Major arts organizations of Palm Beach County, Florida are connecting with their community and audiences throughout the country who are coping with isolation with “One Voice,” an unprecedented cross-cultural and interdisciplinary collaboration that brings together music, dance and theater in an inspiring online performance.

Presented by the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County, the video proudly showcases the amazing talent from Ballet Palm Beach, the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Palm Beach Opera and Palm Beach Symphony in an engaging, entertaining video performance set to Barry Manilow’s “One Voice.”

David McClymont, CEO of Palm Beach Symphony, which is the Cultural Council’s 2020 Muse Award recipient for Outstanding Community Engagement, said “While theaters and concert halls are dark, arts organizations and artists have found they can break through social isolation online, giving us hope, shining a light through darkness and providing uplifting content that connects us as one. In speaking with our collaborators, it was clear that we all feel this is vital to support our community. Although I am unaware of this taking place in any other region, I proposed a video collaboration as a unique opportunity for us to bring our separate disciplines together in a way we have never experienced before.”

McClymont suggested all the artists perform alone in their living rooms, a familiar setting to millions of Americans searching for a connection with others. The video was produced by Andrew Kato, the Maltz Jupiter Theatre’s producing artistic director and chief executive, and edited by Jeff Barry, the Theatre’s director of media, with audio engineering by Marty Mets, the Theatre’s resident sound designer. The final video features the contributions of nearly two dozen artists.

Brenna Epstein, from the Maltz Jupiter Theatre Goldner Conservatory of Performing Arts, opens the video and then is joined by fellow Conservatory students Chase Bauer, Jaelyn Korkin, Gabriela Smith and Cosette Gresh, all of whom rehearsed under the direction of the Conservatory’s Director of Education Julie Rowe.

“I suggested the song ‘One Voice’ because the lyrics speak to the isolation we feel and how we can come together as one unified county,” Kato said. “One lone voice is joined by another and another and then is joined by a chorus of voices, instruments and movements that unite to shine a light on Palm Beach County and the unparalleled, unique cultural arts we all contribute to our community. I’m extremely proud of the quality and diversity of work that is being created in South Florida.”

The score is performed by Palm Beach Symphony principal musicians Valentin Mansurov (violin), Claudio Jaffé (cello), Anna Brumbaugh (clarinet), Domingo Pagliuca (trombone) and Evan Saddler (drum kit and percussion) who are joined by fellow Symphony musicians Huifang Chen (violin), Scott O’Donnell (viola), Kevin Karabell (trumpet), Jeff Adkins (electric bass guitar) and Aziz Sapaev (acoustic guitar).

Recent graduates from the Benenson Young Artist Program and the Bailey Apprentice Artist Program for international artists to perform and study with Palm Beach Opera lent their voices from around the nation: soprano Patricia Westley (South Carolina); soprano Suzannah Waddington (Pennsylvania); mezzo-soprano Jenny Anne Flory (Virginia); tenor Duke Kim (California); and bass-baritone Ted Allen Pickell (California).

“We are deeply honored to be a part of this project, presented by the Cultural Council, which is a natural mechanism to unite our organizations in this way,” said Palm Beach Opera General Director David Walker. “We are thrilled to be featuring recent graduates of our nationally recognized resident artist training programs, as this is a vital moment where we can all harness our collective performing power to bring positivity, strength and solidarity to all of us during this time. It is now more than ever that we all need to lean into the power of the performing arts, and into our connections and collaborations with each other, to help us remain heartened and enriched while we all weather this storm together.”

Lily Ojea Loveland, an original member of the Ballet Palm Beach Company who is now in her 11th season with the company, performs the dance solo she mastered in remote rehearsals with the Company’s Founding Artist Director Colleen Smith.

“This is a time when we have to look at what we do as artists and tap into what motivates us,” said Smith, who is offering tuition free remote classes to her students. “Maybe you can only dance in your living room, but you can take classes and see performances that were never available before. The gifting of art now is huge and what artists and their organizations are allowing us to do is amazing.”

The four non-profit arts organizations are preparing to launch their programming for the 2020/21 season with mainstage performances held at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts and the Maltz Jupiter Theatre. To learn more visit BalletPalmBeach.org, JupiterTheatre.org, PalmBeachOpera.org and PalmBeachSymphony.org.

“Now more than ever, we need the arts to help us grieve, heal and connect,” said Dave Lawrence, president & CEO of the Cultural Council. “The One Voice project is a shining example of the strength of our cultural community and its ability to come together to celebrate the importance of the arts in our lives.”

The Cultural Council for Palm Beach County is the only organization solely dedicated to supporting arts and culture in The Palm Beaches, Florida’s Cultural Capital®. In its sustaining effort to foster growth of the cultural sector, the Council provides support services to cultural organizations and creative professionals, administers public and private grant programs, advocates for cultural funding, enhances local arts education, and promotes cultural tourism.

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