2018 was a great year. Sunshine City, the Musical was performed in concert at St Petersburg Opera in October as part of the St Petersburg Festival of the Arts. Dewey and I are optimistic that Sunshine City will be back on stage next year here in St Pete! Details to follow!
In March, Frankie & Gianni, a Micro-Opera, premiered as part of GASP!2018 at the Tampa Museum of Art, starring Colleen Cherry and Brandon Evans. F&G was also performed to a standing ovation at Studio@620 in March and at Creative Pinellas’ Arts Annual in August.
Having received an Act II grant from Pinellas Community Foundation in August, I set out to write something about “Aging in Place.” Having lost my mother in April of 2018, I decided to write a piece about age-related dementia and dedicate it to her. She suffered from dementia, as do a majority of people who reach their 90s.
Three Dementians for String Quartet explores the topic musically and theatrically. Having three distinct movements, the piece begins, of course, with all four players on stage. At the conclusion of the first movement, the 2nd Violinist exits the stage leaving only 3 players to perform the 2nd movement. The thinner texture of a trio along with the more serious nature of the second movement reinforces the visual metaphor musically. At the conclusion of the 2nd movement, the Violist exits the stage, leaving only the Violinist and Cellist onstage. This movement begins somewhat contentiously, as confusion dominates, until we hear the Viola playing offstage. Reprising themes from the first and second movements, the offstage players represent distant memories being called to mind. Onstage confusion and offstage memories compete in this 3rd movement, until all four instrumentalists, onstage and off, play together, in a somber statement of acceptance.
Three Dementians premiered at Festivale 50 on February 20, performed brilliantly by the Ibis String Quartet.
In my next blog, I’ll discuss my upcoming project(s) which I’ll be creating for the 2019 Creative Pinellas Professional Artist Grant.
