Sarasota Orchestra Announces Reimagined 2020 - 2021 Season

Sarasota Orchestra announced today a reimagined season that brings the joy and inspiration of classical and pops music to the community while maintaining health and safety for its patrons, musicians, staff and volunteers.

Planned by Jeffrey Kahane, Sarasota Orchestra Artistic Advisor, the concerts will feature ensembles of no more than 15 musicians in order to ensure social distancing on the Holley Hall stage.

To ensure audience safety, in-person audiences will be limited to 20% capacity of Holley Hall starting in November. To maintain delivery of the Orchestra's mission to the broadest constituency possible, concerts will be streamed for home viewing.

"Since the concerts will all involve smaller ensembles, in order to protect the health of our musicians and audience, we've taken the opportunity to make a virtue out of this necessity. We will be bringing to the Holley Hall stage a wide range of music spanning four centuries and an immensely rich array of musical styles and languages," said Kahane.

"Many of the names and works will be familiar ones, while others will be altogether new to some of our audience. At a time when so many of us are yearning for community and hungry for the energy and inspiration that great music can bring, we consider it a great privilege to connect through great music," added Kahane.

"Responsibility and flexibility guided the planning of our reimagined 20/21 season. The health and safety of our audience, musicians, staff and volunteers was the focus of this pandemic-impacted season," said Joseph McKenna, President and CEO.

Each performance will be limited to an hour without intermission, with a socially distanced audience, required masks, contact-free ticket scanning and temperatures taken upon arrival for attendance. The facility will have a deep cleaning between performances and a new Needlepoint Bipolar Ionization air handling system was recently installed in Holley Hall.

Classics Concerts: Sarasota Orchestra will present a series of concerts recognizing diverse voices in classical music. The celebration of Beethoven's 250th culminates in his birthday month with a concert featuring works performed by the Sarasota String Quartet.

Serenade for Strings

November 5 - 8, 2020

BOLOGNE, Symphonie concertante No. 2 in G Major

Soloists: Daniel Jordan, Concertmaster; Samantha Bennett, Principal Second Violin

TCHAIKOVSKY, Serenade for Strings

Heartstrings

November 19 - 22, 2020

SCHUBERT, String Quartet No. 12 (Quartettsatz)

BARBER, Adagio for Strings (String Quartet)

ARENSKY, String Quartet No. 2

Beethoven @ 250

December 10 - 13, 2020

BEETHOVEN, String Quartet No. 4, Op. 18

BEETHOVEN, String Quartet No. 10, Op. 74, "The Harp"

(featuring Sarasota String Quartet)

Inspirations

January 14 - 17, 2021

SHAW, Entr'acte

DVORAK, Nocturne

JOSEF SUK, Serenade for Strings

Serioso

January 28 - 31, 2021

CORELLI, Concerto Grosso No. 12

George Walker, Lyric for Strings

BEETHOVEN arr. MAHLER, String Quartet Op. 95, "Serioso"

Latin Sounds

February 25 - 28, 2021

Tania Leon, A Tres Voces

GOLIJOV, Mariel

PIAZZOLLA, L'Histoire du tango

All in the Family

March 11 -14, 2021

W.F. BACH, Sinfonia in F Major

J.S. BACH, Concerto for 2 Violins (Double)

Soloists: Christopher Takeda, Associate Concertmaster; Jennifer Best Takeda, Assistant Concertmaster

C.P.E BACH, Cello Concerto in A Major

Soloist: Natalie Helm, Principal Cello

Death and the Maiden

March 25 - 28, 2021

SCHUBERT arr. MAHLER, "Death and the Maiden" (String Quartet No. 14)

Tributes

April 15 - 18, 2021

Jeffrey Kahane, conductor and piano

BRITTEN, Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge

BLOCH, Concerto Grosso No. 1

Appalachian Spring

May 6 - 9, 2021

Jeffrey Kahane, conductor and piano

JESSIE MONTGOMERY, Banner

MOZART, Piano Concerto No. 14

COPLAND, Appalachian Spring Suite (original 13 instrument version)

Pops Concerts in Holley Hall

This energizing Pops experience features up to 15 Sarasota Orchestra musicians without conductor, as we transcend the times with the spirit and flair of popular music.

Holiday Pops

December 17 - 20, 2020

Sarasota Orchestra celebrates the holidays with music for the season. Music includes instrumental performances of Silent Night, the theme from It's a Wonderful Life and other traditional favorites.

Valentine Pops

February 11 - 14, 2021

This Valentine's Week program features treasured tunes by Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Hoagy Carmichael and more.

Jazz Pops

April 29 - May 2, 2021

Music by Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins and Billy Strayhorn highlight this jazz revue with Sarasota Orchestra.

Information about purchasing limited seating tickets and streaming concerts at home will be available by mid-October. Check back at www.SarasotaOrchestra.org or by calling the Sarasota Orchestra Box Office at (941) 953-3434.