A Film Screening and Discussion Featuring Hermitage Fellow and International Filmmaker Hilan Warshaw
Friday, August 26 at The Sarasota Opera House
Hermitage Fellow Hilan Warshaw’s films explore the lives and minds of great composers. Join this filmmaker, musician, and conductor as he shares excerpts from his music documentary films and discusses the close relationship between the art forms of cinema and music.
(July 19, 2022) The Hermitage Artist Retreat announces a new program presented in partnership with Sarasota Opera featuring the work of Hermitage Fellow Hilan Warshaw, a filmmaker and musician whose work focuses on the lives and works of some of music’s most influential figures. The film screening and discussion will take place on Friday, August 26 at 6pm at the Sarasota Opera House, 61 N. Pineapple Ave. Registration is required at HermitageArtistRetreat.org.
Hermitage Fellow Hilan Warshaw‘s films explore the lives and minds of great composers, delving into the often controversial passions and experiences that informed some of music’s most influential masterpieces. Blending documentary, narrative film techniques, and his own musical background as a violinist and conductor, Warshaw’s internationally broadcast films shine a new light on musical and operatic creators including Wagner, Schoenberg, Berg, Bach, and Mahler. He is currently the video director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s on-demand Classical Series. For this program on August 26, Warshaw shares excerpts from his films and discusses the close relationship between the art forms of cinema and music. (Complete artist bio below.)
“We are excited to partner with Sarasota Opera as we introduce Hilan Warshaw to the many classical music appreciators in our region,” says Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg. “We are proud to support new musical voices and multidisciplinary artists, and Hilan’s extraordinary talent as a filmmaker in the field of classical music seemed like the perfect opportunity to collaborate with our friends at the Opera as he shares his gifts for cinematic and musical storytelling with our community.”
“We are thrilled to partner with the Hermitage Artist Retreat on this exciting program,” says Sarasota Opera’s General Director Richard Russell. “We look forward to connecting our audiences with the incredible artists who come to the Hermitage to make work.”
Please note: unlike most Hermitage programs, ths event will be held indoors at the Sarasota Opera House. Capacity for this event may be limited to accommodate safe social distancing, so early reservations are recommended. Admission is free with a $5 per person registration fee. Face masks are strongly encouraged at check-in; the Hermitage and/or the Opera reserves the right to add additional health and safety protocols for this event as deemed necessary.
This event is one of many Hermitage programs and collaborations planned throughout the season, spanning Sarasota County and the surrounding region — all free to the members of our community with a $5/person registration fee.
The Hermitage is the only major arts organization in the Gulf Coast region exclusively committed to supporting the development and creation of new work across all artistic disciplines. Since the start of the pandemic, the Hermitage has offered more than 100 live outdoor artist programs, free and accessible to the members of our community. Venues have expanded beyond the Hermitage’s beautiful beachfront campus to include outdoor locations throughout Sarasota County and beyond, including Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, Bay Park Sarasota, Booker High School, Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast, The Ringling Museum, Sarasota Art Museum, Boca Grande, and more. New and ongoing collaborations have included Asolo Repertory Theatre, ASALH, Embracing Our Differences, EnsembleNew SRQ, Florida Studio Theatre, New College of Florida, Art Center Sarasota, Sarasota Opera, Urbanite Theater, Venice Theatre, Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, and more.
New programs introduced during the past two seasons have included dozens of partnerships with leading arts, cultural, and educational institutions throughout our region.
To register for an upcoming Hermitage program or to learn more about the organization, visit HermitageArtistRetreat.org.
Bio for Hilan Warshaw
Hermitage Fellow Hilan Warshaw is a film director and writer. His television documentaries include Wagner’s Jews (PBS-WNET, and others), Secret Song, In the Key of Bach (PBS-GPB), Rachmaninoff Revisited (co-producer and editor), Through the Darkness, and Mahler in New York. Since September 2020, he has been video director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s on-demand Classical Series. His essays about music and film have been published by Cambridge University Press, McFarland Press, The Wagner Journal, and Wagner Spectrum. He has taught film courses at Western Carolina University and Barnard College, and has been a panelist and lecturer at Yale, Hofstra, BU, and NYU, among others. In addition to his own films, other television writing credits include A Workshop for Peace (PBS-WNET), commissioned by the United Nations. Additional editing credits include Shadows in Paradise: Hitler’s Exiles in Hollywood, In the Key of G, and the miniseries Great Conversations in Music, all broadcast on PBS stations and internationally. He holds a B.F.A. (Film and TV) and M.F.A. (Musical Theater Writing) from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and studied orchestral conducting at Mannes College of Music and the Aspen Music School. OvertoneFilms.com
New Program Description:
- “Music’s Masterpieces,” Friday, August 26 @ 6pm: Hermitage Fellow Hilan Warshaw‘s films explore the lives and minds of great composers, delving into the often controversial passions and experiences that informed some of music’s most influential masterpieces. Blending documentary, narrative film techniques, and his own musical background as a violinist and conductor, Warshaw’s internationally broadcast films shine a new light on musical and operatic creators including Wagner, Schoenberg, Berg, Bach, and Mahler. For this program, Warshaw shares excerpts from his films and discusses the close relationship between the art forms of cinema and music. Presented in Partnership with Sarasota Opera. Registration is required at HermitageArtistRetreat.org. ($5/person registration fee). Sarasota Opera House, 61 N Pineapple Ave.Sarasota, FL 34236
Previously Announced Hermitage Programs:
- “Citizen Arts: Music, Theater, and Dance” – Friday, July 22 at 6:30pm: Art exists not only in the purpose-built spaces of theaters, museums, and concert halls, but also throughout our lives. In this interdisciplinary program, we hear from three accomplished artists in three different mediums sharing insight and discussing how their work interacts with the public. Brazilian-born composer Marcos Balter’s compositions have been described by The New York Times as “utterly lovely” in addition to having a focus on the hyper-dramatization of the performed work; theater-maker Sam Max’s work center’s the queer experience in poetic spaces; and dancer-choreographer Amanda Cantrell Roche combines her skill in dance education with a history in journalism and a passion for social justice. Presented in partnership with Sarasota Art Museum. Registration is required at HermitageArtistRetreat.org ($5/person registration fee). Sarasota Art Museum, 1001 South Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, Florida 34236.
- “The Latest from Terry Guest” – Friday August 19 @ 6:30pm: Hermitage Fellow Terry Guest, playwright of Urbanite Theatre’s recent acclaimed production of At The Wake of a Dead Drag Queen, returns to Sarasota to share his latest work. This funny, vital, and raucous new work is a “Pageant on White American Memory” and explores several of our country’s most consequential families through a wickedly contemporary lense. Join the Hermitage for a sneak peek at a new play by the playwright whose work has been described as “breathtaking” with “indelible scenes” (Chicago Reader). Note: The content of this play not be suitable for children. Presented in partnership with Marie Selby Botanical Gardens and Urbanite Theatre. Registration is required at HermitageArtistRetreat.org.($5/person registration fee). Marie Selby Botanical Garden, 1534 Mound Street, Sarasota, FL 34236.
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 Sarasota Opera
Sarasota Opera is entering its 64th Season of bringing world-class opera to Florida’s Gulf Coast. The company was launched in 1960 in the historic 320-seat Asolo Theater on the grounds of Sarasota’s Ringling Museum of Art. In 1984, the company moved into the former A.B. Edwards Theater – now the Sarasota Opera House. Since then, the company has gained an international reputation as one of the leading regional opera companies in the U.S. through initiatives such as the Masterworks Revival Series and the Verdi Cycle. The company’s Sarasota Youth Opera is the most comprehensive Youth Program in the U.S. The Sarasota Opera House, which underwent a $20 million renovation and rehabilitation in 2007, has been called “one of America’s finest venues for opera” by Musical America. Since 1983, the company has been under the artistic leadership of Victor DeRenzi and administrative leadership of General Director Richard Russell since 2012.
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.