses the audience in Puerto Rican culture and offers a guided tour of the history, significance, and legacy of one of Puerto Rico’s most important indigenous art forms. | $6,000 |
| Filament | Consorts Reframed | Filament and guest artists will present an interdisciplinary exploration of the music of enigmatic 17th-century composer William Lawes, complemented with a new commissioned piece and an exhibit of visual art inspired by Lawes’ music from faculty and students of the Fleisher Art Memorial. | $3,000 |
| Glen Foerd | Music for Pipe Organ | Composer Michael Leibowitz will write new music for Glen Foerd’s recently restored pipe organ. Inspired by Nancarrow’s studies for player piano, and collaborating with engineer Sean O’Donnell, the work will utilize the digital auto-player function of the organ to create compositions that transcend the capabilities of a traditional organist. | $3,000 |
| Journey Arts | Sonestos De Amor Oscuro | An immersive evening of sound and taste, where the profound emotions of Federico García Lorca's poetry resonate through the strings of a cello trio. This piece, conceived and composed by Daniel de Jesús, offers a haunting musical adaptation of Lorca's sonnets, which chronicle a forbidden love amidst the turmoil of the Spanish Civil War. | $6,000 |
| Mann Center for the Performing Arts | All-City Summer Academy (ACOSA) | Students 6th-12th grade will participate in a three-week jazz and orchestra training intensive. The Mann Center partners with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the School District of Philadelphia, and Project 440, to provide a no-cost, world-class music training and performance opportunity for up to 110 young instrumentalists who participate in master classes and workshops designed to teach both technical skills and positive youth development. | $3,000 |
| Mendelssohn Chorus of Philadelphia | Joyful Abundance | MCP’S inaugural Emerging Artist Commissioning Program will provide awards to five composers and five poets in the emerging stage of their career. Each winner will receive a cash award, mentoring, and an MCP premiere of their composition as part of the city-wide, multi-disciplinary “What Now?” Festival in 2026, celebrating the nation’s 250th birthday. | $6,000 |
| Network for New Music | Leo Brouwer | Network for New Music celebrates the extraordinary musical legacy of Afro-Cuban composer Leo Brouwer in an intimate portrait concert, featuring a newly commissioned chamber arrangement of Concierto de Toronto,as well as the Philadelphia premiere of El Mito de Sísifo and other masterworks that showcase Brouwer's remarkable evolution as one of contemporary classical music's most significant voices. | $6,000 |
| No Name Pops | Pops & the Philly Sound | The No Name Pops brings world-class symphonic pops music to the people, through a series of free outdoor pop-up concerts featuring the Pops’ high-energy, 11-piece“little big band” and powerhouse vocalist Paula Holloway. These concerts pay tribute to the artists and music that created the iconic Philly Sound. | $3,500 |
| Piffaro | Flauta Dulce at AMLA | Piffaro teaching artist Miriam Arbelo will teach the flauta dulce to students in AMLA’s after-school program. Using materials from Piffaro's library of 15th-17th century Latin American repertoire, she will collect and arrange the music and teach classes in soprano and alto recorders. Piffaro’s professional recorder players will visit the class to demonstrate consort playing on a full range of instruments. | $6,000 |
| PRISM Saxophone Quartet | Unlocking Your Inner Composer | This community education and performance program invites the public to create their own music to be performed by the PRISM Quartet, violinist Diane Monroe, vocalist and poet Ursula Rucker and percussionist Tyshawn Sorey. Building on the themes highlighted in PRISM’s recent Generate Music project, these artists will work with participants over multiple sessions as they generate new works that build bridges of understanding, celebrate creative freedom, and explore many kinds of identities. | $6,000 |
| Tempesta Di Mare | We March Together | This hands-on experience for participating public and parochial school bands introduces students to music that was written at the time of America’s independence, arranged for their instruments and band configuration. Working with Tempesta musicians and guest artists, each band will record a different march from the Founding Era and will join a live community performance at the Cherry Street Pier in May, 2026. | $3,000 |
| Wildflower Composers | Composers Festival | This two-week summer festival brings together a diverse group of young composers aged 13 – 19 in workshops, seminars, lessons, and the world premiere of their new compositions. Taught by the Bergamot Quartet and faculty and guest composers, the festival takes place at Temple University and is open to all levels of experience. | $5,000 |