2017-2018 Art of Performance

NEW STAGES 2017-2018 A WORLD OF MUSIC

AWAKE LOVE ORCHESTRA Awake Love Orchestra invites you on a musical journey that transports you from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, to Eastern Europe and into contemporary American music. Their unique sound has been inspired by the many places the ensemble visited, working with different companies and different musical styles around the world including, Teater Slàva in Sweden, Teatr Pieśń Kozła (Song of the Goat theatre) in Poland and Compagnie du Hanneton in France.

HANNA BJÖRCK Vocals/Cello MARIA SENDOW Vocals CHRISTOFFER ROGERSON Vocals/Guitar/Percussion CHRISTOPHER SIVERTSEN Vocals/Percussion JONAS FÄRNLÖF Bass/Percussion/Rap/Keyboard

NOVEMBER 10 –11, 2017 HISTORIC ASOLO THEATER / THE RINGLING / SARASOTA, FLORIDA Awake Projects is an international, multidisciplinary ensemble of performers with offices in Västerås, Sweden and London, United Kingdom. Presented by Boat Rocker Entertainment.

Photo courtesy of the artist

THANK YOU TO OUR 2017 SPONSORS

Tonight’s performance will include selections from the following.

All musical arrangements by Awake Love Orchestra.

Bogoroditse Devo

by Sergei Rachmaninoff

DIRECTOR Publix Super Markets Charities

Com Aqua Linda Catalan folk song Hey Ya!

by André Benjamin

PATRON Lucia and Steven Almquist Kathy and Michael Bush Cumberland Advisors Huisking Family Fund of Community Foundation of Sarasota County Icard, Merrill, Cullis, Timm, Furen & Ginsburg, P.A. Macy’s Dick and Betty Nimtz Charlotte and Charles Perret Stephen and Judith Shank SunTrust Private Wealth Management Willis A. Smith Construction ASSOCIATE BLVD Sarasota Daniel Denton and Ramses Serrano Leon and Marge Ellin CONTRIBUTOR Dr. Susan M. Brainerd and Alan R. Quinby

Come Together

by John Lennon/Paul McCartney Tourdion (Quand Je Bois Du Vin Clairet) French traditional song Seio Sabio Gascon folk song Jonas’ Rap

by Jonas Färnlöf Medley of Traditional Mediterranean Music Olaido Traditional Georgian song Blagoslovi, Dushe Moya Gospoda

by Sergei Rachmaninoff Priidite, Poklonimsya

by Sergei Rachmaninoff More Sokol Pie Macedonian traditional song

HAMPTON INN & SUITES SARASOTA-BRADENTON AIRPORT

WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK OUR HOSPITALITY SPONSORS Hampton Inn and Suites, Sarasota/Bradenton Airport Hyatt Place, Sarasota/Bradenton Airport

WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK OUR MEDIA SPONSORS Sarasota Magazine SRQ Media WUSF Public Media

Support for the Art of Our Time, including the Art of Performance, was provided in part by Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax revenues. Additional support was provided by The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art Foundation.

Det For Två Vita Duvor Scandinavian traditional song Pump It

by William Adams, Allan Pineda, Stacy Ferguson, Nicholas Roubanis, Thomas Van Mussen* Misirlou Traditional Greek song Amman Traditional Greek song Jam Dam Traditional Polish song Photo courtesy of the artist

NEW STAGES A WORLD OF MUSIC

TICKETS $30 / $27 for Members 941.360.7399 ringling.org

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ETHEL: CIRCUS—WANDERING CITY USA JAN 26 – 27, 7:30 PM Multi-media performance program inspired by the heroes of the Big Top.

Photo by Erin Patrice O’Brien

SOMI USA/LITTLE AFRICA FEB 16 – 17, 7:30 PM A musical celebraton of Harlem’s Little Africa.

Photo by Robert Allen Mayer

CHUCHO VALDÉS CUBA MAR 2 – 3, 7:30 PM A key figure in the evolution of Afro-Cuban jazz for the past 50 years.

Photo by Francis Vernhet

TURTLE ISLAND: BIRD’S EYE VIEW USA MAR 23 – 24, 7:30 PM ®

GRAMMY winning quartet pays homage to the incandescent visionary brilliance of jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker.

Photo by Jati Lindsay

NEW STAGES 2017-2018 A WORLD OF MUSIC

CHUCHO VALDÉS MAR 2–3, 2018 HISTORIC ASOLO THEATER

SPONSORS DAN DENTON and RAMSES SERRANO

Photo by Francis Vernhet

THE RINGLING SARASOTA, FLORIDA

THANK YOU TO OUR 2017–2018 SPONSORS

DIRECTOR Publix Super Markets Charities

PATRON Lucia and Steven Almquist Kathy and Michael Bush Cumberland Advisors Huisking Family Fund of Community Foundation of Sarasota County Icard, Merrill, Cullis, Timm, Furen & Ginsburg, P.A. Macy’s Dick and Betty Nimtz Charlotte and Charles Perret Stephen and Judith Shank SunTrust Private Wealth Management Willis A. Smith Construction ASSOCIATE BLVD Sarasota Daniel Denton and Ramses Serrano Leon and Marge Ellin CONTRIBUTOR Dr. Susan M. Brainerd and Alan R. Quinby

HAMPTON INN & SUITES SARASOTA-BRADENTON AIRPORT

WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK OUR HOSPITALITY SPONSORS Hampton Inn and Suites, Sarasota/Bradenton Airport Hyatt Place, Sarasota/Bradenton Airport

WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK OUR MEDIA SPONSORS Sarasota Magazine SRQ Media WUSF Public Media

Support for the Art of Our Time, including the Art of Performance, was provided in part by Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax revenues. Additional support was provided by The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art Foundation.

Photo by Francis Vernhet

DIONISIO JESÚS “CHUCHO” VALDÉS RODRÍGUEZ, was born in a musical family in Cuba, in 1941. His first teacher was his father, the pianist, composer and bandleader Ramón “Bebo” Valdés. By age 3, he was playing melodies he heard on the radio, and at 5 he began lessons on piano. His education continued at the Conservatorio Municipal de Música de la Habana, from which he graduated at 14. A year later, he formed his first jazz trio and in 1959 he debuted with the orchestra Sabor de Cuba, directed by his father.

Chucho is perhaps best known as the founder, pianist, and main composer for the landmark ensemble in Cuban music: Irakere, playing a mix of jazz, rock, classical, and traditional Afro-Cuban music. The group was discovered by Dizzy Gillespie in 1977, and that same year debuted as “surprise guests” at Carnegie Hall for the Newport Jazz Festival.

In 1998, having won two GRAMMYS®, Chucho launched a parallel career as a solo player and small-group leader. A fruitful period followed, with albums such as Solo Piano (Blue Note, 1991), Solo: Live in New York (Blue Note, 2001), and New Conceptions (Blue Note, 2003), as well as quartet recordings such as Bele Bele en La Habana (Blue Note, 1998), Briyumba Palo Congo (Blue Note, 1999) and Live at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note, 2000), which won a GRAMMY® for Best Latin Jazz Album.

Now focused on his solo career, Chucho won GRAMMYS® for Juntos Para Siempre (Calle 54, 2007), the duet recording with his father, Bebo; and for Chucho’s Steps (Comanche, 2010), which introduced his new group, the Afro-Cuban Messengers.

NEW STAGES A WORLD OF MUSIC

TICKETS $30 / $27 for Members 941.360.7399 ringling.org

Photo by Jati Lindsay

TURTLE ISLAND: BIRD’S EYE VIEW USA MAR 23 – 24, 7:30 PM In this high flying program, the two-time GRAMMY® winning Turtle Island Quartet, pays homage to the incandescent visionary brilliance of jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker. The genius of his improvisations almost single handedly catapulted jazz from pop into art, indelibly altering the musical landscape of America.

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Photo by Zach Gross

ETHEL & THE RINGLING PRESENT THE WORLD PREMIERE OF

HISTORIC ASOLO THE ATER | JANUARY 26 – 27, 2018

THANK YOU TO OUR 2017–2018 SPONSORS

DIRECTOR

Publix Super Markets Charities

PATRON

Lucia and Steven Almquist Kathy and Michael Bush Cumberland Advisors Huisking Family Fund of Community Foundation of Sarasota County Icard, Merrill, Cullis, Timm, Furen & Ginsburg, P.A. Macy’s Dick and Betty Nimtz Charlotte and Charles Perret Sarasota Manatee Originals Stephen and Judith Shank SunTrust Private Wealth Management Willis A. Smith Construction ASSOCIATE

BLVD Sarasota Daniel Denton and Ramses Serrano Leon and Marge Ellin CONTRIBUTOR

Dr. Susan M. Brainerd and Alan R. Quinby

WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK OUR HOSPITALITY SPONSORS

Hampton Inn and Suites, Sarasota/Bradenton Airport Hyatt Place, Sarasota/Bradenton Airport

HAMPTON INN & SUITES SARASOTA-BRADENTON AIRPORT

WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK OUR MEDIA SPONSORS

SRQ Media Group Sarasota Magazine WUSF Public Media

THANK YOU TO THE FOLLOWING ORGANIZATIONS FOR THEIR SUPPORT OF ART OF PERFORMANCE

Gold Coast Eagle Distributing

Muse at The Ringling / Tableseide

Support for the Art of Our Time, including the Art of Performance, was provided in part by Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax revenues. Additional support was provided by The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art Foundation.

Photo by Oona Curley

WORLD PREMIERE

ETHEL, in collaboration with The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, presents

JAN 26 – 27, 2018 Historic Asolo Theater

Circus: Wandering City was co-commissioned by The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art and Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM)

COMPOSED AND PERFORMED BY THE MEMBERS OF ETHEL RALPH FARRIS VIOLA KIP JONES VIOLIN DOROTHY LAWSON CELLO CORIN LEE VIOLIN GRANT MCDONALD DIRECTOR ETHEL MUSIC SUPERVISION AND DIRECTION JOHN NARUN PROJECTION DESIGN JASON ARDIZZONE-WEST SCENIC DESIGN BETH GOLDENBERG COSTUME DESIGN OONA CURLEY LIGHTING DESIGN STOWE NELSON SOUND DESIGN KAREN JENKINS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER JENNEY SHAMASH PRODUCER

SPONSORED BY

Dr. Susan Brainerd and Alan R. Quinby Daniel Denton and Ramses Serrano Leon and Marge Ellin Charlotte and Charles Perret

KELLY SHAFFER ALLEN PRODUCTION & STAGE MANAGER SADIE ALISA ADVANCING PRODUCTION MANAGER SARAH STOLNACK ASSISTANT LIGHTING DESIGNER CONNOR MARTIN AUDIO/VIDEO TECHNICIAN ETHEL endorses the AVID family of software solutions and Alclair in-ear monitors.

Cello harness designed by Tom Kirchner and Eddie Caccavale.

FROM THE CURATOR

To fully appreciate the seemingly disparate facets of The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, it’s helpful to know that—in addition to being The Ringling’s first Executive Director—A. Everett Austin Jr. was also a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians. “Chick”—as he was known in the world of art—was a showman, adept in the skills of sleight of hand and a master manipulator of the smoke and mirrors of performance. He made no distinction between the artistry of old masters in a museum and the artistry of performers in an arena or onstage. In Chick’s eyes, it was all magic. So to an institution filled with the splendors of European paintings and sculpture, he added a Circus Museum and an 18th-century Italian theater. I like to think of it as the world’s only magical, three-ring museum of art—a place destined by its history to inspire and stage the world premiere of Circus: Wandering City.

Circus: Wandering City is triumph of imagination— informed with a generosity of spirit and powered with a plenitude of reverence and respect heard, seen, and felt in every passionately nuanced composition and brilliantly realized video. In Seat47C, by Corin Lee, the spectacle, magnitude, and energy of the circus unfolds before your eyes. The music of the Side Show Talker is captured with humor and wit in Grifters by Kip Jones.

Dorothy Lawson pays a tribute Sweet and Strong to the ladies of the high wire who, like herself, evoke beauty from the tension of tautly pulled strings. And the very heartbeat of the circus’s immortal soul pulses through the measures of Ralph Farris’s Out of the Ashes.

These are but four of the new works performed in the company of powerfully evocative imagery created by Grant McDonald and his team of fellow artists.

So tonight we have classically-trained musicians, inspired by circus performers to collaborate with video artists and museum archivists to create and perform a new work of 21st-century art before the portrait of a 15th-century Cypriot Queen in an 18th-century Italian theater. It could only happen at Chick Austin’s Ringling— and I like to think that he would be proud. I know that I am.

Dwight Currie Curator of Performance, The Ringling

Pavel Tchelitchew (American, born in Russia, 1898-1957), Ring Master (Mr. Austin), Paper Ball, Hartford Festival, 1936. The Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art.

SPECIAL THANKS TO MY COLLEAGUES HISTORIC ASOLO THEATER

Aaron Muhl

Managing Director

Michael Kohlmann

Guest Artist Manager

Sonja Shea

Project Coordinator THE ARCHIVES OF THE RINGLING

Deborah Walk

Tibbals Curator of Circus

Jennifer Lemmer-Posey Associate Curator

“The function of a museum is more than merely showing pictures.

The museum is the place to integrate the arts and bring them alive.”

–A. Everett Austin Jr., First Director of The Ringling / 1949

Ron Levere

Digital Manager

Heidi Connor Archivist

Heidi Taylor

Rights and Reproductions

FROM THE ARTISTS

Good evening, and thank you so much for joining us! We offer you this world premiere performance, inspired by The Ringling Museum’s expansive archives and interviews, as a tribute to the remarkable inhabitants of a world with which we’ve fallen in love.

Our production began (unwittingly) with a shutter click many decades ago, snaked its way through years of innovation and perspiration, and, many decades and miles later, gifted us with a creative gold mine. When The Ringling Museum’s Dwight Currie approached us with the idea of this commission to create an experience of original music and images with the Museum’s exceptional archives as its basis, we could barely contain our joy and excitement. What a rich and spectacular world! What wonder, what beauty!

Archival images revealed stories to us, interviews enlightened and delighted, and in the end, we discovered a process of collaborating with Circus history and legend, motivated by the Museum’s magnificent resources. Some of our musical compositions are images themselves, and some are responses to Ringling archive pieces. All were sparked by the Circus’s extraordinary people who embodied the stuff of dreams—to fly; to move mountains; to dance on air; to defy death. Their stories inspired us to create a work that celebrates the anticipation, sweat, fortitude, joy and transcendence that characterizes the lives under the Big Top. Of course, the Circus has never been free from scrutiny, perhaps most notoriously for the historic use of animals in performances. Our inclusion of this aspect of Circus in this evening’s imagery is not meant as a commentary on the subject, but rather an acknowledgement and awareness of that element of the Circus’s immense scope.

It is impossible to touch Circus, its grandeur and nobility, without being transformed in some fundamental way. As you’ll soon hear from Circus legend Dolly Jacobs, we too believe in our heart of hearts that the Circus will never die. This night of music and celebration is our attempt at ensuring that.

The amazing humans you’ll see projected here revealed to the world a trailblazing community that expressed itself through daring spectacle, remarkable effort, and seemingly super-human skill. The family that is Circus shows us that our differences are beautiful and to be celebrated, that strength and grace are not mutually exclusive, that human limitations can be overcome.

The full breadth of human love, transcendence, and positive expression that is inherently present in every aspect of the Circus could never be encapsulated in one night. The images we’ve selected are but a few of our favorites, inspired by and in honor of the great Circus tradition. We hope you’ll fall for them as well.

Finally, just like the Circus, there is a whole family who came together to build the show you see today – an entire village behind the scenes! We could not have done it without them, and we extend our thanks and eternal gratitude to our extraordinary design and production team.

And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, we give you…

Circus: Wandering City!

ETHEL and Grant McDonald

Photo by Zach Gross

CIRCUS: WANDERING CITY WORLD PREMIERE PROGRAM • JANUARY 26-27, 2018 PERFORMED WITHOUT INTERMISSION A WONDROUS SPACE 3BWE REDNOSOLOGY SEAT 47C CANVAS AND SILK SWEET AND STRONG NO NET THE BREAKAWAY AUGUSTE & THE TRAMP JOEY FINK CLOWNSITION GRIFTERS

DOROTHY LAWSON KIP JONES KIP JONES (Soloist) CORIN LEE RALPH FARRIS DOROTHY LAWSON (Soloist) DOROTHY LAWSON RALPH FARRIS RALPH FARRIS (Soloist) RALPH FARRIS DOROTHY LAWSON KIP JONES

THE PYRAMID

DOROTHY LAWSON

ON THE EDGE

CORIN LEE

OUT OF THE ASHES, PARTS ONE & TWO A MOMENT IN THIS SHOW WALTZ TUMBLERS CENTER RING (MOJO PERPETUO) MOMENT OF TRUTH

RALPH FARRIS KIP JONES DOROTHY LAWSON KIP JONES RALPH FARRIS | CORIN LEE (Soloist) DOROTHY LAWSON

MEMORIES OF LIFE IN THE CIRCUS The interviews seen in Circus: Wandering City are from The Ringling’s onstage oral history program, Collecting Recollections. Launched in 2012, the program has captured more than 40 hours of priceless memories—freely shared by the legendary artists of Sarasota’s famed circus community. Featured in tonight’s performance are: NORMA FOX began her circus career at the age of 13 in her native Denmark and went on to become the internationally renowned trapeze artist, La Norma. Her artistry is forever preserved in Cecil B. DeMille’s Oscar-winning film, The Greatest Show on Earth, in which she performs as Betty Hutton’s stunt double.

MARGIE GEIGER was performing in the corps de ballet at Radio City Music Hall when she learned the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus was hiring dancers. She auditioned and was soon rehearsing at Winter Quarters in Sarasota, Florida. She went on to become an aerialist with the Great Wallendas.

WARD HALL ran away to join the circus when he was 14 years old; by time he was 21, he was the proprietor of his own sideshow. Now, after more than 70 years in “the business”—performing coast-to-coast and around the world­—he remains the undisputed King of the Sideshow (with plans to retire when he reaches 100.)

DOLLY JACOBS was born to parents who performed with the Ringling show (her father, the legendary Lou Jacobs), and Dolly herself would eventually earn the title, “Queen of the Air.” She has won the Dame du Cirque and Clown d’Argent in Monaco, and is the first circus artist to receive the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship.

JACKIE LECLAIRE was but a one-year-old when he first appeared with his parents in the 1929 edition of the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He went on to become both an aerialist and a clown (doubling for Cornell Wilde in The Greatest Show on Earth). He is Sarasota’s “Ambassador of Mirth.”

PEDRO REIS began circus training in his native South Africa at the age of 12 and went on to become one of the great aerialists of his generation. In 1994 he partnered with Dolly Jacobs to create their fabled aerial pas de deux. The duo would eventually marry and create Sarasota’s renowned Circus Arts Conservatory.

VICTORIA CRISTIANI ROSSI, of the fabled Cristiani Circus family, performed under the big top until the age of 19, when she was hurled from the trunk of an elephant. As an eyewitness to a world now “nowhere to be found,” she wrote her memoir, Spangles, Elephants, Violets, & Me.

ETHEL, left to right: Dorothy Lawson, cello Kip Jones, violin Ralph Farris, viola Corin Lee, violin Photo by Matthew Murphy

ETHEL

was established in New York City in 1998, quickly earning a reputation as one of America’s most adventurous string quartets—heirs to the likes of the Kronos Quartet and Soldier String Quartet, and part of a generation of young artists blending uptown, conservatory musicianship with downtown genre-crossing—by playing with the intensity and accoutrements of a rock band. The New York Times has described them as “indefatigable and eclectic,” and The New Yorker has deemed them “vital and brilliant.” Nearly two decades into their singular career, ETHEL has in turn become seminal in its own right, a pathbreaker for countless new genre-spanning ensembles, and a prolific commissioner of new music.

At the heart of ETHEL is a collaborative ethos—a quest for a common creative expression that is forged in the celebration of community. The quartet creates and tours rich, often multimedia, productions including the eveninglength ETHEL’s Documerica, inspired by the tens of thousands of images shot as part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s decade-long Project Documerica, launched in 1971; The River, a collaboration with Taos Pueblo flutist Robert Mirabal (album released June 2016); the introspective Grace, featuring ETHEL’s arrangements of music by Ennio Morricone and Jeff Buckley; and Blue Dress, which pays homage to women making their musical mark on the 21st century.

ETHEL has collaborated with artists including David Byrne, Bang on a Can All Stars, Kaki King, Todd Rundgren, Joe Jackson, Ursula Oppens, Juana Molina, Tom Verlaine, STEW, Andrew Bird, Thomas Dolby, Jeff Peterson, Laurence Hobgood, Jake Shimabukuro, and Vijay Iyer.

ETHEL’s self-titled debut album was a Billboard “Best Recording of ’03.” Light ranked #3 on Amazon.com’s “Best

of ’06.” Oshtali: Music for String Quartet, ’10, is the first commercial recording of American Indian student works, and Heavy, ’12, was a Q-2 “Album of the Week.” The recording of ETHEL’s Documerica, ’15, was featured by The New York Times’ Press Play and on iTunes’ classical front page. The River with guest artist Robert Mirabal debuted in 2016, and was nominated for a NAMMY award.

ETHEL has appeared as a guest artist on over a dozen music labels, to include: Laurence Hobgood’s tesseterra (label TBD, 2017); The Paha Sapa Give-Back by Jerome Kitzke (Innova, 2014); Cold Blue Two (Cold Blue Music, 2012); Glow by Kaki King (Velour Recordings, 2012); Blue Moth by Anna Clyne (Tzadik, 2012); The Duke by Joe Jackson (Razor & Tie, 2012); A Map of the Floating City by Thomas Dolby (Redeye Label, 2011); John the Revelator: A Mass for Six Voices by Phil Kline (Cantaloupe Music, 2008) with vocal group Lionheart; and the Grammy Awardwinning, Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings the Music of Coltrane and Hartman (Concord Records, 2009).

The quartet regularly performs works by all of the members of the ensemble, alongside music by Philip Glass, Julia Wolfe, John King, Phil Kline, David Lang, Dan Friel, John Zorn, Missy Mazzoli, Anna Clyne, Steve Reich, Don Byron, Aleksandra Vrebalov, Marcelo Zarvos, Pamela Z, Evan Ziporyn and Terry Riley. Over the past five years, ETHEL has premiered 150+ new works, many of them commissioned by the quartet.

ETHEL is the Resident Ensemble at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Balcony Bar and Ensemble-in-Residence at Denison University, where the quartet members were awarded honorary doctorates during the 2017 commencement exercises. www.ethelcentral.org.

Representation: Baylin Arist Management / 267.888.3750 / baylinartists.com

THE COMPANY RALPH FARRIS (Artistic Director, Viola) is a founding member of ETHEL. He is a Grammy-nominated arranger, an original Broadway orchestra member of The Lion King and the former musical director for The Who’s Roger Daltrey. He has collaborated with Leonard Bernstein, Martin Scorsese, Depeche Mode, Natalie Merchant, Harry Connick Jr., Allen Ginsberg, Yo-Yo Ma and Gorillaz. A three-time Tanglewood Fellow and a graduate of Walnut Hill School for the Arts, Ralph earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, earning the school’s William Schuman Prize. He has received composition commissions from NYU’s Aquila Theatre, flute/marimba visionaries Lawler + Fadoul, dance mavericks Monkeyhouse and Las Vegas darlings Jarrett & Raja. www.ralphfarris.com KIP JONES (Violin) is known for his ebullient and innovative solo performances in a style he describes as “experimental folk.” A modern musical troubadour, Kip has performed at scores of eclectic venues such as Ecuador’s Ministry of Economic Inclusion; Tirana’s Liceu Artistik “Jordan Misja”, two miles inside Chom Ong Tai cave in Laos; the summer homes of nomadic Mongolian herders; and platforms of most subway systems in North America. As a composer, his work has been commissioned by ensembles that include the Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra and A Far Cry. A native of Minnesota, Kip earned his degree in Violin Performance from the Berklee College of Music. www.kipjones.net DOROTHY LAWSON (Artistic Director, Cello) is a founding member of ETHEL. She has performed with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the White Oak Dance Project, Philharmonia Virtuosi, the American Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and numerous new music ensembles. Dorothy served 10 years as faculty of Joseph Fuchs’ Alfred University Summer Chamber Music Institute, and she teaches in the Preparatory Division of Mannes College at the New School in New York City. An original orchestra member of Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years, and Broadway’s The Woman in White, she is a member of acclaimed Brazilian jazz ensemble, Marcelo Zarvos +Group, and the Ron Carter Nonet. Dorothy hails from Canada.

CORIN LEE (Violin) is one of the most sought-after violinists of his generation. He has appeared on the great American stages, traditional and otherwise - from Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium to The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery; from Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center to EDC Las Vegas. Corin’s performances have been broadcast on Fox, CBS, and NBC News. His “musically marvelous” (Steve Reich) electronic arrangements have set the new standard for innovation in solo string performance. Corin received degrees from Juilliard (BM) and Yale School of Music (MM). In addition to concert work, he directs Liberated Performer, a program that guides and trains musicians to defeat performance anxiety. www. liberatedperformer.com

GRANT MCDONALD (Director) has collaborated internationally as Director or Projection Designer on dozens of concerts, theatrical productions, installations and live events. Recent collaborations include Stars on Ice (US & Canada Tours), The Official Prince Tribute (Xcel Energy Center), Esperanza Spalding’s Emily’s D+ Evolution (World Tour), Black Mountain Songs (The Barbican/BAM) and The Internet’s Ego Death (Camp Flog Gnaw). McDonald has also served as projection consultant on productions across the globe, most recently Adam Savage’s Brain Candy (World Tour), Mariah Carey’s Number One to Infinity (Caesar’s Palace residency), and Alt-J’s This is All Yours (World Tour). www.grantmcdonald.com JOHN NARUN (Projection Design) has theatre credits that include Born For This at the Arena Stage, The Secret Life of Edward Gorey at the Sheen Center, The Tallest Tree in the Forest and The Laramie Project at BAM, What I Did Last Summer at The Signature Theatre (NYC), Blueprints for Freedom at Kansas City Rep, The Darrell Hammond Project at The La Jolla Playhouse, Mughal-e-Azam at the NCPA in Mumbai, India, and The Radio City Christmas and Spring Spectaculars. His visuals have also shared the concert stage with Madonna, Ricky Martin, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Lopez, Celine Dion, Britney Spears, and The Spice Girls. John’s work has appeared on television on “The Oprah Show”, and on ABC, CBS, NBC, HBO, Fox, Discovery, E!, HGTV, and TV Guide.

His projection design work has earned him a Drama Desk Award nomination, a Henry Hewes Design Award nomination, 2 Craig Noel Award nominations, and an NYIT Award nomination.

His broadcast work earned him an Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Title Design in 2002. www.johnnarun.com JASON ARDIZZONE-WEST (Set Design) is a set designer based in Yonkers, NY. Recent designs include: Illyria, Hungry, What Did You Expect?, Women of a Certain Age (The Public Theater, with Susan Hilferty), Lana Del Rey (World Tour), 36th Marathon of One Act Plays (The Ensemble Studio Theater), Caroline, Or Change (Tantrum Theater), Bullets Over Broadway (National Tour, NETworks Presentations), Adele, Live in NYC (NBC, with Es Devlin). Current & upcoming designs include: Jesus Christ Superstar Live (NBC), Uncle Vanya (The Old Globe), One Thousand Nights & One Day (Prospect Theater), The Royale (Cleveland Playhouse), Three Wise Guys (TACT).

Jason received a Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University, College of Architecture, Art & Planning, a Masters of Fine Arts from New York University, Department of Design for Stage & Film, and is a member of USA 829. www.ardizzonewest.com BETH GOLDENBERG (Costume Design) is a New York based costume designer working in opera, theatre and multimedia performance. Design credits include include Stabat Mater, choreographed by Jessica Lang, the little match girl passion, directed by Francesca Zambello, and Macbeth directed

by Anne Bogart and co-designed with James Schuette at

the Glimmerglass Festival. Her designs have been seen at Second Stage Theatre, The New Group, Juilliard, Red Bull Theater, Ma-Yi Theatre, Lesser America, La Jolla Playhouse, Hartford Stage, Dallas Theatre Center, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Barrington Stage Co., Heartbeat Opera and On Site Opera, among others. She received an MFA from NYU/Tisch School of the Arts. www. bethgoldenbergdesign.com OONA CURLEY (Lighting Design) is a lighting and scenic designer from New York City specializing in new and devised work. She recently designed the Obie Award Winning production of Underground Railroad Game at ArsNova and for an international tour. Her work has been seen in New York (ArsNova, Atlantic Theater Co., The Cherry Lane, Joe’s Pub, JACK, La MaMa, The New Ohio, Theater for the New City, NYU/Tisch, Columbia Stages, M34 Productions), Philadelphia (The Arden Theatre, Opera Philadelphia, FringeArts, The Kimmel Center, The Bearded Ladies Cabaret, Inis Nua Theatre Co., Theater Horizon, Team Sunshine Performance Co., Shakespeare in Clark Park, anonymous bodies, Carbon Dance Theatre), and regionally (Sharon Playhouse, Brown/Trinity Rep, Gamm Theater, Chester Theatre). Oona earned her MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she received the J.S. Seidman Award for Design Excellence, the Dean’s Fellowship, and was NYU’s nominee for a Princess Grace Award. She holds a BA from Brown University, where her designs earned the Zonta Award for Theatre Arts and the Weston Award for Theatre Design. Oona is an associate artist with the Bearded Ladies Cabaret in Philadelphia. www.oonacurley.com.

STOWE NELSON (Sound Design) New York: The Wolves (LCT); Miles for Mary, The Essential Straight & Narrow, Samuel & Alasdair (Drama Desk Nom, The Mad Ones); Animal Wisdom (Bushwick Starr); Animal (Atlantic); The Skin of Our Teeth` (Theatre for a New Audience); Small Mouth Sounds (Lortel Nom, Ars Nova); Indian Summer (Playwrights Horizons); The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek, The Wayside Motor Inn (Signature). Regional Theatre: Actors Theatre of Louisville, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Hudson Valley Shakespeare.

More info: www.wingspace.com/stowe

KELLY ALLEN (Production & Stage Manager) has been a stage manager and production manager for a variety of companies and venues across many disciplines. She is based in Brooklyn where she likes to eat cookies and listen to the radio with her dog and daughter. Credits include: Lincoln Center Out of Doors and Midsummer Night Swing (2014-2017); Let the Right One In and Black Watch (Nat’l Theatre of Scotland); This Was the End (Mallory Catlett/Chocolate Factory); Beowulf: A Thousand Years of Baggage (Banana Bag & Bodice); Chekhov Lizardbrain (Pig Iron Theatre Co.); Silence! The Musical (Tesseract Theatre Co.); Brief Encounter (Kneehigh Theatre); Bellona: Destroyer of Cities (Jay Scheib); Romeo & Juliet and Euro-Asian Tour of Life & Times Episodes 1 & 2 (Nature Theater of Oklahoma); Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead (File 14 Productions).

KAREN JENKINS (Executive Producer), Executive Director and Director of Development of ETHEL’s Foundation for the Arts, was executive producer for ETHEL’s Documerica, premiered at the BAM Next Wave Festival. As an arts administrator, program developer and fundraising counsel, she has worked for the Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham Companies, The Joffrey Ballet, Bandaloop, Circle in the Square, Dance Theater of Harlem, MASS MoCA, The New Museum, New York Hall of Science, New York Studio School, Tribeca New Music Festival, and ISSUE Project Room among other organizations. Ms. Jenkins holds a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design.

JENNEY SHAMASH (Producer) is a New York based performing arts producer and manager. She has worked with several major producing organizations including Park Avenue Armory, Irish Repertory Theatre, and the Tony Award winning Signature Theatre Company. She has collaborated on productions around the United States and internationally with artists such as Peter Sellars, Bill Irwin, Taryn Simon, Monica Bill Barnes, Charles Mee, Athol Fugard, Annie Baker, Tina Landau, Sam Shepard, Martha Clarke, and Naomi Wallace. She has a degree in Theater & Dance and French from Amherst College.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Board of ETHEL’s Foundation for the Arts The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art: Dwight Currie, Deborah Walk, Michael Kohlmann, and Aaron Muhl The Hermitage Artist Retreat: Bruce Rodgers, Patricia Caswell Hudson Hall: Gary Schiro, Tambra Dillon, Sage Carter Immersive Music Project: Jesse Lewis, Kyle Pyke and Shauna Barravecchio Bindlestiff Family Cirkus: Keith Nelson and Stephanie Monseu

Alice Austin, Coco Bentley, Walt Bostian, Elizabeth Bradley, Robert L. Brashear, Hilary Chaplain, Randy Crafton, Jenna Clark Embrey, Judy Finelli, Susan Frankel, Ting He, Kathy Horejsi, Ching-chu Hu, Noelle Jones, Alison Kavey and QueBA HM, Christine LeBeau, Sharyn Lonsdale, Leonard McGill, Zach Miller, Joseph V. Melillo, Mike Morris, Michael Picton, Jason Tate, Nolan Thies, Limor Tomer, John H. Towsen, and Bill Weeden.

And of course, our brilliant interview subjects: Dolly Jacobs, Jackie LeClaire, Victoria Cristiani Rossi, Ward Hall, Pedro Reis, Margie Geiger, Norma Fox, and Herta Klauser Cuneo. Thank you, and we love you ALL! ETHEL’s Foundation for the Arts thanks the Double R, Samuels, Scherman, and Thompson Family Foundations and the New York Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts for support of Circus: Wandering City.

Photo by Robert Allen Mayer

Photo by Francis Vernhet

Photo by Jati Lindsay

NEW STAGES | A WORLD OF MUSIC TICKETS: 941.360.7399 or ringling.org HISTORIC ASOLO THEATER AT 7:30 PM, $30 / MEMBERS SAVE 10%

SOMI

CHUCHO VALDÉS

USA/LITTLE AFRICA

CUBA

FEB 16 – 17

MAR 2 – 3

Born to parents from Rwanda and Uganda, Somi is now at home in Harlem’s vibrant immigrant community of “Little Africa.” Petite Afrique: The Other Black in Harlem is a song cycle inspired by that place, its ornate traditional fabrics, Francophone bibles, palm oil and shea butter, and tribes of fast-fingered hair braiders.

Winner of five Grammy Awards and three Latin Grammy Awards, the Cuban pianist, composer, arranger and bandleader Chucho Valdés has been a key figure in the evolution of Afro-Cuban jazz for the past 50 years.

TURTLE ISLAND: BIRD’S EYE VIEW USA MAR 23 – 24 In this high flying program, the two-time GRAMMY® winning Turtle Island Quartet, pays homage to the incandescent visionary brilliance of jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker. The genius of his improvisations almost single handedly catapulted jazz from pop into art, indelibly altering the musical landscape of America.

THE CIRCUS ARTS CONSERVATORY AND THE RINGLING PRESENT

Incredible Family Entertainment AT THE HISTORIC ASOLO THEATER

JUNE 12 – JULY 28

941.360.7399 The Ringling

| 5401 Bay Shore Road, Sarasota

12

$

CHILD

TICKETS: r ingling.org

16

$

12 & UNDER

ALL TICKETS ONLY $12

TUE – FRI 11 AM & 2 PM SAT 2 PM & 5 PM ADULT

★ PREVIEW DAYS JUNE 12 – 15 ★

NEW STAGES 2017-2018 A WORLD OF MUSIC

SOMI FEB 16–17, 2018 HISTORIC ASOLO THEATER THE RINGLING SARASOTA, FLORIDA

SOMI Lead vocals TORU DODO Piano KEITH WITTY Bass LIBERTY ELLMAN Guitar OTIS BROWN III Drums

Photo by Robert Allen Mayer

THANK YOU TO OUR 2017–2018 SPONSORS

DIRECTOR Publix Super Markets Charities

PATRON Lucia and Steven Almquist Kathy and Michael Bush Cumberland Advisors Huisking Family Fund of Community Foundation of Sarasota County Icard, Merrill, Cullis, Timm, Furen & Ginsburg, P.A. Macy’s Dick and Betty Nimtz Charlotte and Charles Perret Stephen and Judith Shank SunTrust Private Wealth Management Willis A. Smith Construction ASSOCIATE BLVD Sarasota Daniel Denton and Ramses Serrano Leon and Marge Ellin CONTRIBUTOR Dr. Susan M. Brainerd and Alan R. Quinby

HAMPTON INN & SUITES SARASOTA-BRADENTON AIRPORT

WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK OUR HOSPITALITY SPONSORS Hampton Inn and Suites, Sarasota/Bradenton Airport Hyatt Place, Sarasota/Bradenton Airport

WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK OUR MEDIA SPONSORS Sarasota Magazine SRQ Media WUSF Public Media

Support for the Art of Our Time, including the Art of Performance, was provided in part by Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax revenues. Additional support was provided by The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art Foundation.

Photo by Robert Allen Mayer

ABOUT SOMI Born in Illinois, the daughter of immigrants from Uganda and Rwanda, Somi’s American experience has always been infused with the African diaspora’s richest political and artistic traditions. A longtime Harlem resident, Somi is also a true Africanist: she spent part of her youth in Africa with her parents and now, with her band, tours the continent extensively. Somi’s 2014 album, The Lagos Music Salon, which debuted at the top of US Jazz charts, was born from an 18-month “sabbatical” in Lagos, Nigeria.

As Founder of New Africa Live, a nonprofit championing her fellow African artists, Somi is working to curate a sense of community through her music.

As a TED Senior Fellow, she is merging singing and activism in a fascinating new phase of her career: “New Africa Live was about making room for our voices that might otherwise go unheard. Hopefully, Petite Afrique starts larger conversations about immigration and xenophobia and Blackness.”

ABOUT PETITE AFRIQUE Pulsing with Harlem’s rhythms and sonic ambiance, Somi’s Petite Afrique is an homage to her New York City upper-Manhattan neighborhood, and one of the Meccas of the African diaspora. In the village of Harlem, along west 116th Street from Malcolm X Boulevard to Frederick Douglass Boulevard, African immigrants build American lives. Populated predominantly by a Francophone, West African, and Muslim community, this is a strip of Harlem that locals call “Little Africa” or “Petite Afrique:” a thriving corridor of hair shops and shea butters, bistros and self-taught tailors. Many of these working class residents— immigrants-cum-citizens—are now taxi drivers zipping other New Yorkers through the city they’ve called home since the 1980s.

NEW STAGES A WORLD OF MUSIC

TICKETS $30 / $27 for Members 941.360.7399 ringling.org

|

CHUCHO VALDÉS CUBA MAR 2 – 3, 7:30 PM Winner of five GRAMMY® Awards and three Latin Grammy Awards, the Cuban pianist, composer, arranger and bandleader Chucho Valdés has been a key figure in the evolution of Afro-Cuban jazz for the past 50 years.

Photo by Francis Vernhet

TURTLE ISLAND: BIRD’S EYE VIEW USA MAR 23 – 24, 7:30 PM In this high flying program, the two-time GRAMMY® winning Turtle Island Quartet, pays homage to the incandescent visionary brilliance of jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker.

The genius of his improvisations almost single handedly catapulted jazz from pop into art, indelibly altering the musical landscape of America.

Photo by Jati Lindsay

NEW STAGES 2017-2018 A WORLD OF MUSIC

TURTLE ISLAND QUARTET

Bird’s Eye View—The Legend of Charlie Parker MAR 23–24, 2018 HISTORIC ASOLO THEATER THE RINGLING | SARASOTA, FLORIDA

ALEX HARGREAVES Violin DAVID BALAKRISHNAN Violin BENJAMIN VON GUTZEIT Viola MALCOLM PARSON Cello In this high flying program, the twotime GRAMMY® winning Turtle Island Quartet, pays homage to the incandescent visionary brilliance of jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker. The genius of his improvisations almost single handedly catapulted jazz from pop style into art music, indelibly altering the musical landscape of America.

Iconic Charlie Parker classics such as KoKo, A Night in Tunisia, and Dewey Square are juxtaposed with original responses by quartet members, and intertwined with other thematic pieces from the bebop era and beyond such as Sonny Rollins’ Airegin, Miles Ahead by Gil Evans/Miles Davis and Subconscious-Lee by Lee Konitz. Grammynominated composer David Balakrishnan contributes his newly commissioned work, Aeroelasticity: Harmonies Of Impermanence.* Turtle Island draws its primary focus and musical identity from the individual creative voices of the ensemble who are at home in folk, pop and jazz. It continues to recalibrate the foundational parameters of the traditional string quartet form, in a sense coming from the other direction. The program will be announced from the stage.

Aeroelasticity: Harmonies Of Impermanence is made possible by the Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Program, with generous funding provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Chamber Music America Endowment Fund.

SPONSORED BY

ABOUT TURTLE ISLAND QUARTET

Since its inception in 1985, the Turtle Island Quartet, has been a singular force in the creation of bold, new trends in chamber music for strings. Winner of the 2006 and 2008 GRAMMY® Awards for Best Classical Crossover category, Turtle Island fuses the classical quartet esthetic with contemporary American musical styles, and by devising a performance practice that honors both, the state of the art has inevitably been redefined. Cellist nonpareil Yo-Yo Ma has proclaimed TIQ to be “a unified voice that truly breaks new ground—authentic and passionate—a reflection of some of the most creative music-making today.”

The Quartet’s birth was the result of violinist David Balakrishnan’s brainstorming explorations and compositional vision while writing his master’s thesis at Antioch University West. The journey has taken Turtle Island through forays into folk, bluegrass, swing, be-bop, funk, R&B, new age, rock, hip-hop, as well as music of Latin America and India…a repertoire consisting of hundreds of ingenious arrangements and originals. It has included over a dozen recordings on labels such as Windham Hill, Chandos, Koch and Telarc, soundtracks for major motion pictures, TV and radio credits such as the Today Show, All Things Considered, Prairie Home Companion, and Morning Edition, feature articles in People and Newsweek magazines, and collaborations with famed artists such as clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera, vibraphonist Stefon Harris, guitar legends Leo Kottke and the Assad brothers, The Manhattan Transfer, pianists Billy Taylor, Kenny Barron, Cyrus Chestnut and Ramsey Lewis, singers Tierney Sutton and Nellie McKay, the Ying Quartet and the Parsons and Luna Negra Dance Companies.

Another unique element of Turtle Island is their revival of venerable improvisational and compositional chamber traditions that have not been explored by string players for nearly 200 years. At the time of Haydn’s apocryphal creation of the string quartet form, musicians were more akin to today’s saxophonists and keyboard masters of the jazz and pop world, i.e., improvisers, composers, and arrangers. Each Turtle Island member is accomplished in these areas of expertise.

Violinist DAVID BALAKRISHNAN, the group’s founder and ‘resident composer,’ graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in music composition and violin.

Moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, he quickly established his reputation as a talented young improvising violinist, making guest appearances with the David Grisman Quartet and jazz violin legend Stephane Grappelli, and earning a Master’s Degree in music composition at Antioch University West.

Violinist ALEX HARGREAVES is an active performer, having played on stages around the world including Austin City Limits, A Prairie Home Companion, Panama Jazz Festival, Bonnaroo, Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals, and the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, as well as venues in Europe and South Korea.

A native of New Orleans, cellist MALCOLM PARSON been hailed as “the most creative cellist of his generation”. According to GRAMMY® Award winner, Eugene Friesen, “He is that rare player with feet planted firmly in classical music and the music of our time while possessing perfect intonation, fluent technique and stylistic versatility.”

BENJAMIN VON GUTZEIT (viola), one of only a handful of true jazz violists worldwide, was born in Bochum, Germany, into a musical family. His father is a well-known music pedagogue; his mother a pianist and two of his siblings are classical string players. He began his viola studies at the age of four, starting on a very small violin that was fitted with viola strings. He received instructions from his father until age twelve when he became the student of violist Emile Cantor of the Orpheus String Quartet. Benni has performed and recorded with many great musicians including jazz violinist Mark Feldman, electronic music virtuoso Matthew Herbert, cellist Ernst Reijseger, and Saxophonist Dave Liebman.

As Turtle Island members continue to refine their skills through the development of repertory by some of today’s cutting edge composers, through performances and recordings with major symphonic ensembles, and through a determined educational commitment, the Turtle Island Quartet stakes its claim as the quintessential ‘New World’ string quartet of the 21st century.

Turtle Island Quartet Recordings: Telarc, Koch International Classics, Windham Hill, Chandos, CC&C Records, GRP, BMG Turtle Island Quartet is represented by Baylin Artists Management Inc. | baylinartists.com For more information on the Turtle Island Quartet, please visit www.turtleislandquartet.com You can also ‘friend’ the group on Facebook or follow them on Twitter @TurtleQuartet

Pictured, left to right: David Balakrishnan, Alex Hargreaves, Malcolm Parson, Benjamin von Gutzeit.

Photo by Jati-Lindsay

THANK YOU TO OUR 2017–2018 SPONSORS

DIRECTOR Publix Super Markets Charities

PATRON Lucia and Steven Almquist Kathy and Michael Bush Cumberland Advisors Huisking Family Fund of Community Foundation of Sarasota County Icard, Merrill, Cullis, Timm, Furen & Ginsburg, P.A. Macy’s Dick and Betty Nimtz Charlotte and Charles Perret Stephen and Judith Shank SunTrust Private Wealth Management Willis A. Smith Construction ASSOCIATE BLVD Sarasota Daniel Denton and Ramses Serrano Leon and Marge Ellin CONTRIBUTOR Dr. Susan M. Brainerd and Alan R. Quinby

HAMPTON INN & SUITES SARASOTA-BRADENTON AIRPORT

WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK OUR HOSPITALITY SPONSORS Hampton Inn and Suites, Sarasota/Bradenton Airport Hyatt Place, Sarasota/Bradenton Airport

WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK OUR MEDIA SPONSORS Sarasota Magazine SRQ Media WUSF Public Media

Support for the Art of Our Time, including the Art of Performance, was provided in part by Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax revenues. Additional support was provided by The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art Foundation.