By Rodger Skidmore
Shuffle Off to Buffalo
To shuffle is to walk in a low-key, drag-your-feet kind of way. You don’t even have to lift your shoes off the floor when you just shuffle along. Duke Ellington wrote a tune, Syncopated Shuffle, in 1929 and that was a bit livelier shuffling with a beat. But that music, produced on a 78 RPM disc, only lasted for two minutes and 45 seconds, not long enough to get your feet to tapping.
A great way to get your jazz moving is to keep “a hoppin’ and a boppin’” for an hour or more. That will really get you jazzed up. And tired beyond belief. A better way might be to sit in a comfortable seat and lean back and relax with just your feet keeping a beat. And maybe with your fingers snapping while you watch other feet do the tapping.
Sound like a good idea? Then watch the tapping with some really good sounds. Not in Buffalo but on Syncopated Avenue, a show now being performed through May 25 by the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe at their theatre on North Orange Avenue.
How were the reviews for this show when it played last year on Broadway? Oops, it didn’t play (yet) in New York, because this is another see-it-first-in-Sarasota World Premiere. This time it’s a tap dance musical with vocals set to jazz and swing from the 1920s, 30s, and 40s as well as from the 2020s such as old favorites by Duke Ellington, Eubie Blake and Irving Berlin and new tunes by Nate Jacobs, Lamont Brown and Louis Danowsky. Choreography is by Lamont Brown and Jason Bernard and the show is directed by Nate Jacobs.
There will also be some new faces in this dance taptacular as there will be some new feet keeping the beat, including those of triple threat Lamont Brown. More info at westcoastblacktheatre.com.
Voices everywhere
The Key Chorale has a nice program at the Sarasota Opera House on the 10th of the month at 4:00 PM. Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy for Piano, Chorus and Orchestra features Glenn Priest on the keyboard. There are nice interludes with French horns and with bassoons.
Some would say that the best way to follow such a full, rich and pleasing composition by Beethoven is with an even more powerful composition by Beethoven: his Ninth Symphony–at least it’s final movement, titled Ode to Joy. Of course, others would say, “Wow, that’s a lot of Beethoven.” A fair compromise might be to slip in a bit of calmer Beethoven between those compositions, to sooth one’s ears. His Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage might just be right. Beethoven was inspired to write this work by two of Goethe’s poems, which when performed with Beethoven’s music, are soft, warm, and peaceful. Soloists for these works are Jamal Sarikoki, Bass; Blake Friedman, Tenor; Tatev Baroyan, Soprano; and Amy Jo Connours, Alto. More info at KeyChorale.org.
Stirring music on Memorial Day is an annual tradition. Another tradition seems to be the United We Stand: Memorial Day Concert that is performed each year by the Choral Artists of Sarasota and the Lakewood Ranch Wind Ensemble. This year the venue for this performance is the Church of the Palms at 4 p.m. on May 24.
Each war in which we are engaged seems to generate, besides sorrow and destruction, its own set of compositions, with and without lyrics. After 250 years of America’s existence, we have quite a few from which to choose. The Choral Artists and the Wind Ensemble have picked a good selection of them, to which we should listen and then quietly reflect upon the lives of those service men and women who have paid the ultimate price to defend our stated ideals. Hopefully the chorale and ensemble won’t have any new compositions to perform for a long while. More info at choralartistssarasota.org.
A bunch of these and a couple of those
And maybe a pinch of this and a dash of that? No, not referring to an obscure recipe being demonstrated on some food channel cooking show, but to all things music. All, of course, is a relative term. All the tubas you want to hear at the same time might be two, or perhaps one. Yet, in an orchestra, 30 or 32 might be just the right number of violins. Or 42 if one considers violas to simply be fat violins. However, four violins in a string trio could be a bit much.
Ah, but what about saxophones? Four soprano saxes? Please, no, your ears might bleed. But four saxophones of varying size? Some might think that is heaven, what with the different weavings of sounds, cutting corners around each other. Sure, one soprano sax, but also an alto, a tenor and a big, fat, tall baritone. Those four horns and the musicians who blow them make up the Sinta Quartet, which will be playing at First Presbyterian Church the afternoon of May 4.
The fact that this quartet has won Gold Medals in major competitions in 2012, ’13, ’17 and ’18 shows that they are not only good (or great) but are also long lasting. That the quartet is named after their mentor, a Saxophone professor at the University of Michigan, also shows that they have respect.
FYI: There is no known record of a Mr. (or Ms.) Violin being the inventor of the violin, or of a Tom Bone being the inventor of that horn thing that slides, but there was a Belgian named Adolph Sax that invented the saxophone. And more power to him. The reason there are not more saxophones in orchestras is that the saxophone was not invented until the 1840s, after the structure of the orchestra was set (fossilized?) in stone.
It’s hard to say what will be on the program, but recently they have played tunes titled Volcanic Ash, Dvorak American Quartet, Green Groves of Erin and Barber’s Adagio for Strings.
Last year, Sarasota went through three hurricanes. Or, more exactly, three of them went through our fair city. What would have happened to a typical guitar duo playing a concert when one of those babies passed through? Well, to quote Paul Simon, The Sound of Silence. Not so with the Beijing Guitar Duo as they play acoustic.
Individually they’ve won numerous guitar competitions so to reduce stress they’ve joined forces to create one of the most sought-after duos on the concert circuit. (They were in Barrington, Illinois before Sarasota and will travel to San Francisco after). Catch them at the Sarasota Yacht Club on May 8.
Both these saxophone and guitar performances are presented by the Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota. For more info, go to their website–artistseriesconcerts.org.
A drought in Sarasota?
Yes, but fortunately not of music (and, sorry, it is of the rain kind). But, with no rain forecast, there is a good chance that the two nights of Country Hits: Songs from Nashville will go on as scheduled at Ed Smith Stadium, May 2-3.
The two headliners fronting this show are Grace Leer (top 10 on American Idol) and Rick Brantley (singer, songwriter, hitmaker). Hearing Brantley sing Folsom Prison Blues backed by the Sarasota Orchestra will be a sound to behold. Other selections, with orchestra, will be The Devil Went Down to Georgia, Always on My Mind, Wide Open Spaces and some Dolly Parton favorites like I Will Always Love You among others. Hot dogs and drinks will be available.
Estofado de cabra is a nice goat stew but if you’re looking for G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All Time) musical selections, as selected by Christopher Confessore, conductor of the program at Holley Hall May 7-10, you’ll have to go a bit more international. There will be, to name a few, Tchaikovsky’s Waltz from Sleeping Beauty, Freddy Mercury’s Bohemian Rhapsody, Beethoven’s Overture to Fidelio, Offenbach’s “Can Can” from Orpheus in the Underworld, and others, from one end of the spectrum to the other.
If a concert was titled Vivaldi, Inspired, it would probably be an all Vivaldi show because, yes, he was inspired. But the program being performed at the Sarasota Opera House on May 17 has no comma in the title, thus the selections featured on this concert were written by composers that were inspired by Vivaldi. Stravinsky, Coleridge-Taylor, Holst and Respighi all came after Vivaldi, so they were followers in more ways than one. And, it is true, for some of their compositions, they harkened back to the style of the master himself.
And, to put everything in perspective, they book-end the concert: starting with Vivaldi’s Spring and ending with his Summer. So, this concert goes from spring to summer in an hour and forty-five minutes while, outside of the Opera House, it takes Sarasota a full week to transition from one season the next. Assisting the change will be Amaryn Olmeda, the featured violinist with Kalena Bovell conducting.
Moving closer to the real beginning of summer, Holly Hall is the venue, on June 1, for the opening concert of the Sarasota Music Festival, Echoes Across Eras, which spans the years from Beethoven, Schubert, Bach and Scriabin to Namoradze. Namoradze, who is he? Well, on this program he plays a piano duet (Schubert) with Jeffrey Kahane and solos on the compositions by Bach, Scriabin, and Namoradze (yes, he also composes). After the concert, his is a name you will be saying to others who’d missed the concert. More info for all at sarasotaorchestra.org.
Sure, you love them, but………
Children and grandchildren are great fun, but 24/7? It has been said, “Too much of a good thing is sometimes just too much of a good thing.”
There are certain things that simply must be done on time: income taxes, holiday shopping, catching a plane to visit your in-laws(?), and getting your kids and grandkids into their (or your wallet’s) choice of summer camps. Remember, after every 24 hours, a day has gone by….and there just aren’t that many days left before school ends, summer heat intensifies, and the little ones begin to get in your hair–if you’ve got any left.
And there are so many camps from which to choose–painting, film school, learning to swim, circus arts, music, computer coding, ballet and/or modern dance, glass making, theatre, and sure, why not, basket weaving. So, making that big decision means, first of all, knowing some of the real choices.
Florida Studio Theatre has Performing, Improv and Sketch Comedy sessions for ages 5-6, 7-12 and 13-17. Sessions run from June 2-August 8. Call 941-366-1350.
Art Center Sarasota has sessions for Creative Kids ages 6-9 and Emerging Artists for ages 10-14. Art supplies are included. They are also looking for teens, 15 and older, to volunteer as teaching assistants. This counts towards high school, Bright Futures, and National Honor Society requirements. More info at artsarasota.org/summercamp
Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe has a summer program for ages 11-18, June 9 – July 13, with final show dates July 12 and 13. Call 631-839-9293.
Out-of-Door Summer Academy has academic, sports, STEM, arts and day camps for ages 5-11 with full-day programs available. Info at oda.edu/student-life/summer-academy-2025.
Sarasota Cuban Ballet School has made a big splash in the ballet world because so many Cuban ballet stars have entered that world. Their Summer Intensive is from June 16-July 19, ending with a performance at the Sarasota Opera House. Call 941-365-8400 to schedule an audition.
Opera Summer camp is not just singing, but also acting, sets, props, make-up, costumes and more for ages 8-10 and 11-18. Sessions run from June 9-27. Call 941-328-1329.
Sarasota Art Museum – Ages 7-13. June 2-August 8. Designing/creating costumes, painting imaginary landscapes and making unique ceramic creatures. Call 941-309-4300.
Circus Summer Camp at the Sailor Circus Arena is where campers ages 6-15 can learn juggling, aerial acts, flying trapeze and more. Sessions run from June 2-August 1. Call 941-355-9335.
Or just google “summer camp Sarasota” for lots more info.
End of the World?
No, just end of the season. If you haven’t heard ensembleNewSRQ recently, or at all, the last time that they will be providing new contemporary chamber music until the fall is on May 12 at the Sarasota Opera House. While this will be the last day they will be playing until next season, what they will be presenting is a first-time thing–the Florida premiere of Jagden und Formen.
Free German lesson: und means and Formen translates to form and Jagden means hunt, as in Jägermeister (Huntmaster). Simple, right? Now everyone can speak German.
Yes, this composition was composed by the late German composer Wolfgang Rihm, utilizes 25 musicians and is filled with rhythmic energy and layered textures. Co-founder of enSRQ, George Nickson, conducts the performance. The featured pianist is Conor Hanick, accompanied by guest artists and enSRQ core players, including Samantha Bennett and Jennifer Best Takeda, violins; and Marcelina Suchocka, percussion. Conor Hanick has premiered over 200 pieces and has worked with such composers as Pierre Boulez, Steve Reich, Nico Muhly and Caroline Shaw. His is on the faculty of Juilliard, Mannes College and the CUNY Graduate Center.
Nickson has said that Jagden und Formen is “a restless, shape-shifting labyrinth of sound that explores the tension between structure and spontaneity. The piece unfolds as a continuous surge of musical gestures, at once volatile and meticulously sculpted, echoing the energy of pursuit and the complexity of form.”
In addition, a reception will be held in the Opera House courtyard, after the performance. More info at ensrq.org.
