PERFORMANCE

2017–2018 held the Grand Finale of The Ringling International Arts Festival. It was a year of dynamic encounters and an exploration of world music through the innovative programming of New Stages.

The final Ringling International Arts Festival presented twenty-five performances of seven stage productions over four days. Programming expanded throughout The Ringling campus extending out beyond the traditional theater venues and featuring artists that were both local and from around the globe. The Ringling Circus Museum hosted Monica Bill Barnes & Company performing Happy Hour and Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour’s White Rabbit Red Rabbit Italy’s eVenti Verticali performed WANTED in the Asian Pavilion Courtyard, while the Turrell Skyspace and the Huntington Gallery of the Museum of Art were enlivened with contemporary music performed by local ensemblenewSRQ. The Historic Asolo Theater continued as the nucleus of the festival hosting a vibrant array of inventive artists such as Volker Gerling, who presented his intimate, yet broadly-revealing, “thumb cinema.” Sarasota native James McGinn presented the audience with Ing an Die an operatic piece that confronted audiences with a restrained performativity of post-modernism, ballet and contemporary dance. From Zimbabwe came Nobuntu, the acclaimed a-cappella quintet with a program featuring Zimbabwean folksongs, Afro Jazz, and Gospel. Nobuntu transcended racial, tribal, and religious boundaries and brought Ringling audiences to their feet.

After RIAF closed, our Art of Performance season continued with New Stages: A World of Music, a series of global music featuring ensembles from Europe, South America, and the US. Hailing from Sweden, Awake Love Orchestra made their US debut at The Ringling in November, presenting their unique fusion of music. Somi, a singer/songwriter, who calls Harlem’s vibrant immigrant community of “Little Africa” home, performed Petite Afrique a song cycle inspired by her experiences as a first generation American.

The world premiere of Circus: Wandering City by the esteemed string quartet, ETHEL was received with great acclaim while Chucho Valdés, the Grammy award winning Cuban pianist did not fail to please as he drew cheers from audiences that included many from the Latin community. In Bird’s Eye View, the two-time Grammy winning Turtle Island Quartet, paid homage to the visionary brilliance of jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker. The series concluded with I 25 Giri, a brilliantly talented middle-school choral ensemble from Montebelluna, Treviso—just minutes from the village of Asolo, Italy.

A final tabulation: more than 50 guest artists from eight nations were presented in thirteen genre-defying productions. Additionally, performances on screen and on stage were held in conjunction with exhibitions, such as Toni Dove: Embodied Machines, National Theatre Live, The Royal Ballet and Artist Series of Sarasota throughout the year. Furthermore, in conjunction with Ringling Underground a series of performances were curated featuring local spoken word artist Cedric Hammed who lead spontaneous poetry performances. Makoto Hirano and Danielle Gatto presented their latest Booth, Phone Booth, which allowed participants to “phone” anyone alive/ dead/fictitious using an old phone receiver. College students interpreted the theme of the visual art exhibition Dangerous Women through dance as an homage to the paintings and etchings of the daring women that traveled from our galleries to the Frost Museum of Art in Miami. In total, over 150 performances of 25 productions were staged throughout the year.