www.sarasotacontemporarydance.org
SARASOTA CONTEMPORARY DANCE’S 12 SEASON IS REACHING NEW HEIGHTS WITH A LIVE MUSIC PRODUCTION KICKOFF TO PIAZZOLLA
Who would have known we had a legendary principal harpist in our neighborhood? SCD found her at an afternoon lunch at Lolita Tartine, where our Artistic Director Leymis Bolaños Wilmott can often be found. Lolita Tartine is a French restaurant that shares the alley next to SCD’s soon-to-be home in the Rosemary District. It is at this charming French bistro, two years earlier, that a seed was planted for the upcoming collaboration. Since that initial meeting the collaboration has explored various possibilities from a solo performance, to an expansion working with other musicians and compositions. The lunch dates began before Artistic Director, Leymis Bolaños Wilmott’s daughter, Valda, was even born. These days Valda tags along to the meetings, now a crawling one year old. Ann Hobson Pilot and Leymis Bolaños Wilmott have been putting their finishing touches on a collaboration they have perfectly balanced with a company of 5 dancers and 3 musicians; enough to get a party started, while also providing the audience an intimate journey to the sounds of Astor Pantaleon Piazzolla.
The season kickoff is on Thursday October 12, 2017 with four performances through Sunday October 15, 2017. This show is choreographed and directed by Bolaños Wilmott, who recently was featured on the cover of Scene Magazine Arts & Cultural Issue Ladies of the Arts. The highly anticipated collaboration of Bolaños Wilmott with legendary principal harpist Ann Hobson Pilot, who is joined by violinist Tai Murray, and bandoneon Rodolfo Zanetti – is a performance inspired by the music of Astor Pantaleon Piazzolla, the world’s foremost composer of tango music. This production, however, will not be a tango show, but rather a unique spin on this famous artist, both musically and choreographically.
“For a choreographer, Piazzolla music is rich in texture and soulful, allowing us a whole new world of interpretation to some of Piazzolla’s most popular works. In the making of this production, I realized early on that once the dancers came on stage, I never wanted them to come off” said Bolaños Wilmott.
“This production could not be possible without the musical force of three world class renowned musicians. I am humbled and honored to be working with such skilled and dynamic musicians in their individual crafts,” contunued Bolaños Wilmott. “It was Ann Hobson Pilot who has pulled the trio of musicians together. Working with Ann; an icon, a trailblazer, a world shaker, and someone who inspires me is surreal. She paved the way for women like myself to have a place in the performing arts. I am beyond grateful for this experience.”
SCD + Piazzolla October 12-15, 2017
All performances will be held at the Jane B. Cook Theater at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts
7:30 Thursday-Saturday
2 p.m. on Sunday.
Season Subscription or Single Tickets: 941.359.0099 or www.sarasotacontemporarydance.org
ABOUT THE MUSICIANS:
Ann Hobson Pilot – Principal Harpist
After 40 years with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, legendary principal harpist Ann Hobson Pilot, retired at the end of the Tanglewood 2009 season. Now that she has retired from the faculties of the New England Conservatory of Music and Boston University, she will be affiliated with the State College of Florida, in addition to the Tanglewood Music Center and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute.
Ann Hobson Pilot is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music under Alice Chalifoux. She became principal harp of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1980, having joined the BSO in 1969 as assistant principal harp and principal with the Boston Pops. Before that she was substitute second harp with the Pittsburgh Symphony and principal harp of the Washington National Symphony.
Ms. Pilot has had an extensive solo career, performing with many American orchestras, as well as with orchestras in Europe, Haiti, New Zealand, and South Africa. She has several CDs available on the Boston Records label, as well as on the Koch International and Denouement labels. In September 1999 she traveled to London to record, with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Harp Concerto by the young American composer Kevin Kaska, a work that she commissioned. The 2013 season brought the release of her new CD – music of the Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla, for harp, violin and bandoneon, with Lucia Lin, violinist with the Boston Symphony and the Muir String Quartet, and bandoneonist, JP Jofre.
In 1997 she traveled to South Africa to record a video documentary, “A Musical Journey”, sponsored by the Museum of Afro-American History and WGBH. The film aired nationwide on PBS for three years. While there she performed with the National Symphony of Johannesburg and visited the San people of Namibia. Producer Susan Dangel has recently completed a new half-hour documentary that tells the story of her life in music, “A Harpist’s Legacy, Ann Hobson Pilot and the Sound of Change”. It has aired on PBS stations nationwide.
In May of 2010, Ms. Pilot was the recipient of an honorary Doctor of Music degree from Tufts University. She has received numerous awards: the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Cleveland Institute of Music in 1993 and again in 2010, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Boston Musicians Association in 2010, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Talent Development League of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in January of 2014.
She was awarded an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Bridgewater State College in 1988. Her most recent award is the “Gold Baton”, which was presented to her in June of 2017 by the League of American Orchestras. “For over 50 years, Ann Hobson Pilot has been a trailblazer in the world of orchestras and classical music,” said Jesse Rosen, League of American Orchestras President and CEO. “From her earliest years, she has been a compelling musical presence and an inspiration to colleagues, students, and audiences.”
Tai Murray – Violin
An inspiring talent with a silky and sweet tone from even the highest registers of her instrument, impeccable intonation, dexterity, subtlety yet always vigorous and dramatic, the well-schooled and hugely musical Tai Murray has become an essential personality in today’s classical musical world.
A former BBC young generation artist, member of the Marlboro Festival and of Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Society, she gave her London Proms Debut during the summer of 2016 with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and Thomas Sondergard. Living between New York and Berlin, Tai has been heard on stages such as the Barbican, Queen Elizabeth and London Royal Albert Hall, aside orchestras such as Chicago Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Manchester BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic.
In Germany, she has been invited by the Philharmonic Staatsorchester of Mainz, the Göttinger Symphonie Orchester and Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, and has toured with the Brandenburger Symphoniker and the Niederrheinische Sinfoniker. Tai Murray’s critically acclaimed debut recording for harmonia mundi of Ysaye’s six sonatas for solo violin was released in February 2012. Her second recording with works by American Composers of the 20th was released in November 2013 by the Berlin-based label eaSonus, and her third disc with Bernstein’s Serenade in 2014 by the French label mirare.
Rodolfo Zanetti – Bandoneon
A native of Argentina, Rodolfo Zanetti plays the bandoneon, a type of concertina particularly popular in that country and an essential instrument in most tango ensembles. Dedicated to playing tango from an early age, he joined the Mancifesta Orchestra and Tango & Punto before co-founding the Quintet Bandó, with which he made well-received tours to Washington, Chicago and New York.
Under the auspices of the Astor Piazzolla Foundation, in 2003 Zanetti directed Maria de Buenos Aires, the masterpiece of Astor Piazzolla and Horacio Ferrer. He performed as bandoneon soloist with the Choir of the National University of Cuyo (U.N.C. – Mendoza) and with the Coro de Jóvenes de la Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. In 2009 he founded El Despunte Tango Club, a traditional tango trío. In 2013 he performed as soloist in the very international wine event of Mendoza, the Fiesta Nacional de la Vendimia.
In the United States, Zanetti has performed as soloist with the Pan American Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Lisner Auditorium of George Washington University, the Embassy of Argentina, the Organization of American States and other notable venues. In New York he performed as soloist at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and Carnegie Hall.
This year he won the first prize as a bandoneonist at the “Che Bandoneón International Competition” awarded by the Argentine Tango Society at the Stowe Music Tango Festival in Vermont, USA.
Rodolfo Zanetti studied with Jorge Puebla Hilario and Alberto Iribarne on bandoneon, continuing his studies in piano with masters Monica Rizzo and Roberto Urbay at the Faculty of Arts of the National University of Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina.
About Sarasota Contemporary Dance
Sarasota Contemporary Dance was formed in 2002 as Fuzión Dance Artists, Sarasota’s first contemporary dance company, by Co-Founders Leymis Bolaños Wilmot and Rachael Inman. Now approaching its 12th season, the company was renamed in 2015, and continues to bring dance to the community through eclectic performances and educational programming, while collaborating with artists and community groups to enrich the human experience.
