“Rising Stars Showcase” 2015
Benefits New World School of the Arts
Thursday, March 19, 2015
New World Gallery
25 N.E. 2nd Street, Downtown Miami
Gusman Theater for the Performing Arts
174 E. Flagler Street, Downtown Miami
305-237-3620
MFlores1@MDC.edu (VIP tickets)
www.GusmanTheater.com or www.NWSA.MDC.edu (Performance Tickets)
“Rising Stars Showcase,” a professionally staged, energy packed, one-of-a-kind performance, presents the extraordinary talent of high school and college students from New World School of the Arts, Florida’s premier arts institution. The showcase, from 5 to 7:15 p.m., begins at the New World Gallery with the Rising Stars Visual Arts Exhibition, a juried exhibition that features impressive student artworks. The show, as diverse as the school population, includes painting, drawing, design, sculpture, digital media and installations.
The evening continues just a few blocks away at the historic Gusman Center for the Performing Arts with a pre-performance VIP Reception to welcome guests to this artistic landmark. Following the reception, the performance showcases excerpts from works performed by the high school and the college students during the school year.
Among the works to be presented is “A Weekend in the Country” from the Tony Award-winning musical “A Little Night Music,” with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. The Theater division will also delight the audience with “Tradition” from the Tony Award-winning musical “Fiddler on the Roof,” book by Joseph Stein and music by Jerry Block. Led by maestro Alfred Gershfeld, the NWSA Symphony Orchestra will present a symphonic favorite in Shostakovich’s “Festival Overture,” while the famed NWSA Jazz Band, under the direction of Jim Gasior, will dazzle the crowd once again with a tribute to Artie Shaw. “Asuka,” choreographed for the New York City-based company Ballet Hispanico, will highlight the NWSA college dancers. This particular work is homage to salsa legend Celia Cruz, set to her music and interlaced with other references to Vilaro’s native Cuba. The high school dancers will present “Earth,” a stirring work by NWSA alumnus Uri Sands. The piece “teeters on the edge of overwhelming in its pounding percussion and violent movements… conveying a daunting danger that left me breathless and audience on its feet” (Ron Hubbard, TwinCities.com).
New World School of the Arts was created by the Florida Legislature as a center of excellence in the performing and visual arts. It is an educational partnership of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Miami Dade College and the University of Florida. NWSA boasts alumni on Broadway, Grammy winners, dancers in companies like Alvin Ailey and highly regarded visual artists exhibiting internationally, including ArtBasel.
During the Rising Stars Showcase, the NWSA Rising Stars Alumnus Award will be presented to film writer, director and classical pianist Lulu Wang. The Award is presented each year to a high school or college graduate from New World School of the Arts, who is successfully contributing to his or her art form. This prestigious recognition recognizes the alum’s artistic achievements, as well as his or her growth and development as an artist. Lulu Wang is a recipient of the Roger and Chaz Ebert Directing Fellowship, which was awarded at the 2014 Film Independent Spirit Awards. She most recently wrote and directed her first narrative feature film, “Posthumous,” a love story set in Berlin, starring Jack Huston and Brit Marling with Lambert Wilson. She is also a 2014 fellow of Film Independent’s Project Involve. Wang was born in Beijing, but left at the age of six. She was raised in Miami where she attended New World School of the Arts as a classically trained concert pianist. A 2005 graduate of Boston College, Wang deferred law school after garnering several awards for a number of short films in an elective film class. Wang’s career in documentary films is on track with a number of commissions and developing and producing content for film, TV and new media. She splits her time between Los Angeles and New York.
The Rising Stars Visual Arts Exhibition is free and open to the public. Tickets for the Rising Stars Pre-Performance VIP Reception, from 6 to 7:15 p.m., range from $125 to $250. Admission to the Rising Stars Performing Arts Showcase, which begins at 7:30 p.m., ranges from $20 to $50.
About NWSA
New World School of the Arts was conceived in 1984 when the Florida State Legislature established the institution to provide artistically talented high school and college students the means to achieve both an academic education and artistic training. In September 1986, NWSA opened its doors to students in grades ten through twelve and in 1987 admitted the first class of college BFA students. NWSA’s audition-based programs are accredited by the National Association of Schools of Dance, Music, Theater and Art & Design. NWSA offers the high school diploma the AA college degree as well as a four-year BFA or BM degrees.
