For 15 years, Gulf Coast Symphony has opened the holiday season with “Deck the Halls” at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall. The symphony’s director and maestro, Andrew Kurtz, works hard to make the annual concert unique. He’s outdone himself this year.
“I invite different members of the community to participate in partnership with us,” Kurtz said. “So, we have The Symphonic Mastersingers with us this year. But I always look to make things new and different, too. So, I had found out about this aerial flying violinist. She was a member of Cirque du Soleil.”
Her name is Janice Martin. She is a virtuoso violinist who’s performed in some of the most celebrated concert halls in the world including New York’s Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall and Prague’s Rudolfinum.
However, she became a pop culture icon after wowing millions of viewers on the NBC Series “America’s Got Talent” with her aerial violin and vocal performance.
“I had never seen anything like this, and it was like, OK, I got to bring this woman in,” said Kurtz. “So, while the chorus is singing and the orchestra's playing, she's flying and playing the violin. It's going to be a ton of fun. She's a terrific musician, and we're just excited that we can get her.”
Martin will perform Tchaikovsky’s “Flying,” "Nutcracker Suite,” “A Violin Christmas Medley,” “Polar Express Suite,” “Carol of the Bells” and more.
In addition, the symphony will delight with traditional favorites like Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride,” a Celtic Irish Christmas and the Mannheim Steamroller’s “Silent Night.”
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Whether you’re a long-time fan of the Gulf Coast Symphony or new to the experience, “Deck the Halls” is the perfect way to celebrate the season. With a little something for everyone—you’ll find yourself swept up in the cheer of the season.
“We take the holidays seriously," Kurtz added. “But we also know it's a time that people want to relax, celebrate and sometimes get out of the house to get away from the stresses of the holidays. But then you also have people visiting you.”.
Janice Martin, Aerial Artist & Multi-Instrumentalist
Janice Martin is a globally acclaimed virtuoso and award-winning artist.
Following her critically acclaimed debut on solo violin at Carnegie Hall, Martin toured the world as a featured guest soloist. She has performed at the White House and with the internationally acclaimed troupe Cirque de la Symphonie, with whom she has performed with such orchestras as the Philadelphia Orchestra, The San Francisco Symphony, the Boston Pops, the Baltimore Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony, Houston Symphony, National Symphony and Atlanta Symphony, among others.
However, she attained pop culture status after appearing on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” and CW’s “The Big Stage.”
Her work has also been featured on television projects for the Discovery and History Channels, as well as on the big screen in the Miramax film “Paperclips.”
She is known for her extraordinary blend of brilliant musicianship and dynamic aerial artistry, captivating audiences with her groundbreaking fusion of brilliant violin playing and visually stunning aerial flying to powerful holiday music with great emotional sweep.
“So, she figured out a way to rig a violin on her back,” Kurtz explained. “So not only does she do all this flying, she's able to take out her violin and play as she's doing all these aerial stunts. It's not to be believed. It's worth the price of the ticket just to see this, because you're not going to see anything like this anywhere else.”
Martin’s musical credentials include the honorary use of the 1708 Burstein/Bagshawe Stradivarius Violin from the Stradivari Society, top prizes at the Washington International Competition, the Young Artist International Competition, and the Career Award Grant by National Endowment for the Arts. Musicians and critics such as Henry Fogel of the Chicago Symphony praised her tone, technique and depth of musicianship.
Martin’s unusual combination of abilities coupled with her passion for bringing Classical music to a “larger sphere” led her to also create aerial and musical “crossover” concerts that pull from both the repertoire of the giants in Classical music and also from “Symphony Pops” repertoire.
After co-creating and debuting “An Unlikely Affair” with Canadian fiddler Frank Leahy, Martin continued to develop and perform her multi-discipline concerts both for Symphony Pops (“An Evening with Janice Martin,” “Fascinating Gershwin,” “An Unlikely Affair”) and her one-woman shows with dancers and small band (“A Janice Martin Cirque Show,” “Princess of the Violin,” “Paganinimania” and “World on a String”) which she has toured worldwide.
Renowned composers such as the LA Philharmonic composer-in-residence Steven Stuckey, Miramax film composer Charlie Barnett, Jazz artists David Bixler, Larry Willis, Ricki Holmes and Broadway musical composer Bob Goldstone have composed for and collaborated with Ms. Martin.
In addition, Martin has produced and starred in her own show “The Janice Martin Cirque Show,” for which she has been awarded “Best New Show”, “Best Matinee Show” and “Female Entertainer of the Year.” She starred in the multi-talent role of Kat in Ernest Shackleton “Loves Me” and Martin is also an actively sought-after lecturer, coach and leader of master classes in universities and similar learning environments.
A native of Racine, Wisconsin, Martin is a graduate of The Juilliard School of Music, where she studied with Dorothy DeLay, Masao Kawasaki and Glenn Dicterow, and Indiana University School of Music, where she studied with Yuval Yaron, Franco Gulli and Mimi Zweig.
She is also a United States Army Veteran, for which she contributed a three-year enlistment as the premiere violin soloist for presidential performances in the White House, the Capitol and the State Department. She completed her basic training in Ft. Leonardwood, MO.
Ms. Martin has created DVDs, CDs and most recently authored a Children’s Inspirational Book entitled: “How I Learned to Fly.”
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
