wcw JANUARY 2024

out &about
Art Crawl
Trolley Tour
Discover Sarasota Tours has a
new Art Crawl Trolley Tour showcasing
Sarasota’s galleries, studios,
and public art. This city-wide tour
explores six different downtown
Sarasota neighborhoods on the 2nd
Friday night from 5-9 p.m. during
the months of January-April. The
tour is led by local guide and watercolor
artist Jerome Chesley.
Visitors start at the Trolley Cottage
Gift Shop located in Gillespie
Park. Guests can also visit the Artful
Giraffe Gallery at this hub location.
Then they will board the trolley or
van to explore Historic Burns Court,
Towles Court Art Center, Limelight
District, Main Street, Palm Avenue
and the Rosemary District.
During the 30-minute rotating tour
they will see Sarasota’s collection of
public art. At each hub stop, guests can
hop off to explore galleries and studios
or hop back on to go to the next stop.
Participating galleries include:
Chasen Galleries at the Mark, 530
Burns Court, Define Gallery, Palmer
Gallery, Artful Giraffe, Creative Liberties,
Bazaar on Apricot and Lime/
Hamlet’s Eatery, Helmuth Stone,
Towles Court Art Center, Mara Studio
Gallery, Sarasota Trading Company,
Alex Art International, Art Ovation
Hotel, Sarasota Fine Art, Meg Krakowiak
Studio and NorthStar Jewelry
and Gallery.
The Art Crawl will be offered on
January 12, February 9, March 8, and
April 12. The $10 ticket includes transport
to each of the tour’s six gallery
locations, free parking at The Trolley
Cottage Gift Shop, and complimentary
beer, wine, or water before boarding.
For tour tickets and information, visit
at DiscoverSarasotaTours.com or by
calling 941-260-9818.
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Forks & Corks
Forks & Corks’ most sought-after
event is the Grand Tasting taking
place on Sunday, January 28 in the
historic courtyard of The Ringling
Museum of Art in Sarasota. Guests
will sample dishes presented by over
40 members of the Sarasota-Manatee
Originals restaurant group and sip
from a collection of more than 300
unique wines from across the globe.
General Admission ticketing
($175+ per person) provides unlimited
tastings at The Grand Tasting from
12 to 4PM. The Grand Tasting also
features live musical entertainment,
a wine retail tent where patrons can
purchase the various wines tasted,
photobooths, one-of-a-kind auction
and a beer garden. Visit www.
eatlikealocal.com.
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Special Events
Church of the Palms’ Faith &
Society Speaker Series presents Dr.
Eddie Glaude, Jr. on January 25.
This nationally recognized thought
leader will explore issues surrounding
faith and society. This event is
free and open to all.
Dr. Glaude is a bestselling author
(Begin Again: James Baldwin’s
America and Its Urgent Lessons for
our Own) and Chair of Princeton’s
Department of African American
Studies. He regularly appears on
Meet the Press on Sundays. Info:
www.churchofthepalms.org.
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Finding
Your Elusive
Ancestors, a
virtual seminar,
is on
January 27, 10
a.m.-4:15 p.m.
Here are the
four speakers:
• Steve Little,
“A.I. and
Genealogy:
The Basics and
a Bit Beyond.”
Explore the
power of Artificial
Intelligence,
its limits
and how it can
be harnessed
for genealogy.
• David Allen
Lambert,
“Adopting the
Regiment:
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Researching & Recreating Your
Ancestor’s Revolutionary War Unit.”
When it comes to finding the full story
of your patriot ancestor, it’s important
to broaden the scope of your research.
• Diana Elder, AGR, “Who’s Her
Daddy? Testing an Ancestry. DNA
ThruLine Hypothesis for a Female
Ancestor.” Tracing the ancestry of a
female born in the early 19th century
is one of the most difficult research
challenges.
• Nicole Dyer, “Strategies for Overcoming
Genealogy Roadblocks”
Discover how to stick to a research
process, analyze clues, and use the
FamilySearch Catalog to identify
new records to search, gather hints
from DNA cousin matches, and locate
sources that are only available on-site.
Register at mgsfl.org.
Cat Depot’s 20th Anniversary
Celebration takes place on March 7
at the Hyatt Regency Sarasota. The
evening will include entertainment,
hand-crafted cocktails, dinner, dancing,
and a silent auction.
What began with 262 cats from an
overcrowded shutdown shelter has
become the Cat Depot you know today.
They have touched the lives of nearly
20,000 cats through adoption and others
through our public Cat Care Clinic,
community programs and more. Tickets
and info: catdepot.org
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Town Hall
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Sarasota Art
Museum has:
Judy Pfaff:
Picking up the
Pieces which
runs through
March 24.
Town Hall returns with Congresswoman
Liz Cheney on January
16. Cheney served as the U.S. Representative
for Wyoming’s at-large
congressional district from 2017 to
2023. She chaired the House Republican
Conference and from 2019-
2021, and served as the Vice Chair of
the Select Committee investigating
the January 6th insurrection.
Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch
speaks on February 5. Yovanovitch
served three times as U.S. Ambassador,
most recently in Kyiv as the U.S.
Ambassador to Ukraine. Born into a
family that survived both Soviet and
Nazi terror before emigrating to the
U.S., Yovanovitch rose to the top of
her profession in the crucible of the
former USSR.
Stanley Tucci is on February 26.
Tucci is an Academy Award nominated
actor known for his versatility as
an actor, writer, director, and producer.
He has appeared in over 90 films,
countless television shows, and more
than a dozen plays, on and off Broadway.
Tucci reached his widest audience
yet in the role of Caesar Flickerman
in The Hunger Games. Stanley
Tucci: Searching for Italy is Tucci’s latest
endeavor, which was greeted with
excitement and success from both its
fans and critics.
Best-selling author Nir Eyal will
share insights from the field of behavioral
design on March 11. Eyal writes,
consults, and teaches about the intersection
of psychology, technology,
and business. He co-founded and
sold two tech companies since 2003.
He is the author of two bestselling
books, Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming
Products and Indistractable:
How to Control Your Attention
and Choose Your Life.
Ballet legend Misty Copeland closes
out Town Hall on April 15. Copeland
joined American Ballet Theatre’s
Studio Company in September 2000,
joined ABT as a member of the corps de
ballet in April 2001, and in August 2007
became the company’s second African
American female soloist and the first
in two decades. In 2015, Misty was promoted
to principal dancer, making her
the first African American woman to
ever be promoted to the position in the
company’s 75-year history.
Visit www.rclassociation.org
Sarasota Opera
Sarasota Opera’s Winter
Opera Festival runs from February
17 through March 24. The
festival will open on February
17 with Carmen by Georges Bizet, a
company favorite, last seen in 2018.
Gaetano Donizetti’s brooding
masterpiece Lucia di Lammermoor,
last given in 2012 will return on February
24. Giuseppe Verdi’s Luisa
Miller, last performed nearly 25
years ago will open on March 9.
The festival will conclude with the
Sarasota Opera premiere of Franz
Joseph Haydn’s Deceit Outwitted (L’infedeltà
delusa) a charming comedy,
which has not had a fully-staged production
in the U.S. by a professional
American opera company since 1971.
For tickets, visit SarasotaOpera.org
or call the box office at (941) 328-1300.
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Venice Symphony
Venice Symphony presents
Tall Tales and Treasure on January
12-13. This concert features
swashbuckling music from Captain
Blood and Pirates of the Caribbean,
Mulan and How to Train Your
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Dragon. Guest
Vocalist Lauren
Jelencovich,
who
has toured
with Yanni as
his featured
vocalist, performing
to
sold-out venues
all over
the world, will
perform songs
from The
Lord of the
Rings: The
Fellowship of
the Ring and
songs
from Aladdin
and The
Little Mermaid.
Hooray for
Hollywood
with Michael Feinstein is on February
9 at 7:30 pm and February 10
at 3:30 and 7:30 pm. Feinstein has
played at the Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie
Hall, Buckingham Palace and the
White House. Now you can see this
five-time Grammy nominee in Venice
with Troy Quinn and The Venice Symphony
at this special event concert.
Tickets: www.thevenicesymphony.org
The Circus Arts
Conservatory
Sailor Circus
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Experience a free afternoon of
classic circus music, performed live
by 100 musicians from around the
country, backing up a performance
by CAC’s Sailor Circus students on
January 14. This performance is the
culmination of the Windjammers’
annual weeklong convention here in
The Circus Capital Of The World.
Tickets are not needed for this general
admission, first-come / first-seated
community outreach show, held at
The Sailor Circus Arena, 2075 Bahia
Vista Street, Sarasota.
Windjammers Unlimited is a notfor-profit
historical music society,
dedicated to the preservation of traditional
music of the circus. Information:
circus arts.org.
Artist Series
Concerts
Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota
has Jonathan Mamora who has
taken the piano world by storm after
winning first prize in the Olga Kern
International Piano Competition,
AntwerPiano International Competition,
Dallas International Piano
Competition, American Virtuoso
International Music Competition,
and “Sviatoslav Richter” International
Piano Competition. He takes to the
Historic Asolo Theater stage on January
9 for a program that includes
Schubert’s iconic “Trout” Quintet.
In 2019, Lin Ye wowed Sarasota
audiences in two sold out programs.
Having subsequently performed in
prestigious venues worldwide, the
former Artist Series Concerts prizewinner
returns on February 24 with
a program of works by Rachmaninoff
and the chamber version of Chopin’s
beloved Piano Concerto #1. Ye will be
joined by principal musicians of the
Sarasota Orchestra for this concert at
Church of the Palms.
The Lighter Fare Series offers
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concerts outdoors at Marie Selby
Botanical Gardens Downtown
Campus, and indoors at Plantation
Golf and Country Club (PGCC) in
Venice. Programs at PGCC include
dinner following the concert. PGCC
hosts the Cavatina Duo on January
17. Spanish flutist Eugenia Moliner
and her husband, Bosnian guitarist
Denis Azabagic, present an extravagant
program featuring flamenco,
tango, and opera fantasies.
The series concludes on February
21 at Selby Gardens with Empire
Wild, winner of the 2020 Concert
Artists Guild Ambassador Prize. This
genre-hopping trio with a love for
musical exploration fuses the sounds
of pop, folk, jazz and classical into
their songwriting and composition.
The Lunch and Listen Series continues
at the Sarasota Yacht Club. This
series spotlights gifted young artists
in concert at 11 a.m. followed by
lunch. Chelsea Guo, piano and soprano,
is a rare musical double feature.
Winner of the 2022 Young Concert
Artists Susan Wadsworth International
Auditions and included in Classic
FM’s “Rising Stars: 30 Brilliant Musicians
We’re Celebrating in 2022,” Guo
performs on February 1.
For information, visit ArtistSeries
Concerts.org or call (941) 306-1202.
enSRQ
Night and Day is on January 22.
enSRQ premieres Scott Lee’s Karst,
written for Artistic Directors Samantha
Bennett and George Nickson, the
first of this season’s two commissions.
Devoted to the joyous interplay of
dynamic contrasts, ‘Night and Day’
includes string, harp and percussion
pieces from Molly Herron, Sebastian
Currier, Einojuhaari Rautavaara, and
Sam Adams.
Held at First Congregational
Church, 1031 S. Euclid Ave. Sarasota.
Tickets and info: ensrq.org
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The Glenridge
Performing
Arts Center
January 6: Maria Wirries started
giving concerts at GPAC when she was
just 13 years old. Her voice teacher
was Glenridge musical director Alan
Corey. Since then, she graduated
with honors with a degree in musical
theater from Penn State. Wirries
was recently seen in the Off-Broadway
revival of “Kinky Boots” and the
Broadway and touring productions of
“Dear Evan Hansen.” She is returning
to the GPAC stage for a night of music
and entertainment.
• January 13: Steve Leslie Sings
James Taylor. Leslie has been playing
guitar and singing onstage since he
was 15 years old. Today, along with
performing his own music, Leslie has
performed hundreds of shows entertaining
audiences with the heartfelt
and lyrical songs of James Taylor.
• January 28: Harry Allen & His Flying
Horse Big Band will be swinging
the music of Duke Ellington, Terry
Gibbs, Billy May, Al Cohn, Jeff Rupert,
and Harry Allen.
• February 2: “Sincerely Sondheim”
with Nicholas Rodriguez. Direct from
the Tony Award-winning Revival of
“Company,” Nicholas Rodriguez celebrates
Stephen Sondheim with a nod
to both the lyrical and musical genius
of the late composer and his reputation
for his renowned penmanship.
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JANUARY 2024 WEST COAST WOMAN 7