Fifth Anniversary Season of Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens

August 9, 2024 | Sarasota

The Hermitage Artist Retreat’s popular series, “Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens,” continues into its fifth anniversary as part of the Hermitage’s 2024-2025 season. The outdoor series — a celebrated collaboration between the Hermitage and Marie Selby Botanical Gardens — features performances and explorations of works-in-progress by Hermitage artists-in-residence and alumni. “Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens” events are currently scheduled to take place at Selby Gardens’ Downtown Sarasota campus and the Historic Spanish Point campus in Osprey.

The first of these events, “Let the Music Set You Free,” features Broadway veteran, Tony Award-winning co-founder of Broadway Advocacy Coalition, and 2024 Hermitage Greenfield Prize finalist Britton Smith. As the bandleader for the alternative soul band Britton and the Sting, this visionary artist and advocate is a force of nature determined to unite the world through a passion for music and theater. Britton’s vibrant work bears witness to the inspiration that can be found within and around us all. Catch this dynamic performer like never before in a stripped-down presentation surrounded by the beautiful sanctuary of Selby Gardens’ Downtown Sarasota campus on Thursday October 17th at 5:30pm.

The second of these events is “Solo Flute — Destiny of Density,” where award-winning flutist, composer, and returning Hermitage Fellow Claire Chase will share selections of her genre-defining work and discuss her innovative approach to music. This event will take place on Thursday, December 5th at 5:30pm, at Selby Gardens’

Historic Spanish Point campus in Osprey. Chase is a world-renowned musician and composer who was also one of the inaugural artists in the “Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens” series, in addition to performing at two past Hermitage Artful Lobster events. A soloist, collaborative artist, curator, and advocate for new and experimental music, she has been described by The New York Times as “the most important flutist of our time.” Chase was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2012, and in 2017 was the first flutist to be awarded the Avery Fisher Prize from Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. A professor of music at Harvard University, she recently concluded her term as a member of the Hermitage National Curatorial Council.

Confirmed dates for this fifth season of “Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens” include:

· Thursday, October 17, 2024, at 5:30pm, Downtown Sarasota Campus

· Thursday December 5, 2024, at 5:30pm, Historic Spanish Point

· Thursday January 30, 2025, at 5:30pm, Downtown Sarasota Campus

· Thursday February 20, 2025, at 5:30pm, Historic Spanish Point

· Thursday, March 6, 2025, at 5:30pm, Downtown Sarasota Campus

· Thursday, May 1, 2025, at 6:30pm, Historic Spanish Point

Admission for these events has no ticket cost, though availability is subject to capacity limitations; advance registration is required ($5/person) at HermitageArtistRetreat.org.

Each program will feature a celebrated Hermitage artist (or artists) to be announced. Last year’s “Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens” spotlighted the works and talents of celebrated mime and storyteller Bill Bowers, who shared the stage with internationally renowned composer and singer Kavita Shah; Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg, fresh from his production of Operation Epsilon in London; Hermitage Curatorial Council member Nataki Garrett, Tony Award-winning Broadway producer Tom Kirdahy, and Manasota ASALH President David Wilkins, who offered an enlightening panel discussion about the State of the Arts in Florida; and award-winning flutist Emi Ferguson with classical composer Jim Stephenson, who delighted audiences with an original performance. Previous seasons of “Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens” have included Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Michael R. Jackson, award-winning Chicago playwright Terry Guest; Kleban Prize winner César Alvarez, world-renowned violinist and Beyoncé collaborator Lady Jess; acclaimed classical harpist Ashley Jackson; interdisciplinary performance artist Ni’Ja Whitson, opera singer and Sarasota native Thea Lobo, composer Sofía Rocha, winner of the 2022 Hermitage Prize in Composition at the Aspen Music Festival; 2022 Hermitage Major Theater Award Winner Shariffa Ali; celebrated cellist Karen Patterson, and more.

“This fifth anniversary season of ‘Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens’ promises to be an unforgettable one,” says Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg. “Claire Chase and Britton Smith are two of the most dynamic artists and performers of

their generation, and we are thrilled to invite audiences to share a magical evening with these Hermitage artists and more against the beautiful backdrop of these bayfront sanctuaries. This popular series has been a joyous collaboration with our friends at Selby Gardens, and we look forward welcoming new and returning audiences to experience a ‘sneak peek’ into the creative process of these extraordinary talents.”

“We are so excited to celebrate five years of this wonderful collaboration with the Hermitage Artist Retreat,” says Selby Gardens President & CEO Jennifer Rominiecki. “Welcoming world-class Hermitage artists to our newly revitalized bayfront sanctuary in downtown Sarasota and our vibrant Historic Spanish Point campus in Osprey is something we look forward to each year. Treating Gulf Coast patrons to these special programs has been such a joy, and we are thrilled that that the ‘Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens’ series continues to flourish.”

These outdoor events are one part of many ongoing programs and collaborations planned throughout the season, spanning Sarasota County and the surrounding region. The programs feature industry-leading playwrights, visual artists, musicians, poets, choreographers, and more — all free to the members of our community with a $5/person registration fee.

A leading national arts incubator, the Hermitage is the only major arts organization in Florida’s Gulf Coast exclusively committed to supporting the development and creation of new work across all artistic disciplines. The Hermitage hosts artists on its Gulf Coast Manasota Key campus for multi-week residencies, where diverse and accomplished artists from around the world and across multiple disciplines create and develop new works of theater, music, visual art, literature, dance, film, and more. As part of their residencies, Hermitage Fellows participate in free year-round community programs, offering audiences in the region a unique opportunity to engage with some of the world’s leading artists and to get an authentic “sneak peek” into extraordinary projects and artistic minds before their works go on to major galleries, concert halls, theaters, and museums around the world. These free and innovative programs include performances, conversations, readings, interactive experiences, open studios, school programs, teacher workshops, and more, serving thousands in our regional community each year.

For more information about the Hermitage and upcoming programs, visit: HermitageArtistRetreat.org.