Culture
OU to Host Sharon Van Etten Talk Feb. 19
< < Back to ou-to-host-sharon-van-etten-talk-feb-19The Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University, in partnership with the School of Media Arts & Studies and OU WIMI (Women in Music Industry), will host critically acclaimed singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten on Friday, Feb. 19 from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. in Glidden Music Hall.
Van Etten will visit Ohio University as a part of the Scripps Visiting Artist Series, sitting down for an onstage and live-streaming interview about her widely heralded career. The event is free and open to the public.
“Sharon Van Etten has distinguished herself as one of the most consistently stellar songwriters of the last six years,” said Josh Antonuccio, an instructor in the School of Media Arts & Studies. “She has carved her own niche in the music industry, a niche that has been marked by a continued journey of transparency and self-discovery. With each subsequent release, she has won a greater legion of both fans and critics alike. It is a privilege to welcome her to Ohio University to share about that journey.”
Antonuccio will interview Van Etten on-stage at Glidden Music Hall and the event will be live-streamed online. Online viewers will be able to ask questions of Van Etten via Twitter by tweeting their question with the hashtag #askoumdia.The online stream can be accessed at mediaschool.ohio.edu.
Van Etten started her career with a move to Brooklyn, where she began to play in small public spaces, and to record her songs on hand-painted CD-R’s. She sold them at shows and via her website. After making a connection with Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio, she was encouraged to pursue a musical career.
Van Etten continued to perform, but was determined to learn about the business of music. To that end, she secured an internship with Ba Da Bing Records, later earning a role as a full-time publicist. Van Etten’s first nationally released album was 2009’s sparsely orchestrated Because I Was In Love, recorded for Language of Stone, a label connected to Chicago-based Drag City. Reviews were almost universally positive and helped secure her opening slots on other artist’s tours, as well as headline her first shows. This effort was followed by the band-oriented breakthrough album Epic in 2010.
Signed to the influential label Jagjaguwar late in 2010, Van Etten began opening for The National on tour and working with the band’s Aaron Dessner as a producer in the studio. Their collaboration resulted in the 2012 album Tramp. In support of the album, she toured the United States as a headliner and also played clubs and festivals in Europe. In 2013, she sang on The National’s Trouble Will Find Me.
Van Etten returned to the studio and later released 2014’s Are We There, earning some of the highest acclaim of her career and achieving near-universal praise for her insightful and confessional songwriting. Last year, she followed up with the five-track EP I Don’t Want to Let You Down, followed by dates in Europe and Australia, major festival performances at Governors Ball and Boston Calling, and the completion of her first South American tour.
Sharon recently joined artists such as Kurt Vile, Kevin Shields and Kim Gordon to celebrate 30 years of Dinosaur Jr. during their multi-night residency in New York City and also headlined the NPR All Songs Considered Sweet 16 concert. As well, her songs have been featured in numerous TV shows and films including The Walking Dead, Catfish, Rectify and Very Good Girls.