February 21, 2014
Contact: Lisa Rubinstein, LDR Creative, Inc. 941-373-3803 or [email protected]
Songs at Sunset and Art after Dark at Hermitage Artist Retreat
The next beach performance at the Hermitage Artist Retreat will be Friday, February 28. The community event begins at 4:30 with an open house for the historic Hermitage House and campus tours. Songs at Sunset will start on the beach at 5:30 with visiting composer Anna Clynewho will share a recording of music she wrote at the Hermitage and give an insider’s view into the mind of a contemporary composer. Following Clyne will be Sarasota’s own Annie Morrison. This Broadway-stage star will charm us with songs and stories from her current life and work as a writer of solo plays. Sunset is at 6:30 followed by Art After Dark featuring video art by Ringling professor and Hermitage fellow Michael Wyshock who will project the art he made during his Hermitage residency. These video streams of consciousness drawings represent the world he sees in a creative, meditative state. This is a free Hermitage program, but visitors are requested to bring their own beach chairs and refreshments.
“Our beach readings have grown, not only in audience numbers, but in program offerings,” remarked Bruce Rodgers, Hermitage executive director. “We no longer limit ourselves to readings when we have the opportunity to share artists and their work. We have already been successful in featuring music on the beach and on February 28th we’ll add video projections to our repertoire. Art comes is so many different shapes and forms and we are excited to explore new ways to share the cutting edge formats being used by many different artists today.”
According to her website, London-born Anna Clyne is a composer of acoustic and electro-acoustic music, combining resonant soundscapes with propelling textures that weave, morph, and collide in dramatic explosions. Her work was described as “dazzlingly inventive” by Time Out New York, often including collaborations with cutting edge choreographers, visual artists, film-makers, and musicians worldwide.As the Chicago Symphony’s Mead Composer-in-Residence through the 2013–14 season, the orchestra has performed several of Anna’s works, including the premiere of Night Ferry in 2012 under the baton of Riccardo Muti. An avid advocate for music education, Clyne teaches composition workshops for local young composers and incarcerated youths as part of this residency, and served as the Director of the New York Youth Symphony’s award-winning program for young composers “Making Score” from 2008 to 2010. Clyne was also recently a guest composer at the 2011 Mizzou New Music Summer Festival.
Annie Morrison is an award-winning actress and singer who has starred on Broadway in Merrily We Roll Along, Lovemusik, London’s West End PEG, Off Broadway Goblin Market, Forbidden Broadway and in numerous musicals and plays at regional theaters across the country. As a singer she can be heard on more than a dozen albums. As a Playwright she has created Linda Lovely Goes To Broadway, Discourse Of A Maid, and Trevor’s Fire. Also, she has directed musicals The Secret Garden, Merrily We Roll Along, Smoke On The Mountain, Hair and participated in the creation of theater companies for persons with developmental difficulties Kaleidoscope TheaterAnd Random Play. Her Hermitage residency is part of her John Ringling Towers Fund Individual Artist Award presented by the Alliance of Arts and Culture.
Michael Wyshock creates still and moving artwork by fracturing color and using narratives to question the moral responsibility of consumers. He has received many grants and award to support his work that has been exhibited around the country and in other parts of the world including Paris, Switzerland, Ireland and Germany, to name just a few. His current home is Sarasota where he teaches art at Ringling College.
“Join us for another creative evening of art,” continued Rodgers. “The program will be fun, entertaining and perhaps even challenging. We look forward to seeing you there.”
All beach programming is subject to weather permitting. Check the website for any updates. For more information on the Hermitage Artist Retreat, visit the website www.HermitageArtistRetreat.org or call 941-475-2098.
