So excited and grateful after the debut residency of @CollectiveEuphonia, a new flexible ensemble of performing and creative artists for #site-specific residencies and theme-based programming connecting the arts we love: #music, #poetry #dance #art #theatre #film #design #visualarts #literature
Our program at the @TaubmanMuseum featured #acappella music for 8 voices. Like @KileSmith's #WhereFlamesAWord and #AdolphusHailstork #Nocturne, #JonathanSheffer #y'didnefesh and @EricWhitacre #BoyandaGirl. Thanks everyone for making it possible!
Saturday night's debut concert #AriseMyLove featured the beautiful #cello of #JuliaGoudimova and the sensually rich choreography and dancing of #PedroSzalay and a quartet of his talented #SVB dancers.
Thanks to everyone who came out and supported, from #TERoanoke and #TMA to local friends and fans! So many commented on the particularly "soulful" program, the interesting and novel new works which were so passionately and fearlessly performed by a brand new ensemble of artists. Wow! What an amazing launch to this 20+-year dream come true!
That dream was first articulated in Charleston back in 1996 when my mentor, Joe Flummerfelt (below, far r) asked me what I wanted to do. He knew I was about to start teaching at #W&L, an exciting honor and a great opportunity. But he wanted to know what my dream was.
I was obsessing over Haydn at the time, and I said something to the effect of having my own flexible ensemble of singers and players to present theme-based programming combining various media, genres and disciplines and calling it the Haydn Consort or something lame like that. I'm so glad we settled on #CollectiveEuphonia!
Joe died March 1 this year, and his blessed memory inspired much of this inaugural residency and debut concert. So many friends, teachers, colleagues and supporters have helped me on this amazing journey. It is an honor and privilege, and a genuine joy to share such beauty with so many wonderful people, here at "home" and all over the region, country, and world.
I'm so grateful to my friends at @iCadenza - some of whom are members of #CollectiveEuphonia themselves - Thanks to the 6-month crash-course that is @IdeatoImpact for all the helpful advice and resources, all the guidance and affirmation, the positive feedback and already-in-action networking!
(#CE artist and #RoanokeTreasure #EricFitzpatrick sketching the #CEOctet dress rehearsal of #L2P. Click here to watch the FB livestream from Sunday afternoon.)
What an amazing year 2019 has been for me and the overlapping circles of friends, family and colleagues in Roanoke, Lexington, Amherst, Chesapeake, NoVA, Elizabeth City and across NC, Miami to LA, TX, Seattle, Philly, NYC, the Berkshires to Romania, Russia, Venezuela, Hungary and others... As Mr White says at the top of Quantum of Solace, "we have people everywhere... am I right?"
(One of Eric's sketches from Sunday afternoon at the Taubman Museum
Stay tuned for news of our next residency and future projects...