Ilumina Ensemble
A diverse community of artists and thinkers with a transformative social mission, Ilumina is writing a new narrative for 21st-century music-making, where worthy talent gets an equal chance to shine, no matter where they come from.
Violist and director Jennifer Stumm founded Ilumina on a coffee farm in Brazil in 2015. Its creator-led model unites young artists from diverse origins with global leaders in the field, develops new leaders by opening doors to top-quality education, and builds lasting community, all while bringing joy to the world stage.
Already, nearly 150 young artists from Ilumina projects have embarked upon performing careers, having attended world-leading conservatories at a 96% acceptance rate. Thousands more benefit from Ilumina’s digital education projects. Artists in the Ilumina community include Christian Poltera, Paul Lewis, Liza Ferschtman, Tai Murray, Anthony Marwood, Julian Steckel, Boris Brovtsyn, the Danish Quartet, and many more, who commit their time to amplify opportunity for young people from very different backgrounds.
Ilumina performances immerse listeners in diverse musical worlds, radically fueled by the freshness of cultural exchange and the power of community, whether in a warehouse, on a farm, or in one of the legendary concert halls of the world. Internationally, Ilumina made a highly lauded debut at the Lucerne Festival in 2022, followed by invitations around the world.
In 2024, it becomes the first Brazilian ensemble to have a full residency at the Edinburgh International Festival, makes its large hall debut in the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, tours in Germany, Austria, and Italy, and releases its debut album, Transfigurada, recorded at the Grafenegg Festival.
The annual Ilumina Festival every January in São Paulo is firmly established as one of the most significant and innovative music festivals in Latin America, with a majority of its large audience coming from urban and agricultural peripheries and hearing classical music for the first time.
Ilumina is a sought-after creator of new festivals, having replicated its innovative model in Austria, Bolivia, and Bahia. In 2024, it will build its newest musical immersion in the mountains above Bogotá, Colombia.
Since 2019, Jennifer Stumm has regularly spoken at NASA about how thinking like an artist inspires solutions for the world’s grand challenges. Moreover, there has been much interest in Ilumina’s model of efficient musical and social development. During the global pandemic, Ilumina’s digital project, Equal Music, united 1,000 musicians around the world to offer private lessons for those who lack access to arts education, leading to multiple full scholarships to universities for its young participants.
In 2022, Ilumina launched ECO, in partnership with the pioneering sustainable coffee farm Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza, connecting music and sustainability and democratizing access in agricultural communities to quality of life in all forms.
Ilumina is deeply grateful to its sponsors for its annual programs in Brazil and to individuals who have radically changed the lives of Ilumina’s young artists through donations of scholarships and instruments.
