A Valentines Evening of Elegance and Magic

Jan. 29, 2013 - PRLog -- A Valentine Evening of Elegance and Magic at the American West Heritage Center February 14 and 15

Celebrate Valentine's Day the old-fashioned way with dinner and a vaudeville style show of magic and music featuring deceptionist Richard Hatch, violinist Rosemary Hatch and pianist Shannon Lee at the AWHC Opera House.

On Thursday, February 14th and Friday, February 15th the American West Heritage Center will offer a special dinner for two, prepared by Elements Restaurant, followed by a vaudeville style program of magic and music in the opera house. Wagon rides to and from the venue and historically attired staff will all be a part of both special evenings! Seating for dinner will begin at 6 p.m. with the performance in the opera house to follow at 7:30 p.m. The performance will feature selections from the Hatch Academy's acclaimed ensemble performances, including Punx's "Heart of Glass", accompanied by Saint-Saens' "The Swan" and "The Music Box of Anna Eva Fay", inspired by the famous vaudeville psychic and accompanied by the first movement of Beethoven's celebrated "Moonlight" Sonata. Several new pieces will make their debut at the Opera House this year, so those who have attended in prior year's may be assured that they will not only see some old favorites, but some new feats as well.

Tickets are just $55 per couple for dinner and the show and just $25/couple for the show only. Individual tickets for dinner or the show are available at half the couple price. Dinner reservations are required by February 12th. For tickets and more information, call the American West Heritage Center at 435-245-6050.      

Performer's biographies:

Magician 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 and his wife Rosemary moved to Cache Valley in October 2010 and opened the Hatch Academy of Magic and Music in Logan's historic 1878 Thatcher-Young Mansion in January 2011. Richard serves on the board of the Sunshine Terrace Foundation. His first book, "Taro-san the Fisherman and the Weeping Willow Tree", published in December, has just been nominated for a Utah Book Award in the children's literature category.

Violinist Rosemary Kimura Hatch 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 currently teaches privately at the Hatch Academy of Magic and Music, Utah State Univeristy, 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 USU Professors Dennis Hirst and Gary Amano.

The American West Heritage Center is a nonprofit organization devoted to celebrating and preserving the heritage of Cache Valley, Utah, and its surrounding regions. The Center does this primarily through living history activities, events, school programs, exhibits, and outreach activities. The Center sits at the foot of the majestic Wellsville Mountains on U. S. Highway 89/91. The Center's website with more information is www.awhc.org