Monica Gagnier

Sarasota

Arts and Entertainment Editor at Observer Media Group

Coal miner's granddaughter. Berlin-born Army brat living car-free. @NewhouseSU grad who ❤️ Main St. Eye on arts, kids and climate. Views mine

Articles

Save the date for these fall arts and entertainment events in Sarasota

2 days ago | yourobserver.com | Monica Gagnier

As the 2024-25 season winds down and the snowbirds head north, it's not too early to think about marking your calendar for some blockbuster events coming up in the fall. Many cultural groups have already announced their 2025-26 seasons to great fanfare in the hopes of attracting new and repeat subscribers. Depending on the arts organization, individual tickets for next season may not be on sale just yet.
Suncoast Composer Fellowship Program explores musical storytelling

3 days ago | yourobserver.com | Monica Gagnier

Perlman Music Program alumni Max Tan is a violinist and what might be called a cultural entrepreneur through his classical music nonprofit Soundbox Ventures. He’s also proven himself a bit of an amateur meteorologist. Or maybe he’s just plain lucky. After founding the Suncoast Composer Fellowship Program to partner emerging composers with mentors and performers, Sarasota Orchestra member Tan launched the inaugural Suncoast Composer Festival and scheduled it for October 4-7, 2024.
Funnyman Will Leura shows a serious side in 'Entangled'

1 week ago | yourobserver.com | Monica Gagnier

When Sarasota theater patrons hear the name “Will Leura,” they’re likely to think of humor and improvisation. Rightly so. For a decade ending in December 2024, Leura was the director of improvisation at Florida Studio Theatre, where he was in charge of programming and education for FST Improv as well as organizing the wildly successful Sarasota Improv Festival, which comes to town each July.
Funnyman Will Luera shows a serious side in 'Entangled'

1 week ago | yourobserver.com | Monica Gagnier

When Sarasota theater patrons hear the name “Will Luera,” they’re likely to think of humor and improvisation. Rightly so. For a decade ending in December 2024, Luera was the director of improvisation at Florida Studio Theatre, where he was in charge of programming and education for FST Improv as well as organizing the wildly successful Sarasota Improv Festival, which comes to town each July.
EnsembleNewSRQ pays tribute to a modern master

2 weeks ago | yourobserver.com | Monica Gagnier

When George Nickson and Samantha Bennett were planning the 2024-25 season for ensembleNew-SRQ, the contemporary classical music group they founded nine years ago, the husband-and-wife team agreed that it was time to perform “Jagden und Formen” by German composer Wolfgang Rihm. Both Nickson and Bennett had met Rihm at the prestigious Lucerne Festival, where he was artistic director since 2016, and both were fans of “Jagden und Formen” (Hunts and Forms).
Tap dance is the star of WBTT's 'Syncopated Avenue'

3 weeks ago | yourobserver.com | Monica Gagnier

If you’re not a “Dance Mom,” your cultural references to tap dancing may be few and far between. Most people know about the iconic interracial duet between 6-year-old Shirley Temple, “America’s Sweetheart,” and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson in the 1935 film “The Little Colonel.” Another young tapper, Savion Glover, captured America’s heart in “The Tap Dance Kid,” a hit Broadway show in the 1980s.
Sarasota Ballet tries to catch Ashton's 'Wedding Bouquet'

3 weeks ago | yourobserver.com | Monica Gagnier

Gertrude Stein wrote, “A rose is a rose is a rose,” but is it also true that “a ballet is a ballet is a ballet”? If she were still alive, we would ask Stein, a literary lion of the 20th century known for her love of word play. Stein wrote the libretto for Sir Frederick Ashton’s “The Wedding Bouquet,” which the Sarasota Ballet performs April 25-26 at the Sarasota Opera House.
Teen director makes her debut with 'My Guardian Angel'

1 month ago | yourobserver.com | Monica Gagnier

Lots of people of all ages dream about going back to their old school. The rock group Steely Dan even made a hit song vowing never to do such a thing. But there’s no denying that classroom and playground memories are powerful, whether you want to revisit them or not. Teen film director Nya Chambless returned to her old elementary school, Bay Haven School of Basics Plus, to shoot scenes for her feature film, “My Guardian Angel,” which premiered April 12 at the Sarasota Film Festival.
Take Tammy's trolley to learn all about Sarasota

1 month ago | yourobserver.com | Monica Gagnier

Want to learn more about Sarasota’s storied circus history? Fascinated by the town’s midcentury modern architecture? Intrigued by the Amish community in Pinecraft? Whatever your interest, Tammy Hauser’s Discover Sarasota Tours by trolley have got you covered. You’ll find Hauser’s entertainment empire (just a little hyperbole here, folks) housed in a 1930s bungalow on Fruitville Road not far from the intersection with Washington Avenue.
La Musica Chamber Festival gets a lift from new leadership

1 month ago | yourobserver.com | Monica Gagnier

Pianist Wu Han is a busy woman. Last week found her in Lawrence, Kansas, near Kansas City, where she was in the middle of a tour that included 13 concerts in 16 days. In addition to performing around the world, Wu and her husband, cellist David Finckel, serve as the artistic directors of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York and Silicon Valley’s Music@Menlo. They also run a classical music recording company and teach.