Melissa Aldana Program

CONTENTS

Theatre Staff

Whitney Morse on The Sharon® L. Morse Performing Arts Center

Biography

Coming Soon

THEATRE STAFF

Director of Operations

Artistic Director

Production Manager

Senior Booking Manager

Senior Marketing Coordinator

Executive Administrator

Lighting Director

Assistant Lighting Directors

Senior Production Coordinator

Production Coordinator

Audio Visual Director

House Manager

Assistant House Manager

Director of Ticketing & Customer Relations

2

3

5-7

Jason Goedken

Whitney Morse

Jon Cronin

Elizabeth Constant

Taylor Gunnell

Sean Graham

Mason Shell

Alison Southgate Colin Hall

Cassandra Francois

Morgan Thompson

Luke Bezio

Heather Ard

Sierra Baggins

Yasmeen Stogden

Promotion & Marketing

©2022

The Villages Media Group

The Villages Sales & Marketing Ad Sales

The Sharon L. Morse Performing Arts Center.

on

Sharon®L. Morse

ARTS

Dear Patron of the Arts,

Welcome to The Sharon® L. Morse Performing Arts Center!

Much like the building’s namesake, my grandmother, Sharon L. Morse, we love all varieties of the performing arts here. It is in her memory that I, along with my amazing team of artists and arts administrators, strive to bring many different types of the highest quality entertainment here to The Sharon.

Since opening in 2015, we have strived to establish your trust, that a show at The Sharon is a show worth seeing. Perhaps you find yourself here today to see a concert of one of your favorite musicians, or to take in the national tour of a Broadway show. Either way, we encourage you to consider trying out a new show that perhaps you haven’t heard of before, knowing that it has been intentionally curated by our team.

We welcome you to The Sharon: a place for you to see an old favorite, but also a place to discover your new favorite. I sincerely hope you enjoy the show today, and I look forward to seeing you here again soon!

See You at The Sharon,

hitney Morse

Artistic Director

GRAMMY-nominated saxophonist and composer Melissa Aldana has garnered international recognition for her visionary work as a band leader, as well as her deeply meditative interpretation of language and vocabulary. She recently signed with Blue Note Records and released her debut album with the historic label titled 12 Stars in March 2022. “Melissa Aldana is one of the foremost musician/ composers of her generation,” says Blue Note President Don Was.

Aldana was one of the founding members of ARTEMIS, the all-star collective that released their debut album ARTEMIS on Blue Note this past Fall. The album featured Aldana’s simmering composition “Frida,” which was dedicated to Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, who inspired the musician through “her own process of finding self-identity through art.”

Kahlo was also the subject of Aldana’s celebrated 2019 album Visions (Motéma), which earned the saxophonist her first-ever GRAMMY nomination for Best Improvised Jazz Solo, an acknowledgement of her impressive tenor solo on her composition “Elsewhere.” In naming Visions among the best albums of 2019 for NPR Music, critic Nate Chinen wrote that Aldana “has the elusive ability to balance technical achievement against a rich emotional palette.”

Aldana was born in Santiago, Chile and grew up in a musical family. Both her father and grandfather were saxophonists and she took up the instrument at age six under her father Marcos’ tutelage. Aldana began on alto, influenced by artists such as Charlie Parker and Cannonball Adderley, but switched to tenor upon first hearing the music of Sonny Rollins. She performed in Santiago jazz clubs in her early teens and was invited by pianist Danilo Pérez to play at the Panama Jazz Festival in 2005.

Aldana moved to the U.S. to attend the Berklee College of Music, and the year after graduating she released her first album Free Fall on Greg Osby’s Inner Circle label in 2010, followed by Second Cycle in 2012. In 2013, at 24, she became the first female instrumentalist and the first South American musician to win the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition, in which her father had been a semi-finalist in 1991. After her win, she released her third album Melissa Aldana & Crash Trio (Concord). Aldana is also an in-demand clinician and educator, and the New England Conservatory’s Jazz Studies Department recently appointed her to their jazz faculty in the Fall of 2021.

1045 Old Camp Rd, The Villages 352-750-6000

2738 Brownwood Blvd, The Villages 352-571-5344

1542 Water Tower Cir, The Villages 352-751-4501

*Ticket stub must be from a show in the last six months. It may be shown digitally or printed.

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The Villages of Lake-Sumter, Inc. (“Developer”) is the developer of The Villages. This is not an offering of property in any jurisdiction where prior registration is required unless Developer has met such requirements. Actual improvements may vary from those shown. Prices and availability are subject to change without notice. © 2020 – The Villages of Lake-Sumter, Inc., All rights reserved.