Logan's Hatch Academy of Magic & Music to make Salt Lake City debut December 8th

Nov. 19, 2012 - PRLog -- Repertory Dance Theatre's Ring around the Rose series will present the Hatch Academy of Magic and Music at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center (138 W Broadway, SLC) at 11 a.m. on Saturday, December 8, 2012. This performance will mark the public debut in Salt Lake City of the Logan based ensemble.

The Hatch Academy opened as a teaching institution in Logan's historic 1878 Thatcher-Young Mansion in January 2011, just a few months after magician Richard Hatch and his wife, violinist Rosemary Hatch, moved there from Texas. Conceived as a combination of Hogwarts and Juilliard, the Hatch Academy offers private and group instruction in sleight-of-hand and violin and viola performance. A few months after opening, the Hatches began to offer ensemble performances at the Thatcher-Young Mansion, originally with their son, pianist Jonathan Hatch and more recently with pianist Shannon Lee.

"Although this performance marks our public debut in Salt Lake," says Richard Hatch, "Rosemary and I gave a private ensemble performance with pianist and composer Ricklen Nobis at the Utah Governor's Mansion about twenty years ago at the invitation of former first lady Norma Matheson. At the time we were living in Houston with no imminent plans to move to Utah. When we did move to Logan two years ago, Ricklen suggested our performance would be a good fit for RDT's Ring around the Rose series of programs for young audiences. We are delighted to be a part of this year's series."

The December 8th performance will feature magical and musical solos, as well as ensemble pieces in which the magic and music are happening simultaneously. For example, the "Heart of Glass" composed by German magician Punx is a magical fairy tale about a miser and a witch accompanied by Saint-Saens' "The Swan" while Canadian/American magician Dai Vernon's celebrated "Symphony of the Rings" is accompanied by Fritz Kreisler's "Tambourin Chinois". Hatch's own original story, "Taro-san the Fisherman and the Weeping Willow Tree", told with a magical Japanese "tamasudare" mat, is accompanied by a violin transcription of Michio Miyagi's "Haru no Umi" (Sea of Spring). Audience participation will be an important element of performance with one or two youngsters onstage for many effects, helping to make the magic happen!

Tickets are just $5 each but seating is limited at the Leona Wagner Black Box Theatre in the Rose Wagner complex, so advance purchase is recommended to avoid disappointment. Tickets are available through ArtTix (www.arttix.org or 801-355-ARTS) or at the box office.

About the performers:

Richard Hatch holds two graduate degrees in Physics from Yale University, but finds it easier apparently to violate the laws of nature than to discover them. A childhood interest in magic became a lifelong obsession after he met and was encouraged by the German magician Fredo Raxon in 1970. A full time professional “deceptionist” since 1983, Richard moved with his wife, violinist Rosemary Kimura, to Houston, Texas in 1985, shortly after winning first place in the annual New England Close Up Magic Competition in Worcester, Massachusetts. For several years he honed his craft entertaining the guests as one of the house magicians at Houston's Magic Island Nightclub before devoting himself exclusively to private and corporate work, traveling internationally on behalf of his clients. Richard is a member o the International Brotherhood of Magicians and is a lifetime member of the Society of American Magicians.  Until recently he was also co-owner with Charlie Randall of H & R Magic Books, the world’s largest purveyors of magic books (www.magicbookshop.com). Among magicians he is perhaps best known for his research on the identity of “S. W. Erdnase”, the mysterious author of the 1902 classic, Artifice, Ruse and Subterfuge at the Card Table, and as the translator from German into English of works about Johann Nepomuk Hofzinser (1806 – 1875), Paul Potassy, and the first four volumes of Roberto Giobbi’s acclaimed Card College course of card manipulation. A graduate of Logan Junior High and Logan High School, Richard and his wife Rosemary moved to Logan in October 2010 where they have opened the Hatch Academy of Magic and Music (www.hatchacademy.com) in the historic 1878 Thatcher-Young Mansion. Richard serves on the board of the Sunshine Terrace Foundation.

Rosemary Kimura Hatch received her Masters degree from the Yale School of Music and her Bachelors Degree with Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music. She has studied Chamber Music with the Fine Arts, Tokyo and Cleveland Quartets and with Raphael Hillyer. She has performed with the New Haven, Hartford, San Antonio and Houston Symphonies and with the Houston Grand Opera. Her principle private instructors have been Sergiu Luca, Syoko Aki, Peter Salaff, Charles Castleman and Martha Katz. As a teacher herself she has been on the faculty of Music Schools in New Haven, Milwaukee and Houston. She currently teaches privately at the Hatch Academy of Magic and Music in Logan and at Interlochen Summer Arts Camp in Michigan. She and Richard Hatch were married in 1982 and have two children, Catherine and Jonathan.

Shannon Lee has performed with her older siblings Sherilyn and Brandon Lee in Texas and California as well as for the last ten years each summer here in Logan on the Tabernacle at Noon Concert Series. She has won numerous awards and studied with Brandon Lee and Professors Dennis Hirst and Gary Amano.

About the Repertory Dance Theatre's Ring around the Rose series:

Ring Around The Rose is a wiggle friendly series of performances for children and families that explores the magical world of the arts including dance, theatre, music and storytelling. All shows begin at 11:00am at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W Broadway, SLC. Shows are $5 (kids 2 and under are free).

Ring Around The Rose is supported in part by: The Utah Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts, Salt Lake City Arts Council, and the Salt Lake County Zoo Arts & Parks Program.
For more info visit rdtutah.org