Perlman winter residency for string players returns after two-year COVID break

Violinist Rinat Erlichman didn’t have the typical first visit to Sarasota that other tourists and winter visitors experience, but her participation in the Perlman Music Program/Suncoast winter residency kept her coming back just the same.

With a little time off for trips to the beach and other social activities with fellow students, she discovered a nurturing training program unlike any other she had participated in for young string players.

“I did other programs, like most students, but this was a special environment to play music in and to make friends, to create those connections that are going to be lifelong,” Erlichman said in a recent Zoom call with the co-founder of the program, Toby Perlman, whose husband is acclaimed violinist Itzhak Perlman.

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The program, a spinoff of the original Perlman summer training workshop on Shelter Island, N.Y., brings together nearly 30 young string players to study with professional musicians in a series of one-on-one classes, master classes and group rehearsals. Many of the sessions are free and open to the public at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee campus.

“The first time I came, English was still a challenge, but everybody was very patient with the Israeli students,” Erlichman said. “And although it’s an intense program with lessons, student classes, chamber music, choir and orchestra, it was still a relaxed feeling.”

Erlichman, who first took part in the Perlman program’s Tel Aviv residency, came to Sarasota for about five winter sessions as a student. Now, as she’s nearing the end of her studies for a master’s degree at Rice University in Texas, she’s returning as a residency fellow.

She will be serving as something of a guide, advisor and chaperone for the younger participants.

“We’re making sure the students are safe and having a good time,” she said. “I feel like I’ve been a student for so many years, and we had the fellows watching over us. We felt like there are responsible adults here, who are also friends, someone you can talk to, someone you can share your experience with, guide you. I used to talk to the fellows about college applications. And I was always so happy to hear their experiences.”

The students have a schedule set for them from the day they arrive that includes coaching, rehearsals and social activities. “There’s also a lot of sight reading, reading music together for the first time,” she said. “In Sarasota was the first time I played with Mr. P. A lot of students get the opportunity to play with him and the other faculty.”

Erlichman will be part of a shortened winter residency that will be rebounding after a two-year break because of the COVID pandemic. It will be two weeks instead of three, with all the usual classes and workshops leading up to a celebration concert with all the students and faculty on stage Jan. 5 at the Sarasota Opera House. The concert will be followed by a gala Celebration Dinner under a tent at USF.

The older summer program on Shelter Island, took only a one-year break, Toby Perlman said.

“We’re certainly excited about coming back but I’m very concerned and anxious,” because of the continuing spread of COVID. “I can tell you our experience during the summer at Shelter Island was very positive with the community. We’re hoping for the best in Sarasota, too.”

Public sessions include orchestra rehearsals and recitals featuring students performing works in progress. There are also open chorus rehearsals, which involve the string players singing, a tradition of the program.

“I love chorus. I didn’t sing before the Perlman program and I didn’t know what to expect,” Erlichman said. “Patrick Romano (the chorus master) is just the best. It really molds us together as a group and it is still music, but not competitive,” Erlichman said. “There are no expectations for you to know how to sing, so you can immerse yourself in it. It is funny how everybody can sing a tune even though we’re not trained singers.”

Leaders of the program extended the age range of participants this year to accommodate students who “had the right to return, but couldn’t” because of the two canceled years, Toby Perlman said.

Beyond the two week residency, PMP/Suncoast continues to bring in alumni for recitals and in-school visits, as Randall Goosby did earlier this month. There also will be school programs in February and March, and alumni Molly Carr and Anna Petrova will perform in concert April 13 at the Sarasota Yacht Club.

Perlman Music Program/Suncoast

Winter residency runs from Dec. 29-Jan. 7, with public access to rehearsals, recitals and master classes available at USF Sarasota-Manatee, 8350 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. The concluding Celebration Concert will be held at 5 p.m. Jan. 5 at the Sarasota Opera House, 61 N. Pineapple Ave., Sarasota. Tickets are $40-$80. Tickets for the Gala Celebration Dinner at USF are $250. For more information: 941-955-4942; perlmanmusicprogramsuncoast.org

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: After COVID break, Perlman winter string program resumes in Sarasota