School of Magic and Music to open in Logan

Jan. 14, 2011 - PRLog -- The Hatch Academy of Magic and Music, a unique educational institution offering instruction in both sleight-of-hand and violin performance, opens next week in Logan's historic 1878 Thatcher-Young Mansion. Named for longtime Logan residents and arts patrons, Anne and Eastman Hatch, the school is conceived as a combination of "Hogwarts and Juilliard" says "deceptionist" Richard Hatch, son of the Hatches and instructor of the magic classes. "When my wife Rosemary, a violinist, and I moved to Logan this Fall, we immediately began looking for a place to open our school," said Hatch. "I spotted an article in the Herald Journal soliciting input on the use of the Thatcher-Young Mansion. When we took a look inside, we fell in love with the possibilities!" But the decision on the Mansion use was in the hands of a committee which needed to make a recommendation to the CVCA Board, so it was not until early December that their proposal to open teaching studios in the Mansion was approved. The music studio, where Rosemary will offer private violin lessons, is on the Mansion's second floor, adjacent to Ryan Conger's guitar and piano studio. Richard's magic studio is appropriately housed in the Mansion's mysterious loft and will accommodate both private and group instruction in classical theatrical magic. Photographer Levi Sim is coordinating Mansion activities which include photography classes, gallery space and live performances.

Richard has deep roots in Cache Valley, having moved here from Ames, Iowa with his parents in 1969. "I graduated from Logan Junior High (now Logan Middle School) in the Logan Tabernacle in 1970, then spent 10th grade living with family friends in Germany. Much of my early inspiration as a magician came from being mentored by a fantastic German magician, Fredo Raxon, during that year," says Hatch. "I then returned to Logan and graduated from Logan High in 1973. After graduating from Carleton College in Minnesota in 1977, I spent a year in Spain writing and teaching English, then returned to Logan for a year of graduate study in Physics at USU. I then transferred to Yale University and spent four years studying Physics there at the graduate level before deciding I would rather violate the laws of nature than discover them. It turns out to be much easier!" After more than three decades travelling and performing around the world (including such exotic settings as Hollywood's Magic Castle, the Kingdom of Bahrain, and Eddie Murphy's New Year's Eve party), Richard is excited to be settling down in Cache Valley. "Three my four grandparents were born and raised in Cache Valley," says Hatch. "The city of Nibley was named for my great-grandfather, Charles W. Nibley, my great-grandfather Joseph Richardson was twice mayor of Smithfield, and my great-grandfather Hezekiah Eastman Hatch began as a clerk in George W. Thatcher's bank, and eventually became President of Thatcher Banking Company. It probably didn't hurt that he married one of Mr. Thatcher's nieces! So we feel right at home, not just in Cache Valley, but in the wonderful Thatcher-Young Mansion as well!"

In addition to their classes, the Hatches plan to offer regular matinée programs of magic and music at the Mansion one Saturday afternoon each month, beginning on April 9th.

The public is invited to view their studio space, enjoy live magic and music, and tour the Mansion on Saturday, January 22nd from 2 to 5 p.m. A magical ribbon cutting ceremony is scheduled at 2 p.m., with brief performances at 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. A sampling of Hatch's collection of rare magic posters and lithographs will be on display in the Mansion for the open house.

For more information on the Hatch Academy of Magic and Music, see www.HatchAcademy.com or call 435-932-0017.

About the Hatch Academy Faculty:

Richard Hatch, Deceptionist:
Although Richard Hatch holds two graduate degrees in Physics from Yale University, he finds it easier apparently to violate the laws of nature than to discover them. He has been performing his unique brand of magic full time since 1983. In 1985, shortly after winning first place in the annual New England Close Up Competition in Worcester, Massachusetts, Richard moved with his wife, violinist Rosemary Kimura, to Houston, Texas where they were based until moving to Richard’s hometown of Logan, Utah this Fall. 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. Hatch is a member of the Academy of Magical Arts, the International Brotherhood of Magicians, and is a lifetime member of the Society of American Magicians. Among magicians he is known 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. This past year he was a featured performer at the exhibit "Magic: The Science of Wonder" at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. He has just returned from Los Angeles where he lecture to docents of the Skirball Cultural Center on the topic of "Jewish Magicians of the Golden Age of Magic" to prepare them for an exhibition on that theme which opens at the Skirball on April 28, 2011.

Rosemary Kimura Hatch, Violinist:
Rosemary Kimura received her Masters degree from Yale School of Music and her Bachelors Degree with Performer’s Certificate from 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 has spent the past three summers on the faculty at the Interlochen Summer Arts Camp in Michigan. She and Richard Hatch were married in 1982 and have two children, Catherine and Jonathan.

About the Thatcher-Young Mansion:
The beautiful Thatcher-Young Mansion was built in 1878 by George W. Thatcher and his wife, Eunice Caroline (Luna) Young Thatcher, a daughter of Brigham Young. Purchased by the Cache Valley Center for the Arts (then known as the Capitol Arts Alliance) in 1989 and restored under the leadership of Newel Daines with the support of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the George and Dolores Eccles Foundation and the Emma Eccles Jones Foundation, the restored Mansion was presented to the City of Logan on July 24, 2001. The Mansion served as an art gallery and residence of the Alliance for the Varied Arts until June 25, 2010 when the AVA merged their programs with CVCA.

The Thatcher-Young Mansion is located at 35 West 100 South, just south of the Ellen Eccles Theatre.

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The Hatch Academy of Magic & Music is an educational institution in Logan, Utah offering private and group instruction in sleight-of-hand and violin performance.