Press Releases

The Hermitage property is owned by Sarasota County and is leased to the Hermitage Artist Retreat, Inc.
The property is maintained by the Hermitage Artist Retreat, Inc. and the Sarasota County Department of Parks and Recreation.

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Oct

Thu

“Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens: Let the Music Set You Free” @ Marie Selby Botanical Gardens (Downtown)

Tickets

Oct 17 @ 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm

“Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens: Let the Music Set You Free”
with Hermitage Greenfield Prize Finalist Britton Smith

Presented in partnership with Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

Thursday, October 17 at 5:30pm

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens (entrance at 1534 Mound St, Sarasota, FL 34236)

Register here.
Registration is required. $5 per person.

Launching the fifth season of “Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens” is Broadway veteran, Tony Award winner, and Hermitage Greenfield Prize finalist Britton Smith. 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 as the sun sets over Sarasota Bay.

Hermitage Fellow Britton Smith is an artist, activist, and Co-Founder/President of Broadway Advocacy Coalition. Founded in 2016, BAC has grown into a Tony Award-winning organization uniting artists with legal experts and community leaders to have lasting impact on policy issues including criminal justice reform, education equality, and liberation within the theatrical landscape. Smith is a proud co-creator of the organization’s staple methodology, Theater of Change, and was invited into Columbia Law School as an adjunct professor. Smith is also the front man and songwriter of the funk liberation band “Britton and The Sting,” which has been fueling the NYC music scene for years. Their shows feel like church in all of the best ways. Recently sold-out performances include the Apollo Music Cafe, Rockwood Music Hall, and Joe’s Pub. Britton has been featured in Vanity Fair, Vogue, Fault Magazine, and The New Yorker; Britton & The Sting was also featured in Paper Magazine’s “Bops Only: 10 Songs You Need to Start Your Weekend Right” list, as well as a featured 2020 NPR Tiny Desk Submission Top Pick. Acting credits include the STARZ comedy series “Run the World” (Gotham Awards Nominee) as Zane, and the Broadway musical Be More Chill, Shuffle Along!, and After Midnight. He was a featured soloist in PBS’ 50th Anniversary of Great Performances (2023). BrittonAndTheSting.com / @BrittonSmithWorld

Nov

Sat

Artful Lobster @ Hermitage Artist Retreat

Tickets

Nov 9 @ 11:30 am – 2:00 pm

The highly popular Artful Lobster is our signature fundraising event, and the only benefit to take place on our historic Gulf front campus on Manasota Key. With a luscious lobster feast catered by Michael’s On East and live entertainment featuring Hermitage Fellows, the Artful Lobster is anticipated as the season kick-off for many across our community.

To purchase sponsorships/tickets, please contact:
Amy Wallace
Development@HermitageArtistRetreat.org
(941) 475-2098, Ext. 2.

The Artful Lobster raises valuable funds for the Hermitage’s nationally renowned artist residency program, supporting the creative process of artists from around the world in the fields of music, theater, visual art, literature, dance, and more. This popular event, which takes place outdoors beneath a large tent on the Hermitage’s beachfront campus, features a lobster feast catered by Michael’s On East, in addition to live performances from renowned Hermitage Fellows. The co-chairs for the 2024 Artful Lobster are Alice & David Court and Peter Offringa & Allison Gregory.

Nov

Thu

“The Structure of Things: Making Theater on Both Sides of the Atlantic” @ New College of Florida's Robertson Park

Tickets

Nov 21 @ 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm

“The Structure of Things: Making Theater on Both Sides of the Atltantic”
with Hermitage Major Theater Award Finalist Sam Steiner
and Hermitage Roundabout Fellow Alex Lin

Presented in partnership with New College of Florida Theater Department

Thursday, November 21 at 1pm

New College of Florida, Robertson Park (entrance at 359 College Drive, Sarasota, FL 34234)

Register here.
Registration is required. $5 per person.

From songs to space journalism, Hermitage Roundabout Fellow Alex Lin is one of the most vibrant voices coming up in the American theater today. The same can be said in the U.K. for playwright and 2024 Hermitage Major Theater Award finalist Sam Steiner, whose acclaimed works like Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons have been performed all over the world, including London’s West End. Meeting for the first time at the Hermitage, these two incredible young artists explore the craft of playwriting, their unique journeys to date, and what’s next on their agendas. Bring a pen or pencil and join this cross-continental master class on the art of telling stories.

Hailing from New Jersey, Alex Lin’s plays have been developed at Second Stage, Roundabout, NYTW, MTC, the O’Neill, South Coast Rep, Playwrights Realm, Central Square Theater, and Theater Mu. Guest lectures: CMU, Rutgers, and Union College. As an actor: Actors Theatre of Louisville (The Wolves), New Victory (In the Land of Mauve & Gold), HVSF (Julius Caesar), Ma-Yi (The House of Billy Paul, Somebody is Looking Back At Me), Jewish Plays Project (Zionista Rising), and Commonwealth Shakespeare (Henry VI Part III, Richard III). Juilliard.

2024 Hermitage Major Theater Award finalist Sam Steiner is a playwright and screenwriter hailing from Manchester, England. His acclaimed plays include Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons (Walrus Theatre, 2015, Edinburgh Fringe, West End 2023), A Table Tennis Play (Walrus Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe, 2019), You Stupid Darkness! (Paines Plough & Theatre Royal Plymouth, 2019 and Southwark Theatre, 2020), and Kanye the First (HighTide, 2017). He also has new commissions with the Almeida Theatre and Francesca Moody. Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons has been performed all over the world in over a dozen languages and made its West End debut in January 2023. For film, Sam co-wrote Fingernails (2023, dir. Christos Nikou), starring Jesse Buckley, Riz Ahmed, and Jeremy Allen White, as well as the upcoming Rich Flu (dir. Galder Gaztelu-Urrrutia), starring Mary-Elizabeth Winstead and Rafe Spall. His current feature slate includes Morning, which Justin Kurzel will direct; Laura Dern, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Noah Jupe will star with Cumberbatch’s SunnyMarch producing. Sam is also working on original horror Banquet and an original feature drama The Endling.

Dec

Thu

“Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens: Solo Flute — The Destiny of Density ” @ Selby Gardens Historic Spanish Point

Tickets

Dec 5 @ 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm

“Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens:
Solo Flute — The Destiny of Density”
with Hermitage Fellow Claire Chase

Presented in partnership with Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

Claire Chase’s Hermitage Residency generously sponsored by Ellen Berman & Roy Cohen.

Thursday, December 5 at 5:30pm

Historic Spanish Point (entrance at 401 N Tamiami Trail, Osprey, FL 34229)

Register here.
Registration is required. $5 per person.

Hermitage Fellow Claire Chase helped launch the inaugural season of “Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens.” Now as the series celebrates its fifth anniversary, Chase returns to share new work in this immensely popular series. An internationally acclaimed composer and performer, Claire Chase has been described by The New York Times as “the most important flutist of our time.” She is a pioneer in the world of contemporary music with projects such as “Density 2036,” a 24-year commissioning project that aims to reimagine the literature of the modern flute. A MacArthur Fellow and the first ever flutist to receive the Avery Fisher Award from Lincoln Center, Chase also served on the Hermitage’s Curatorial Council. Surrounded by the idyllic beauty of Selby Gardens, don’t miss hearing the latest from this iconic performer in this popular Hermitage’s series.

Hermitage Fellow Claire Chase has been described by The New York Times as “the most important flutist of our time” and as “the North Star of her instrument’s ever-expanding universe.” An internationally renowned musician, interdisciplinary artist, and educator, Chase recently concluded her third year as a member of the Hermitage Artist Retreat’s distinguished National Curatorial Council. Passionately dedicated to the creation of new ecosystems for the music of our time, Chase has presented the world premieres of hundreds of new works by a new generation of artists. She was the first flutist to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2012, and in 2017 was the first flutist to be awarded the Avery Fisher Prize for Classical Music from Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Chase was the Richard and Barbara Debs Creative Chair at Carnegie Hall in the 2022-23 season, only the second time in that organization’s history that the position has been given to a performing artist. Chase has performed recently as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, Munich Chamber Orchestra, London Philharmonia, and San Francisco Symphony, where she is a Collaborative Partner with Esa-Pekka Salonen. In the 2022-23 season, Chase debuted a new double concerto by Felipe Lara with the vocalist and bassist Esperanza Spalding and the conductor Susanna Mälkki; this premiere was named one of the “Best Classical Music Performances of the Year” by The New York Times. Chase’s impressive discography includes eight solo albums of world premiere recordings and dozens of collaborative recordings with ensembles, composers, and sound artists from a wide range of musical genres. In 2013, Chase launched the 24-year commissioning project “Density 2036.” Now in its eleventh year, Density reimagines the solo flute literature over a quarter-century through commissions, performances, recordings, education, and a community-focused approach to cultural production.

Dec

Mon

“The Sore Loser” An Original Comedy by Madeleine George @ Venice Theatre

Tickets

Dec 9 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm

“The Sore Loser”
An Original Comedy by Hermitage Major Theater Award Winner
Madeleine George

Presented in partnership with Venice Theatre

The Hermitage Major Theater Award is made possible with generous support from Flora Major and the Kutya Major Foundation.

Monday, December 9 at 7:30pm

Venice Theatre (entrance at 140 Tampa Avenue West, Venice, FL 34285)

Register here.
Registration is required. $5 per person.

Following a successful presentation in New York, the Hermitage is excited to invite Gulf Coast audiences to experience the first regional showing of The Sore Loser, the new commission from Madeleine George, directed by Mack Brown. A Faustian comedy set in a bowling alley, this story promises to bring the competitor (and the laughs) out of us all. The Sore Loser is a comedy about power, domination, and the death of the patriarchy… as told through a small-town bowling tournament. Presented in partnership with Venice Theatre.

Madeleine George is the first recipient of the Hermitage Major Theater Award. Her plays include Hurricane Diane (Obie Award), The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence (Pulitzer Prize finalist; Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award), Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England (Susan Smith Blackburn finalist), Precious Little, and The Zero Hour (Jane Chambers Award, Lambda Literary Award finalist). Honors include the Hermitage Major Theater Award, the Lilly Award, the Princess Grace Award, and a Whiting Award. Madeleine’s translation of Chekhov’s Three Sisters premiered at Two River Theater in 2022, and her audio adaptation of Alison Bechdel’s comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For was released by Audible Originals in 2023. Madeleine has written on shows for FX and HBO, and she’s been a writer/producer on all four seasons of the Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated mystery-comedy Only Murders in the Building, starring Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez. Since 2006, she has worked with the Bard Prison Initiative at Bard College, where she currently serves as Director of Admissions.

Dec

Fri

“Hermitage Cross Arts Collaborative: Opera and Theater” @ Sarasota Opera House

Tickets

Dec 13 @ 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm

“Hermitage Cross Arts Collaborative: Opera and Theater”
with 2024 Hermitage Cross Arts Recipients Anthony Barrese (Opera) and Raleigh Mosely II (WBTT)

Presented in partnership with Sarasota Opera and Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe

The Hermitage Cross Arts Collaborative is made possible with generous support from The Koski Family Foundation.

Friday, December 13 at 5pm

Sarasota Opera House (entrance at 61 N. Pineapple Ave., Sarasota, FL 34236)

Register here.
Registration is required. $5 per person.

The Hermitage Cross Arts Collaborative is an annual residency program focused on supporting the incredible talent of artists frequently featured on Sarasota stages. Now in its third year, we celebrate two artists who are injecting life into every note on the page. Anthony Barrese (Sarasota Opera) is a celebrated conductor who has worked at concert halls around the world. In his Cross Arts Residency at the Hermitage, he is pursuing his passion to meticulously transcribe lost operas so that they can be performed by today’s leading companies with new life. He is joined by a star of the Sarasota theater scene, Raleigh Mosely II (WBTT), a gifted singer and actor who is making a name for himself as a recording artist, writing and performing his own work. From very different angles, each of these artists makes music with a unique creative force. Hear selections and perceptions from these two talented musical artists.

Hermitage Cross Arts Collaborative recipient Anthony Barrese has earned accolades as both a composer and a conductor in North America and Italy. Mr. Barrese is the recipient of numerous composition awards including a N.E.C. Contemporary Ensemble Composition Competition Award for his madrigale “a 3 voci femminili,” and two B.M.I. Student Composers Awards. As a musicologist, Mr. Barrese rediscovered, prepared, and edited the critical edition of Franco Faccio’s opera Amleto, in conjunction with Casa Ricordi. As Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of Opera Southwest, he has performed Rossini’s Otello with the American staged premiere of the finale lieto, and in 2014 he led the new world premiere of Amleto, not heard anywhere since 1871. He also notably led productions of Wagner’s Lohengrin (2019), a new world premiere of Bottesini’s Alì Babà (2019), and a company premiere of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande (2021). As Music Director of Opera Delaware, he conducted the West Coast premiere of Amleto and the company premiere of Rossini’s Semiramide. Recently, he conducted new productions of Il barbiere di Siviglia and Le nozze di Figaro. In the 2023-24 season he will conduct new productions of Il barbiere di Siviglia (Florida Grand Opera) L’occasione fa il ladro and Bluebeard’s Castle (OSW), Haydn’s L’infedeltà delusa (Sarasota), Turandot (Opera Delware), and make a company debut with Opera Santa Barbara (Armienta’s Zorro).

Hermitage Cross Arts Collaborative artist Raleigh Mosely II has performed at various Hermitage programs and benefits. He made his Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe debut in the Summer 2017 production of Broadway in Black. Originally from Miami, he earned his BFA in musical theater from the University of Central Florida. His theater credits include Dreamgirls, In the Heights, HAIR, Ragtime, Broadbend, Arkansas, and The 25^th Annual…Spelling Bee.

Dec

Tue

“An Author Here and Now” @ Johann Fust Community Library Courtyard

Tickets

Dec 17 @ 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm

“An Author Here and Now”
with Hermitage Fellow Kirstin Valdez Quade

Presented in partnership with Johann Fust Library Foundation

Kirstin Valdez Quade’s Hermitage Residency generously sponsored by Terry Brackett.

Tuesday, December 17 at 2pm

Johann Fust Community Library Couryard (entrance at , 1040 10th Street West, Boca Grande, FL 33921)

Register here.
Registration is required.

In The Five Wounds, Hermitage Fellow Kirstin Valdez Quade has created a “propulsive, immersive story that reckons wisely with the real cost of redemption.” (The Guardian) This debut novel, which won the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize amongst a host of other honors, follows this author’s story collection Night at the Fiestas, an equally praised work that spans decades without losing a very real sense of place. Also published in The Best American Short Stories, The New Yorker, and The New York Times, hear what is next from this 2024 Guggenheim Fellow whose work “marks a new and exciting chapter in Latinx literature — one that will redefine the term for readers, scholars, and writers.” (The Georgia Review)

Hermitage Fellow Kirstin Valdez Quade is the author of The Five Wounds, winner of the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize and the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Carnegie Medal for Excellence, the Aspen Words Literary Prize, and the Lambda Literary Award. Her story collection, Night at the Fiestas, won the John Leonard Prize from the National Book Critics Circle, the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a “5 Under 35” award from the National Book Foundation, and was a finalist for the New York Public Library Young Lions Award. Kirstin is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, Hermitage Fellowship, a Lannan Fellowship, the Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome, a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer’s Award, a grant from the Elizabeth George Foundation, and a Stegner Fellowship at Stanford. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Best American Short Stories, The O. Henry Prize Stories, The New York Times, and elsewhere. She is an associate professor at Princeton University.

October – December 2024 Oct – Dec 2024

Press Releases

Hermitage Artists Respond to COVID-19.

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