A guide to the concerts and performers at 2023 Sarasota Music Festival

The 2023 Sarasota Music Festival, running June 5-24, continues a tradition that began in 1965, bringing in dozens of young musicians, some of them still students, for three weeks of study and performances with professional musicians in practice sessions, rehearsals and public performances.

A variety of concerts, from full orchestra to chamber ensembles, are generally offered Thursday through Saturday and Sunday each week, Faculty members rotate on a weekly basis. Jeffrey Kahane is the artistic director of the festival.

Here is a look at what is being presented and selected highlights and performers.

For ticket information: 941-953-3434; sarasotaorchestra.org

Week 1

“Romance and the City” Artist Showcase 1

4:30 p.m. June 8, Holley Hall, $30-$42

The opening concert focuses on music from the Romantic era, with Robert Schumann’s “Marchenbilder” (Fairy Tales) featuring new faculty violist Paul Neubauer (with pianist Jean Schneider), along with Valerie Coleman’s “Rubispheres,” Amy Beach’s “Romance” and Brahms’ Piano Trio No. 1 in B Major

“Scenes and Seasons” Festival Friday 1

7:30 p.m. June 9 Sarasota Opera House, $29-$50

The Festival ushers in “Summer” with one movement of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons. The program if intimate works also includes Dvorak’s String Quintet in E-flat Major (American), Leos Janacek’s sextet “Mladi” (Youth) and Gabriela Lena Frank’s Four Folk Songs for Piano Trio.

“Pastorale” Festival Saturday 1

7:30 p.m. June 10, Sarasota Opera House, $30-$70

Faculty pianist Anne-Marie McDermott performs Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A Minor in the first festival orchestra program of the season, which also includes excerpts from Felix Mendelssohn’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 (Pastorale).

Rising Stars 1

2:30 p.m. June 11, Holley Hall, $15-$25

Festival fellows perform in different combinations of chamber groups, performing works by Felix Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Prokofiev, Valerie Coleman and more.

Week 2

“Gold Standard” Artist Showcase 2

4:30 p.m. June 15, Holley Hall, , $30-$42

Flutist Carol Wincenc, a longtime faculty member, marks the 50th anniversary of her career, joining pianist Joy Cline Phinney for Sato Matsui which pays tribute to Wincence. The program also features the Grammy Award-winning Attacca Quartet, which marks its Festival debut with Caroline Shaw’s “Three Essays: First Essay (Nimrod)” and Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major. Pianist Jonathan Spivey and violinist Grigory Kalinovsky perform Polish composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s Sonatina for Violin and Piano.

“Appalachian Spring” Festival Friday 2

7:30 p.m. June 16, Sarasota Opera House, $29-$50

Aaron Copland’s popular “Appalachian Spring,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning score to Martha Graham’s ballet, will be heard in its original 13-instrument version in this concert, which also features new faculty member Marion Kuszyk, associate principal oboe of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, performing Mozart’s Serenade No. 11 in E-flat Major. The concert also features the Attaca Quartet and Music Director Jeffrey Kahane performing Brahms’ Piano Quintet in F Minor.

“Sound Stories” Festival Saturday 2

7:30 p.m. June 17, Sarasota Opera House, $30-$70

Conductor Kazem Abdullah leads the weekly festival orchestra concert with faculty member Desmon Hoebig, cello, featured in Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme. The concert also features Mozarts Symphony No. 41 (Jupiter) and Respighi’s “Trittico Botticelliano.”

Rising Stars 2

2:30 p.m. June 18, Holley Hall, $15-$25

Festival fellows perform in different combinations of chamber groups playing works by Dvorak, Brahms, Faure, Francaix, Beethoven and more.

Week 3

Levin Lecture

1 p.m. June 21, Holley Hall, $15-$25

Pianist and former festival music director Robert Levin returns for another year of his popular lectures on the history of some of the pieces featured in the festival.

“Fairy Tale” Artist Showcase 3

4:30 p.m. June 22, Holley Hall, $30-$42

Flutist Jasmine Choi returns and joins with pianist Michael Adcock for Henri Dutilleux’s Sonatine for flute and piano. Robert Levin is part of a supergroup preforming Schubert’s Piano Quintet in A Major (Trout) as part of a concert that also includes two pieces by Fritz Kreisler’s performed by David Halen, concertmaster of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.

Rising Stars 3

2:30 p.m. June 23, Holley Hall, $15-$25

Festival fellows perform in different combinations of chamber groups to be announced, playing works by Fanny Mendelssohn, Brahms, Strauss, Ravel and more.

“Traditions and Transformations” Festival Friday 3

7:30 p.m. June 23, Sarasota Opera House, $29-$50

A concert by faculty members and fellows covers 300 years of music, including Jasmine Choi performing Claude Debussy’s “Syrinx” and new faculty cellist Gabriel Cabezs joining Robert levin for Beethoven’s Cello Sonata No. 2 in G Minor. The concert also includes Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat Major and Gyorgy Ligeti’s “Six Bagatelles” from 1953.

“Kahane Plays Beethoven” Festival Saturday 3

7:30 p.m. June 24, Sarasota Opera House, $30-$70

Music director helps to close this year’s festival and the final orchestra concert performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4, in a program that also includes Emily Cooley’s “Argo” and Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 1 (spring).

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: A guide to the concerts and performers at 2023 Sarasota Music Festival