Sarasota Music Festival Announces 2017 Highlights

Sarasota Music Festival announced its concert programs for the 2017 season, the first under new music director Jeffrey Kahane.

Only the third music director in the Festival's 53-year history, Kahane has expressed a commitment to upholding the mission and traditions of the Festival, while instituting new programs and concert formats intended to attract broader audiences.

The three-week festival runs from June 4 - 25 and features a wide-range of classical music concerts, master classes, coaching sessions and open rehearsals.

"The Festival mixes youthful promise with seasoned mastery. I feel honored to be entrusted with such a remarkable teaching Festival that has alumni in all the major American orchestras. As we move forward, our audiences will enjoy the unique opportunity to experience an impressive confluence of music making and breathtaking concerts," said Kahane.

2017 Sarasota Music Festival Highlights include:

• All six of Bach's Brandenburg Concerti will be performed in one evening, in what Kahane calls a "bucket list" experience for people who love classical music. "This has been done before, but not often, and never, to my knowledge, in a setting where master faculty, rising pre-professional students and orchestra musicians will be collaborating together - most of whom will be meeting each other at the first rehearsal," said Kahane.

• Cutting-edge chamber ensemble yMusic will perform works composed for them on a Friday night concert at the historic Sarasota Opera House. Performance Today said yMusic is "one of the groups that has helped shape the future of classical music." YMusic is a group of six, young New York City instrumentalists flourishing in the overlap between pop and classical music. "By bringing in an ensemble doing groundbreaking work, we hope to advance our educational aspirations for Festival participants and energize our audience," said Kahane.

• Kahane will collaborate with former Festival Music Director and 2017 faculty artist Robert Levin in a performance of Schubert's Fantasie in F Minor. "What a testament to the primacy of our beloved Festival that my good friend Bob Levin and I will be sharing not only the stage, but a piano in performance for four hands. I know this will be a very special moment for me, and I am delighted that our audience will share it with us," said Kahane.

• Flutist Jasmine Choi and Alexander Kerr, Concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony, will each be performing a concerto with the Festival orchestra made up mostly of student participants. "Jasmine is a former Festival student from 2003 and among the top flautists in the world. Alex is representative of what makes the SMF faculty so special: an accomplished soloist, conservatory professor and concertmaster. What a treat to have both perform during the Festival," said Kahane. The third featured concerto during the Festival will be performed by Kahane.

• Five new faculty artists include the following: Frank Almond, concertmaster at the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra; Margaret Batjer, concertmaster of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; Madeline Adkins, concertmaster of the Utah Symphony; pianist Norman Krieger, Indiana University professor, soloist and chamber musician; conductor Brett Mitchell, music director of the Colorado Symphony.

About the Sarasota Music Festival:

For three weeks each June, faculty artists and pre-professional musicians come together in Sarasota to study and perform chamber and orchestral music. Nearly 500 students worldwide audition to participate in the Sarasota Music Festival each year, but only 60 are accepted for the prestigious Festival, a program of the Sarasota Orchestra.

Founded by Paul Wolfe, the Sarasota Music Festival began in 1965 as a one-week event with seven guest mentors. Wolfe was its director for 42 years, as the Festival garnered international acclaim.

Robert Levin served as director of the Festival for a decade, 2007 through 2016.

In its first season under Artistic Director Jeffrey Kahane, the 2017 festival welcomes more than 40 guest artists, including many of the festival's own alumni.

Kahane is a renowned conductor and pianist who has performed with many of the world's great orchestras. He recently completed his 20th season as Music Director of The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Previously, he was Music Director of the Colorado Symphony and the Santa Rosa Symphony.

Kahane has recorded extensively and is a recipient of the ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming in Los Angeles and Denver. He is the Professor of Keyboard Studies at USC Thornton School of Music. He was a Van Cliburn Competition finalist, winner of the Rubinstein Competition, and an Avery Fisher Career Grant.

Additional Information: about the Sarasota Music Festival is available at: http://www.sarasotaorchestra.org/festival. Patrons may reach the Box Office at: (941) 953-3434.

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