Dear Friends

It breaks my heart that I have had to postpone the first two weeks of our very special tour.

I was hoping and praying that I would be OK.
I had been working, finishing off the new album despite the pain in my back, but it became so extreme I knew I had to finally seek immediate medical attention.

After going to a Physiotherapist, Chiropractor, then X-Rays, MRI’s, Cat scans and narrowly missing having to undergo spinal surgery, a decision had to be made, and it was very difficult for me.

I have never felt such heavy disappointment and sadness knowing so many of you were so excited to see the band again.
I am not allowed to go anywhere for 2-3 weeks, and will be in a back brace that I will basically need to wear 24 hours a day for 2-3 months.

We certainly will do all we can to make it up to you and come to play for you as soon as I am fully recovered. We are aiming for Spring 2013.

I am so thankful that I will be allowed to make the short trips to the last grouping of dates in the New Jersey/New York/Philadelphia areas, take off my back brace and perform!

We are certainly not an ordinary band, either by our music or the way we are blessed by people like you that have regrouped like us, and helped us on our new journey and new album.

I thank you from the bottom of my heart and look forward to seeing you all very soon.

Love and Light

Annie x

Lead Vocalist Annie Haslam diagnosed with serious spine injury

Philadelphia, PA – September 27

Annie Haslam, the lead singer of renowned progressive rock pioneers Renaissance, has been diagnosed with a serious vertebral compression fracture and is required to wear a Jewett Back Brace for two to three months. Her doctors have prescribed a minimum two to three week abstention from all travel. As a result, Renaissance will be forced to postpone the first nine dates of the first leg of their upcoming 2012-2013 Concert Tour.

The dates affected are:

Wednesday October 3 – Howard Theatre Washington DC
Thursday October 4 – Variety Playhouse Atlanta GA
Friday October 5 – The Plaza Live Orlando FL
Saturday October 6 – Capitol Theater Clearwater FL
Sunday October 7 – Amaturo Theater, Broward Center for Performing Arts Fort Lauderdale FL
Thursday October 11 – Le Gesu Centre Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Friday, October 12 – Tupelo Music Hall Londonderry, NH
Saturday October 13 – Showcase Live Foxborough, MA
Sunday October 14 – Center For The Performing Arts – The Egg Albany, NY

Ms. Haslam’s specialist has advised that she may begin performing live again starting with the group’s scheduled Friday, October 19th performance at the Ridgefield Playhouse in Ridgefield,CT. The group plans on rescheduling the cancelled shows and adding more dates in 2013.

“I am very upset about having to postpone these shows,” commented Ms. Haslam. “We’ve all been so excited about bringing our classics to the fans as well as previewing material from the new studio album Grandine il Vento.”

Renaissance recently completed mixing their first new studio album in twelve years, which is expected to be released in early 2013. The 2012 dates the band will be performing are:

**Friday October 19 – Ridgefield Playhouse Ridgefield, CT
**Saturday October 20 – The Concert Hall at Ethical Culture New York, NY
**Thursday, October 25 – Victoria Theater – New Jersey Performing Arts Center Newark, NJ
**Friday October 26 – Keswick Theater Glenside, PA
*Saturday, October 27 – Scottish Rite Auditorium Collingswood, NJ
*Sunday, October 28 – Strand Center for the Arts Lakewood, NJ

* Program comprising Turn Of The Cards and Scheherazade and Other Stories
** Program comprising Novella in its’ entirety plus a treasure trove of favorites and debuting selections from the
new album Grandine il Vento

Thank you for your continuing support and positive energy. This has been a summer of intense focus on the composing and recording of our new album, Grandine il Vento. We’ve barely had time to come up for air, let alone enjoy the summer. That said, the journey has been magnificent and we’re now in the final stages of production; weaving in a couple of fantastic guest appearances before starting the process of mixing. To say we’re multi-tasking is an understatement!

With this said, completion of Grandine il Vento is taking longer than we had originally anticipated. In order to keep you and your ears in the loop, here is a sampler of several songs from the album. The songs in the sampler are:

Symphony of Light
Waterfall
Grandine il Vento
Cry to the World

For those of you that missed the deadline for our Kickstarter pre-purchase album campaign earlier this year, you can visit our web store and review some of the few packages that we are making available.

We are looking forward to seeing you on tour. If you haven’t purchased tickets please do so and be sure to let your friends know.

For those fans in the Philadelphia and New Jersey area, the Scottish Rite Auditorium is sold-out, but there are good seats still left for the Keswick Theater.

Once again, many thanks for your loyalty.

Love,

Annie, Michael, Rave, David, Jason, and Frank

Excitement abounds in the Renaissance camp!  Our Kickstarter campaign is coming to a close – thank you for your generous support! And almost one year since our last sold-out concert tour, we are proud to announce the first run of performances of the 2012-2013 touring schedule.

We will present two different programs on the tour:

• Classic album Novella along with timeless favorites and selections from our soon to be released album Grandine Il Vento,
• Reprise of the successful ‘Turn Of The Cards and Scheherazade and Other Stories’ concept

As more shows are added there will be updates via the Renaissance mailing list, the band’s Facebook page and official website.

Please note that this is the first run of shows being announced and that performances in additional cities and countries are planned.

Thomas Gagliardi interviews Annie Haslam TONIGHT Saturday April 14 2012 at 11pm EDT (8pm PDT / 4am GMT) on Gagliarchives Radio. Rebroadcast on Aural Moon internet radio at 11am-3pm EDT on Sunday.

Gagliarchives Radio 10:00pm to 2:00am EDT

88.9 FM (South Jersey/Philadelphia/Jersey Shore)
95.1 FM (Burlington/Bristol)
100.7 FM (Mt. Holly/Lumberton/Mt.Laurel)
http://z889.org/
http://auralmoon.com/

The program can be heard live on the internet at http://z889.org/ and http://auralmoon.com/ from 10pm to 2amEDT Saturday night. Then the radio program is replayed at 11am EDT to 3pm EDT at http://auralmoon.com/ only.

Dear Friends and Family:

A big hello and thank you to all for your continuing support. We appreciate the loyalty so many of you have demonstrated during our renewed musical journey. 2011 was a groundbreaking year for us.

We have been busy composing what we believe will be the best Renaissance music ever recorded.

With that in mind, we find ourselves facing the most crucial time in our career: funding the recording of our first studio album in over ten years, called Grandine il Vento.

We must raise all the monies to pay for the production, promotion and distribution ourselves, since major labels no longer care about the music we make nor most of the music you love. Together with you is the only way we can make it happen.

We have put together a program on the fundraising website Kickstarter. There you will find a vast array of pledge opportunities with rewards ranging from advance copies of the album to VIP tickets to concerts, original paintings, executive producer credits, home concerts, plus special items from our private memorabilia collections including two historic guitars and the dress Annie wore on BBC’s Top Of The Pops. Every dollar, pound, euro or yen raised will be put to good use.

Please visit our Kickstarter project and play an integral role in helping us bring Grandine il Vento to life, and to the ears of fans around the world.

Many Thanks,

Annie and Michael

Our Philadelphia friend and concert promoter Bill Rogers, who promoted our sold-out filmed/recorded September 23, 2011 ‘Turn Of The Cards’… ‘Scheherazade & Other Stories’ show at the Keswick Theater, has asked us to reprise the same show this October 27th at the Scottish Rite Auditorium in Collingswood, New Jersey for fans that couldn’t get tickets for that performance.

There will be a ticket pre-sale available for fans this coming Monday March 5 and general availability will begin on Tuesday March 6.

Pre-sale link: http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0200486291D58669 – password is ‘BRE’

Stay tuned for updates about the new studio album, the tour and other goodies!

Good day to all.

Band, crew and equipment are neatly packed up and ready to head north today as the Turn Of The Cards and Scheherazade and Other Stories tour kicks off in Vermont Saturday. Annie, Michael, Rave, Dave, Frank, and Jason are all in fine form and spirits after a very intense schedule of rehearsals.

Everyone is looking forward to this run of shows and re-connecting with longtime friends and fans. Annie and Michael commented, “We wish that we could be playing for all our fans around the world, but we’ll be feeling their love every time we take to the stage. We’ve decided to record and film the shows so we can share the evening with everyone and will look forward many more shows in 2012”.

Ticket sales have been great, and there are a still a few of the special VIP packages left.

Photo: Richard Barnes

I received the news this afternoon that Betty Thatcher Newsinger died of cancer on August 15.

I remember the first time I spoke with Betty, I was looking for a writing partner and Jim McCarty suggested I call her as he wanted to write lyrics as well as the music. They had been working together for a while. After speaking we decided that I would put down a couple of songs I’d recently completed on cassette tape and send down to her.

To my amazement in the mail three days later were the lyrics that were fantastic, she just knew what lyric would work with the music. That was the beginning of a wonderful partnership that lasted over fifteen years with songs that have become classics: Ashes are Burning, Carpet of the Sun, Mother Russia, and the hit single we had in the UK Northern Lights. These and more helped in the success of Renaissance.

Although we haven’t worked together for a while we are still touring and performing these classic songs. Both Annie and I remember those early days of working together and in the studio recording our best known work.

Her talent will be missed.

Michael Dunford

Michael Dunford, principal songwriter and guitarist of renowned symphonic progressive rock band Renaissance, will be offering two of his guitars for auction in August 2011:

• Yamaha FG-230 12-string acoustic guitar featured on every Dunford-era Renaissance studio album
• Ovation Adamas 12-string acoustic-electric guitar featured on every tour since 1978

Please visit the Michael Dunford Guitar Auction page for more information about the guitars and the auction.