“Music Around the World” will be presented outside under the banyan trees at The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Thursday, April 21 at 6pm.
March 24, 2022 (Sarasota County, Florida) — Award-winning vocalist, composer, and educator Kavita Shah will present a free Hermitage community program, “Music Around the World,” at The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art on Thursday, April 21 at 6pm. Shah will share stripped-down selections from her beautiful and transporting works set against the beautiful banyan trees on The Ringling’s magnificent grounds. A lifelong New Yorker of Indian origin hailed for possessing an “amazing dexterity for musical languages” (NPR), Shah incorporates her ethnographic research on Brazilian, West African, and Indian traditions into her original music. Notable projects include “Visions” (2014, co-produced by Lionel Loueke), “Folk Songs of Naboréa” (2017, premiered at the Park Avenue Armory), and “Interplay” (2018, in duo with François Moutin), which was nominated for France’s Victoires de la Musique for “Jazz Album of the Year.”
“We are thrilled to welcome Kavita Shah to the Hermitage and to continue our longstanding partnership with The Ringling Museum,” said Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg. “Kavita is a brilliant composer, musician, and performer, and this promises to be an exciting opportunity for the members of our Sarasota community to explore music’s cultural reach in an inspiring outdoor setting.”
This event follows on the heels of a conversation with Hermitage Fellow and Tony Award-winning musical theater trailblazer Jeanine Tesori on March 25, as well as multiple events surrounding the Hermitage Greenfield Prize (HGP) Weekend, including free community programs with 2021 HGP Winner Aleshea Harris, 2022 HGP Winner Angélica Negrón, WQXR Radio Evening Host Terrance McKnight, and more.
Hermitage outdoor programs like these are free and open to the public with a $5/person registration fee. Due to capacity limitations and social distancing, registration is required at HermitageArtistRetreat.org.
The program description:
- “Music Around the World” with Hermitage Fellow Kavita Shah, Thursday, April 21, 6pm: Hermitage Fellow Kavita Shah’s music “reflects the insatiably curious mind of an ethnographer, the soul of a poet, and the eye of a painter” (Owen McNally, NPR). Having traveled the world and performed throughout six continents, Shah’s music reflects each journey as it continuously explores new possibilities in music and sound. Shah shares stripped-down selections from her beautiful and transporting works on the magnificent grounds of the Ringling Museum, “under the banyans.” This event is presented in partnership with The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art. Registration is required at HermitageArtistRetreat.org ($5/person registration fee). The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art, 5401 Bay Shore Rd, Sarasota, FL 34243.
About the Hermitage Artist Retreat:
The Hermitage is a non-profit artist retreat located in Manasota Key, Florida, inviting accomplished artists across multiple disciplines for residencies on its beachfront campus, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. Hermitage artists are invited to interact with the local community, reaching thousands of Gulf Coast residents and visitors each year with unique and inspiring programs. Hermitage Fellows have included 14 Pulitzer Prize winners, Poets Laureate, MacArthur ‘Genius’ Fellows, and multiple Tony, Emmy, Grammy, Oscar winners and nominees. Works created at this beachside retreat by a diverse group of Hermitage alumni have gone on to renowned theaters, concert halls, and galleries throughout the world. Each year, the Hermitage awards the $30,000 Hermitage Greenfield Prize for a new work of art, the newly announced $35,000 Hermitage Major Theater Award for an original theater commission, and the Aspen Music Festival’s Hermitage Prize in Composition.
For more information, visit HermitageArtistRetreat.org.
About The Ringling
The Ringling is a pre-eminent center for the arts, history and learning that is dedicated to bringing the past and contemporary culture to life through extraordinary visitor experiences. From its inception, The Ringling has joined the diverse visual traditions and theatrical spectacle of yesterday with the genre-defying global practitioners of today. A place of exploration, discovery and respite, The Ringling’s campus in Sarasota, Florida – which includes the Museum of Art, the Circus Museum, an historic mansion, an 18th-century theater and bayfront gardens – is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. As the State Art Museum of Florida and part of Florida State University, The Ringling fulfills an important educational mission. The Ringling offers formal and informal programs of study serving as a major resource for students, scholars, and lifelong learners of every age within the region, across the country and around the world.
For more information, visit ringling.org.
The Hermitage is supported by:
Hermitage programs are supported, in part, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts; by Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax Revenues; and by The State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture (Section 286.25 Florida Statutes), as well as the Gulf Coast Community Foundation, Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation, and the Community Foundation of Sarasota County.
PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED HERMITAGE PROGRAMS:
Friday, Mar 25, 6pm, “Musical Storytelling: A Conversation with Jeanine Tesori” (Live on the Hermitage Beach, Manasota Key)
Friday, Apr 8, 6pm, “A Theater Maker’s Year: ‘What Went Down’” with Playwright and 2021 Hermitage Greenfield Prize Winner Aleshea Harris (Live at New College of Florida’s campus bayfront, Sarasota)
Presented in partnership with the Greenfield Foundation and Community Foundation of Sarasota County
Saturday, Apr 9, 3pm, “Angélica Negrón: The Journey, The Work, The Inspiration” (Virtual via Live-Stream)
Presented in partnership with the Greenfield Foundation and Community Foundation of Sarasota County
Saturday, Apr 9, 6pm, “Artistic License: Whose Story Is It?” with 2022 Hermitage Greenfield Prize Jurors Terrance McKnight and Gary Padmore, plus Nate Jacobs, Founder and Artistic Director of Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe (Live on the Hermitage Beach, Manasota Key)
Presented in partnership with the Greenfield Foundation and Community Foundation of Sarasota County
Thursday, Apr 21, 6pm, “Music Around the World” with Hermitage Fellow Kavita Shah (Live at The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota)
Presented in partnership with The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art
ALSO:
Sunday, Apr 10, 6pm, 2022 Hermitage Greenfield Prize Dinner: “A Celebration of Music,” honoring composer and multi-instrumentalist Angélica Negrón. This is the Hermitage’s annual spring gala; sponsorship packages range from $1,000 to $10,000.
Presented in partnership with the Greenfield Foundation and Community Foundation of Sarasota County