Scene & Heard

+ Evancho tapes solo concert at Ringling Museum
The Ringling Museum slipped this one under our noses while we were preoccupied with the Sarasota Film Festival. “America’s Got Talent” sweetheart Jackie Evancho, an 11-year-old classical singer with pipes like a veteran opera diva, shot her first solo concert April 10 through April 14, at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art.

Accompanied by 16-time Grammy Award-winning composer and producer David Foster and several musicians from the Sarasota Orchestra, Evancho performed selections from her second album, “Dream With Me,” for the PBS series, “Great Performances.”

The Ringling crew remained mum about the concert, which airs next month on PBS stations across the country. (Locals can catch the program at 3:30 p.m. June 4 and 7:30 p.m. June 5 on WEDU.)

According to Pam Fendt, director of marketing and communications for the museum, only select board members, volunteers and staff were allowed to watch performances, which were shot in four locations around the Ringling campus: the courtyard, Cà d’Zan, Historic Asolo Theater and Rubens Gallery.

“It’s been a while since we’ve seen something of this caliber shot at the museum,” Fendt says. “It was an opportunity for us to be highlighted in the most extraordinary way. We were thrilled to get involved.”

+ Frary closes Rosemary District gallery
The Rosemary District has suffered some serious blows this season.

First, it saw the opening and closing of two cafés in the former Sarasota Olive Oil location and, then, it bid farewell to Laura Daniel Gale, whose Central Avenue boutique, everything but the girl, ended its six-year-run in April.

Now the latest neighborhood casualty — Frary Gallery, which opened in 2009 on Fifth Street — has closed up shop and is looking for temporary “pop-up” space to showcase its collection of eclectic art.

“I had to make a decision before summer hit,” says owner Lori Frary. “Otherwise, I’d be sitting here like the Maytag repair man waiting for someone to walk through the door and buy art.” 

In just two years, Frary, a no-nonsense, straight-shooter with an affinity for mid-priced contemporary art, has made a big impact on the Rosemary District.

She provided rare wall space for local emerging artists, was elected to president of the district and won a People magazine contest in which she gloated about the neighborhood.

“A pop-up gallery scenario makes the most amount of sense,” says Frary, who had to resign as the neighborhood’s president now that she’s no longer a business owner. “You’re utilizing people’s empty space, and you’re no longer a static location that people take for granted. It creates a sense of urgency when you have only so much time to see or purchase art.”

In the meantime, Frary will continue to sell art off her website, frarygallery.com. Good luck, girl. We’ll miss your colorful footprint.

+ Oh baby, the places you’ve been!
You wouldn’t know it from the headshot that runs with this column, but I’m nine months pregnant and less than a week away from my due date.

To those of you whom I’ve interviewed this past season: Thank you for being so protective of The Bump, as I’ve scaled chairs, stools, desks and condominium roofs to snap photos.

To those of you in public-relations departments who’ve provided me with Reese’s Cups at evening press conferences: thank you.

I feel like my kid has soaked up more arts and culture in utero than some people do in a lifetime.   

On one recent assignment at Ringling College of Art and Design, actor Andy Garcia even paid heed to The Bump when a cell phone went off in the middle of his lecture. 

The ring tone was (coincidentally) a nursery rhyme, and its owner happened to be sitting next to me in the crowd. 

Garcia stopped mid-sentence as his eyes met mine.

“It’s not my phone,” I squeaked.

To which Garcia replied in his famous Cuban accent: “The baby isn’t even born yet and you’re already singing it lullabies.”

So, dear readers, I leave Diversions in good hands. I’ll be on maternity leave for the summer, and in my stead, The Observer’s talented and effervescent community editor, Loren Mayo ([email protected]), will take over the section and with it, this column.

I’ll be back in the fall — ironically, around Labor Day.

See you then!