Sarasota Orchestra discovers 'French Influencers'

When the Sarasota Orchestra promotes its latest Discoveries concert with the title of “The French Influencers,” the organization is not referring to people making a living by bringing attention to various events and products through social media posts.

These influencers are the ones who help extend musical continuity from one generation to another, or from one city to others. And the newest program, at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 21 in the Sarasota Opera House, is one that will likely be new for both veteran concertgoers and those attending an orchestra concert for the first time.

Leading the work will be guest conductor Sarah Ioannides, the Australian-raised and Oxford-trained music director of Symphony Tacoma in Washington.

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“I love to present works like this,” Ioannides said in a recent phone interview. “It’s very helpful to be introduced to pieces of music with some background. I think back to when I was a student and we would have these listening sessions. It meant so much more when a teacher told you why they loved a piece of music rather than you just going to the library to read about it. When you’re in a room with someone who is excited about something, it intrigues you more.”

And Ioannides is excited about the music she will be conducting in this hour-long, intermissionless concert. It features Louise Farrenc’s Overture No. 1, Franz Liszt’s “Hirtengesang” (or Shepherd’s Song) from his epic piece “Christus” and Georges Bizet’s “Symphony in C.”

Bizet’s symphony, written when he was 17, shows the influence of his teacher Charles Gounod, while Liszt’s work was inspired, at least to a degree by Handel’s “Mesisah.”

“Over centuries, musicians have influenced each other. Compositions such as ‘Messiah’ have been a staple and a model for generations of composers, just as Beethoven’s symphonies have been a model for other composers.”

In putting together the concert, Ioannides was focusing on the influences triggered by location and proximity, in this case, Paris in the early 1800s, where the three composers were studying and working.

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Bizet, who was later best known for his opera “Carmen,” “sadly didn’t live as long as we would have liked,” Ioannides said. “He died at 36, but he met with Liszt, I’m sure, on many occasions, including a party where Bizet was playing one of Liszt’s works, and the composer was impressed.”

For her part, Farrenc was one of the most prolific and prominent piano teachers at the Conservatoire de Paris. “It was a time the popularity of classical music was booming,” Ioannides said.

Because she was a woman, Farrenc was held back to a degree. “She was not able to take composition classes because the Conservatoire was open only to men. But she married a really influential flautist who founded his own publishing company and they housed 23 volumes of music for keyboard and harpsichord, so anybody who was studying there would have known her music.”

The Discoveries series was launched as a way to create a friendly environment for people unaccustomed to attending classical concerts to be introduced to them, and hopefully fall in love with the music. But this program will be more of an introduction than most. Even Ioannides didn’t know some of the music.

“I actually came across ‘Christus’ when I was researching for this program,” she said. “It’s not a staple in my repertoire. I had never heard of it. And it’s wonderful to discover this epic piece that doesn’t get performed that often, yet Liszt obviously put heart and soul into it.”

“The French Influencers”

The Sarasota Orchestra Discoveries series concert, conducted by Sarah Ioannides, will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 21 in the Sarasota Opera House, 61 N. Pineapple Ave., Sarasota. Tickets are $32-$70. 941-953-3434; sarasotaorchestra.org

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota Orchestra looks at how French composers influence one another