An Open Letter

Patrick Prejean

To whomever may come across this open letter

Dear important person(s),

Good day and tidings. My name is Patrick Prejean. I am a recent 1st generation Black/African-American college graduate from Cleveland State University with both my Bachelor’s and Master’s in Music Performance. I am a member of the Firelands Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Pops Orchestra, and most recently CityMusic Cleveland in addition to being a core member of City Six Strings and a freelance composer as well. I have been doing all that I can to forge a path to stability and success in my career but it has been to no avail. As such you can imagine my surprise when I won a call for scores with PARMA Recordings for my “Violin Sonata” in 2020 for what was then a hobby of mine. It was surreal and one of the few genuine happy moments in my life. Fast forward to 2022 and whilst preparing for the final stages of the project with PARMA Recordings (who are excellent and have been very helpful), I lost about $2000 in addition to catastrophic events both vehicular and personal. It has not been easy recovering from such losses and though I am slowly doing so, it is not enough and I fear for the completion of this project. I be blunt. There is $9000 standing between the release and completion of the recording of my “Violin Sonata.” I generously ask of you for a monetary grant/donation to make one of my dreams come true, that being the public notice of my compositions. It would be of great relief and appreciation to me, to all of the wonderful people who have helped me get this far, and to PARMA Recordings who have been very gracious and patient with me. If such a request cannot be made then a contact who can potentially help me is also greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time out of your busy day and I hope to hear back as soon as possible.

Best regards,

Patrick Prejean