Sarasota Music Festival Turns 61

Every June, Sarasota becomes a landing spot for some of the most promising young classical musicians in the world, and the master artists who teach them. The Sarasota Music Festival is back for its 61st year, running June 1 through 13 at Holley Hall downtown, and it's still one of the most quietly impressive things the city pulls off all year.

More than a concert series

What sets the festival apart is the model. This is a teaching festival, not just a run of performances. Each summer the Sarasota Orchestra invites a group of conservatory-level fellows, chosen by audition from around the globe, to spend two weeks studying with a faculty of world-class players. The public gets to hear the results across chamber programs, festival concerts, and open rehearsals, all packed into a couple of weeks. Most festivals hand you a ticket; this one hands you a window into how great musicians are actually made.

Teachers and students, on the same stage

There's a wrinkle worth knowing about this year. According to the orchestra, for the first time in the festival's history, faculty and fellows are sharing the stage together in every concert, not alternating nights but performing side by side. It's a small structural change with a big payoff for the audience: you might catch a young fellow trading phrases with a faculty soloist who has played the world's great concert halls. That blurring of master and apprentice is exactly the kind of thing that makes this festival special.

What's on the calendar

The two weeks build toward a full-orchestra finale led by guest conductor Nicholas McGegan, with flutist Jasmine Choi featured in Mozart. Before that, the calendar is stacked with chamber concerts and festival programs, including this weekend's Beethoven and Mendelssohn evening on Friday, which you'll find down in the Events section below. Tickets and the full schedule are at Holley Hall, the orchestra's home on North Tamiami Trail.

If you've never been, this is a good year to start. It's world-class music at neighborhood prices, and it only comes around for these two weeks.

Learn more (Sarasota Orchestra)