Bands wanted for annual battle in Sarasota

Got a band? Want to make $1,500?

Maybe you can.

Through Sept. 18, area musicians can upload songs for the 2016 SRQ Rock for a Cause battle-of-the-bands competition. There will be online voting, and the top six bands (which can actually be solo acts and duets as well) will perform live Nov. 12 in downtown Sarasota. The winning band gets $1,500.

The “cause” for this year’s event is providing money for students from the Del Couch Music Education Foundation to attend summer programs at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

The contest is open to all ages and all genres of music. The two songs entered can be either audio or video files.

You can learn more by calling 941-256-7983, emailing srqrocks-submissions@sone.com going to the website at srqrocks.org.

We’re (both) No. 1!

Theater experts in Missouri think pretty highly of playwrights in the Bradenton area.

Every year, the City Theatre of Independence, Mo., holds a play-writing festival. Submissions of short plays come from all over the country. Probably from other countries, too.

This year’s festival attracted 75 entries. Eight of them were selected for production, and then judges selected a winner.

Except that this year, they chose two winners. Judges thought two of the plays were better than the others, but couldn’t decide which of the two they liked more. So they called it a tie.

Both the winners were by playwrights from this area.

“Send This,” by Robert L. Kinast of Siesta Key, is about two call-center employees. One gets a chain email that’s she supposed to send to 10 friends. The two characters debate whether to send it along. On a Kansas City radio program, a theater official called it “hilarious.”

“Waiting for Seven,” by Phil W. Hall of Longboat Key, is about older women discussing their ex-husbands. One has been married six times and is hoping to marry again.

Both Kinast and Hall have their works produced locally with some regularity, and both have had their plays staged in New York.

But that they’re both from here and they ended up as co-winners of a competition halfway across the country is really odd, in a very cool way.

’Tis the season

Mid-summer is when performing arts companies start letting us know what they have in store for us in the season ahead. And with so many arts groups in this area, the season announcements come in at a rapid pace this time of year.

One of the latest comes from Gloria Musicae, which bills itself as “Sarasota’s only professional vocal ensemble.” Its 38th season starts Nov. 6 at Siesta Key Chapel with “Viva España!” featuring the music of Spain and the New World, with the chorus accompanied by guitar, piano and dancer.

The Dec. 11 concert at the Sarasota Opera House is titled “Too Hot to Handel,” and features the music of Handel’s “Messiah” treated in a gospel style, with members of the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe and the Sarasota Orchestra.

“Brahms’ Lullaby and Beyond,” at Faith Lutheran Church on Jan. 22, includes Brahms’ “Gypsy Songs” set for chamber chorus and his “Love Songs.”

“Faithfully French Choral Classics” (March 5, First Church) features Poulenc’s “Gloria” and Duruflé’s “Requiem.”

For Verdi’s “Requiem,” a tribute to the Sarasota Opera’s recently completed “Verdi Cycle,” Gloria Musicae teams with the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay, the Sarasota Orchestra and four soloists (April 23; Sarasota Opera House).

And “Voices of Freedom,” featuring settings of famous texts in American history, is set for the Fourth of July at First Church.

You can make your plans now, but you’ll have to wait until September to buy tickets. They’ll run you between $20 and $60, and you can get them through gloriamusicae.org.

This story was originally published August 5, 2016 at 4:46 PM with the headline "Bands wanted for annual battle in Sarasota."