The Economics of ETHEL on the Beach

As the sun touched the water, ETHEL musicians faced the horizon vocalizing a sound that echoed the whoops of joy the crowd shouted during their applause. Nearly 400 voices joined in a low sonorous “woooooooo” that slowly gained volume and intensity until it reached a deafeningly beautiful pitch as the last ray disappeared. Then silence. Instinctive silence. ETHEL made music from everything – even us.

Be the Music, Do the Math: The Economics of ETHEL on the Beach

By Patricia Caswell, Co-Founder and Program Director

As the sun touched the water, ETHEL musicians faced the horizon vocalizing a sound that echoed the whoops of joy the crowd shouted during their applause. Nearly 400 voices joined in a low sonorous “woooooooo” that slowly gained volume and intensity until it reached a deafeningly beautiful pitch as the last ray disappeared. Then silence. Instinctive silence. ETHEL made music from everything – even us.

For a creative week the old wooden Hermitage floorboards became a drum for improvised chant with ancient flute, voice and cello. Violinist Kip Jones never stopped making music with everything he got his hands on: a miniature Australian didgeridoo; bells; sticks; and a home-made shaker of a Publix hummus container filled with shells. Nothing and no one escaped becoming a musical sound experiment. ETHEL members sang during lunch, joined by a brave Nebraskan fiction writer, Hermitage fellow Tony Eprile. When Tony wanted cellist Dorothy Lawson to pass the salt, he had to request it in a melodic passage.

The week culminated in a concert on the beach with these classical musicians’ chests resonating with their chanting voices and the strings of their instruments. Grammy award winner Robert Mirabal wove the music with a story about a boy named “Drop”, a lesson of land and water conservation observed a thousand years ago.

New York City’s virtuosic ETHEL is one of the most acclaimed string quartets in contemporary classical music. They went from residence at the Hermitage to a resident gig at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. You can see them there, or in February, at the Ringling Museum’s Historic Asolo Theater.

If you are more business minded than “artsy,” then you may not care about the profound, aesthetic high 400 people cumulatively experienced at sunset. You might however like to know that this was a free concert. Generally tickets for ETHEL are $30 or more. At $30 each, this concert was worth $12,000. We program ten of these beach events each year, in addition to 50 or so off-campus educational programs. You’ve got to admit the Hermitage gives a great gift to the people of Florida whether you join us to “be the music” or stay home and “do the math.”