Sybarite5 in SRQ for New Music Idol 2.0

Sybarite5, the nationally-acclaimed cutting edge string ensemble whose oeuvre ranges from Mozart to Radiohead, is returning to Sarasota on Friday for a week long residency, which kicks off with a reprise of last year’s sold-out New Music Idol at the Rosemary District’s HuB Incubator.

Like last year’s event, New Music Idol 2.0 provides New College music composition students with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Students have been invited to submit their own original compositions, only two minutes in length, to be performed by Sybarite5 before an American Idol style panel of judges. The performance, which will be streamed live from 9pm – 11pm, will be interactive in that, like American Idol, audience members are invited to text their votes to choose the winning composition.

Sybarite5 will perform the winning composition at Holley Hall in the Beatrice Friedman Symphony Center, either at 8:30 pm on Saturday, April 30 or 2:30 pm on Sunday, May 1. The composition will be part of The Shuffle Effect, Sybarite5’s latest program which was recently performed for a sold-out audience at Lincoln Hall.

The Shuffle Effect is redefining the parameters for audience experience by replacing the traditional set list with an iPod containing Sybarite5’s repertoire. The iPod is set to shuffle, and the set list is determined song-by-song as band members press the “next” button and play whatever shows up on the screen – which could be anything from Stravinsky to Led Zeppelin.

New Music Idol 2.0 is scheduled to take place at 9pm on Friday, April 29, at the HuB Incubator in downtown Sarasota. Tickets are $15 in advance or “pay what you can” at the door. The Shuffle Effect will be performed at Holley Hall in the Beatrice Friedman Symphony Center at 8:30pm on Saturday, April 1, and 2:30pm on Sunday, May 1, with general admission tickets selling for $25 apiece.

For more information or to tune in to the live New Music Idol 2.0 performance, visit the HuB’s website.