Clutched deep in the icy palms of a relentless February winter 2019, we find a mad man on a mission, one Mike Bruckman, looking pensively out over the frozen lake. In a world full of chaos and noise, competition and ego, this quiet lake view had become his sanctuary teaching him each day the value of silence and the power of a whisper. He longed to share his lessons with the world, this concept that to succeed as an artist one must only have faith, passion, and willpower. There was no need for worry, no need for gusto or cheap tricks for attention. No need for fame or hassle. No need to struggle or yell into the void. This man knew well, that sometimes you simply had to Whisper To Be Heard And thus The Whisper Project was born. Mike had a fearless idea, an abundance of musical talent, an endless list of fantastical friends just as talented (see: crazy) as he, and - the keys to a mansion. Mike had music bursting inside him dying to come out, but never being the type to be tied down into something static, Mike had no desire to form a band, no that would be too ordinary. To cumbersome. Mike is the kind of man who, when he wants to do something, he believes he should just be able to go out and do it. No lengthy process of forming a band and writing songs and struggling and fighting to get by. No, in his world things just seemed to flow more naturally, like the waters on the lake his home overlooked. He knew, success was easy. And he knew he was going to get what he wanted, by whispering, instead of laboriously struggling to get there. so with just a hat full of ideas he had a plan. Get musicians and artists together from all over Ohio, the country, hell all over the world who have never met one day in their life, come together and live in the mansion for one week, which he dubbed Music Week with the goal in mind to write, fund, and record an album by the weeks end. How could this be possible? Well in Mikes world, anything is possible, all it takes is a whisper. (And living in a mansion didn't hurt 😉 ) Naturally Mike would play the keys as well as being the ringleader of this whole event, but he would need other players! He scoured his connections and found the best of the best from all over! Nicolas Miranda: guitar and mandolin virtuoso David Boehm: keyboard player extraordinare Corey Davis, multi-instrumentalist and cellist phenom. Annastacia Monroe: vocalist, lyricist, and ball of frenetic energy. Jeziel Chavez: audio engineer and production sound God Eric Vazquez: up and coming jazz Saxophonist. Matt Fredericy: Solo author of multiple albums. ... And the artists then began to flock like birds to a feather. Surely enough people to write some beautiful music. These artists came together as the first incarnation of The Whisper Project, with many more to come. Music week hadnt even started and he knew it was going to be a huge success. But how would we record it in one week? how would we get the funds? Well a man like Mike doesnt stress, goes with the flow and finds solutions not by overthinking, not by over working, but by dreaming And this is when he developed the idea for the Masquerade Ball. These artists would come together for a week, write the music and then at the end of the week they would host a HUGE event... a show... no, an experience, and use the donations from the evening to fund the recording of the album. And to make it even more exciting, he was going to bring in director Tim Hale in to film the whole thing. finally the world would learn the lessons he learned from the lake, how simple it can be just to Whisper To Be Heard Written By: Annastacia Monroe