Our Story

In 2006, I was walking down a street in New York’s East Village and wandered into a gift shop that carried items like Tibetan singing bowls, potted Bamboo plants, and herbal remedies with unpronounceable names. Within a few seconds, I noticed that they happened to be playing a world-premiere track from one of my albums called “Spirit of Trees,” by Alan Hovhaness. I played dumb and asked the storekeeper what the music was. She said, “It’s called Spirit of Trees. We usually have it on tape loop here because we find it puts people in the right mood to buy the things we carry – aspirational items, spiritual stuff, you know.” Her answer got me thinking.

I’ve always known that music soothes, excites, balances, and heals. When I was a kid, I almost considered music a drug – much better than aspirin because it not only affected my body, but my mind and spirit as well. However, the idea that music can inspire certain behaviors in real time made me think about how music and art could be specifically created to stimulate awareness and make real change. Having been involved in earth conservation projects for several years prior to that day in New York, it was a few more years before I was able to turn that “aha moment” into a cohesive mission.

I founded Earth at Heart in 2009 with one goal: to inspire environmental action and awareness through the arts. While our early projects were impactful, I was still searching for a keystone initiative that would combine Earth at Heart’s three main objectives: 1) to curate a collection of earth-inspired music and art, 2) to generate monetary support for science-based organizations, and 3) to facilitate worldwide participation by both artists and audiences.

Like many musicians, I had some time on my hands during the pandemic lockdown of 2020, and that’s when the idea for “FIVE MINUTES for Earth” hit me. The concept was simple: to commission a catalog of earth-inspired music, make those works available to artists and audiences around the world, and honor each verified, live performance with an Earth at Heart-sponsored donation to a worthy environmental organization. While the process of establishing the FIVE MINUTES project had many moving parts, I’ve never had a big venture fall into place more quickly. The universe must have been onboard with the mission.

I decided to start with solo music for my own instrument, the harp, for Phase One of our initiative. My record label and dream list of composers all enthusiastically got on board, and by April of 2022, our inaugural collection of FIVE MINUTES for Earth music was released. The live premieres took place in late 2022 and over the course of the subsequent year, we generated $4,000 in donations to science-based, environmental organizations and planted 400 trees. Artists and audiences were discovering our music. Our impact was real.

While performances of the Phase One collection are ongoing, FIVE MINUTES for Earth Phase Two is currently in development, with premieres and performances planned for the 2025-2026 season.

The name of the initiative, FIVE MINUTES for Earth, is both literal and figurative. Since all composers donate their works and waive their commission fees, my request is for compositions of roughly five minutes in length. In metaphorical terms, the time that we humans have to reverse environmental damage and chart a better future for our planet is about “five minutes” in the big arc of time.

Fundraising for any non-profit organization is always a challenge, but success breeds success, and our mission is strong. Words cannot express our gratitude for those who have supported Earth at Heart as we launched this big idea. We’ve got more big ideas, and we can’t wait to make them happen.

I believe many things in life happen for a reason and that sometimes opportunities conspire to be seized and fulfilled. Earth at Heart is one such opportunity, and it’s a privilege to be following each signpost as it leads the way forward in transforming music and art into environmental change.

-Yolanda Kondonassis
Founder and Director, Earth at Heart

Our Team

YOLANDA KONDONASSIS, Founder and Director

Yolanda Kondonassis is celebrated as one of the world’s leading solo harpists. Hailed as “viscerally exciting” (The Chicago Tribune) and a “brilliant and expressive player” (The Dallas Morning News), she has performed around the globe as a concerto soloist and in recital, pushing the boundaries of what listeners expect of the harp. Also a published author, speaker, professor of harp, and environmental activist, she weaves her many passions into a vibrant and multi-faceted career.

Praised by Gramophone for her “keen sense of dramatic timing and a range of colour that’s breathtaking,” Kondonassis has sold hundreds of thousands of albums and downloads worldwide and her extensive discography, released on the Telarc, Azica, New World, and Channel Classics labels, includes over twenty-five titles.

She was nominated for a 2020 Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo for her recording featuring the world premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s Harp Concerto with The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (Azica Records, 2019). Her 2008 album of music by Takemitsu and Debussy, Air (Telarc), was also nominated for a Grammy Award.

Since making her debut at age 18 with the New York Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta, Kondonassis has appeared as soloist with countless major orchestras in the United States and abroad. Other appearances include engagements at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the 92nd Street Y, and Taiwan’s National Concert Hall. She has been featured on CNN and PBS, as well as Sirius XM Radio’s Symphony Hall, NPR’s All Things Considered and Tiny Desk Concerts.

Committed to the advancement of contemporary music for the harp, Kondonassis has promoted numerous new works through her recordings, commissions, and premieres. She presented and recorded the world premiere of Bright Sheng’s Never Far Away: Concerto for Harp and Orchestra with the San Diego Symphony and most recently, she was the dedicatee and soloist in the world premiere series of Jennifer Higdon’s Harp Concerto after close collaboration with the composer. Kondonassis’ body of solo harp commissions includes works by Aaron Jay Kernis, Michael Daugherty, Chen Yi, Stephen Hartke, Takuma Itoh, Zhou Long, Donald Erb, Keith Fitch, Reena Esmail, Arturo Sandoval, and Patrick Harlin.

As an author, composer, and arranger, Kondonassis has published four books to date: The Composer’s Guide to Writing Well for the Modern Harp; On Playing the Harp, a comprehensive guide to harp technique and methodology; The Yolanda Kondonassis Collection, a compilation of her many original transcriptions, arrangements and compositions for the harp; and The Yolanda Kondonassis Christmas Collection, featuring Kondonassis’ most popular arrangements from her acclaimed disc, Dream Season: The Christmas Harp. Carl Fischer Music publishes all of her works.

Kondonassis carries her passionate artistic commitment to the cause of environmental protection and climate change. She is the founder and director of Earth at Heart, a non-profit organization devoted to inspiring earth conservation awareness and action through the arts. Her first children’s book, entitled Our House is Round: A Kid’s Book About Why Protecting Our Earth Matters, was published in 2012 by Skyhorse Publishing and praised as “the perfect children’s introduction to environmental issues” by The Environmental Defense Fund. It was licensed as a featured title by Scholastic Books, and in 2022, the book was released in an updated paperback edition under the title, My Earth, My Home.

For more information on Yolanda Kondonassis, visit www.YolandaHarp.com

KATELYN CROFT, Operations Manager

Katelyn Croft is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Harp Performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music. A frequent collaborator with regional orchestras and ensembles, she also specializes in pedagogy, Chinese traditional music, and was a 2021 Fulbright Scholar in Musicology to Taiwan.

Prior to her studies in Cleveland, Ms. Croft received a Master's Degree in Harp Performance from Carnegie Melon University and two Bachelor's Degrees, one from the Eastman School of Music in Harp Performance, and another from the University of Rochester in Chinese Studies. She holds a third degree blackbelt in Taekwondo and enjoys hiking in her free time with her puppy, Leo.

Ms. Croft joined the Earth at Heart team in 2023.

operations@earthatheart.org