Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota Announces 31st Season
The season opens October 11 and brings together brilliant musicians for 24 concerts
SARASOTA, Fla. (April 16, 2026) – Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota (ASC) is pleased to announce the 24 concerts scheduled for the 2026-2027 season. The 31st season – sponsored by Jan and Bill Farber, and Paul and Sharon Steinwachs – runs from October 11, 2026 through May 17, 2027. Discounted tickets are available through August 31. For more information and tickets, visit ArtistSeriesConcerts.org or call (941) 306-1202.
The season opens and closes with concerts in ASC’s trademark Soirée series. These intimate 4:00 p.m. Sunday and Monday concerts, presented in the one-of-a-kind music room of the Fischer/Weisenborne residence, give the audience the opportunity to get up-close-and-personal with the musicians. Trio Sinfonia – Grand Prize winner of the 2026 Coltman Chamber Music Competition Senior Division String and Piano category – opens the season October 11-12 with an “all Romantic” program that features Brahms’ Trio in B Major and Mendelssohn’s Trio in C Minor. March 28-29, the Prized Partners concert pairs rising stars Nathan Meltzer (violin) and Evren Ozel (piano) for sonatas by Beethoven and Fauré, and Schubert’s Fantasy in C Major. Cello-bration! closes the season May 16-17. Joseph Johnson (cello), Chiao-Wen Cheng (piano), and Daniel Jordan (violin) come together for a program that includes Prokofiev’s Sonata in C Major, Opus 119 and music by George Gershwin. Refreshments are served following each performance. The Soirée series is sponsored by Sora Yelin and Josh Yelin in loving memory of Cary F. Yelin.
The Sunday Best concerts are presented at First Presbyterian Church in Sarasota at 4:00 p.m. and are followed by a reception with the artists. The series opens October 18 with Synchrony Quartet, a Chicago-based saxophone quartet that won the Grand Prize of the 2026 Coltman Chamber Music Competition Senior Division/Mixed Instrumental category. Their program includes works by Caroline Shaw, Anton Webern, and Astor Piazzolla. 94 Strings, on November 22, features harpists Cheryl Losey Feder and Phoebe Powell playing Debussy’s Dances for Harp and Strings, and Caplet’s Masque of the Red Death for harp, string quartet and narrator. Against All Odds, on January 24, features violinist Hyun Jae Lim who was well on her way to an impressive solo career when an accident left her seriously injured. Four years later she was able to pick up her instrument again and one year after that she won First Prize in the 2025 Seoul International Music Competition, and then the 2026 Elmar Oliveira International Competition. The Borromeo Quartet has the reputation of being one of the most important ensembles of our time, hailed for “edge-of-the-seat performances” by the Boston Globe. Their program, on May 9, includes works by Bach, Dvořák, and Beethoven’s String Quartet, Opus 127.
The Ehnes Quartet with special guest Jonathan Vinocour, viola, opens the Top Shelf Tuesdays series which offers 7:30 p.m. concerts at First Congregational United Church of Christ. The Ehnes Quartet, led by superstar violinist James Ehnes, joins violist Jonathan Vinocour on November 3 for a concert that includes Brahms’ String Quintets, Op. 88 and Op. 111. Ehnes returns on February 9, this time with violinist Tessa Lark, for Ehnes and Lark. This program includes Ehnes performing the Ysaye Ballade, Lark performing her own “Ysaye Shuffle,” Ehnes and Lark performing duos by Bartok and Prokofiev, and a second half where they are joined by friends for a performance of the Bruch Octet for strings. On March 23, violinists Daniel Jordan and Shawn Weil and violist Philip Payton join cellist Bjorn Ranheim and pianist Marina Radiushina for Take Five, a program (in collaboration with the Miami Chamber Music Society) that will include piano quintets by Dohnanyi and Brahms. The series concludes with La Voix on April 20. Soprano Liv Redpath has the opera world taking notice, while pianist Georg Fu was recognized with a Gramophone Award in 2025 and a shortlist nomination for a Royal Philharmonic Society Award in 2026. The pair will perform works by William Walton, Andre Previn, and Gabriel Fauré. The Top Shelf Tuesdays series is sponsored by Jan and Bill Farber, and The Lara and Mark D’Agostino Family Fund and MD Behavioral Health.
The Lunch and Listen series at the Sarasota Yacht Club offers concerts at 11:00 a.m. followed by lunch. Caroline Campbell – Without a Net opens the series on November 12. Virtuoso violinist Campbell has worked with artists such as Andrea Bocelli, Paul McCartney, and Beyoncé. With Joseph Holt at piano, her program includes arrangements of The Magic Flute, West Side Story, and Pirates of the Caribbean. On December 17, Sarasota Opera’s Virginia Mims (soprano), Jake Stamatis (baritone), and Jesse Martins (piano) will perform Lifted in Song – a program of opera arias, art song, operetta, and holiday favorites. Sticks and Strings, on January 14, features Marcelina Suchocka (mallet percussion) and Helen Liu Gerhold (harp) performing music by Tournier, Smetana, and Piazzolla. On March 11, Bharat Chandra, Sarasota Orchestra’s “rock star” clarinetist, and Martha Conwell Long, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s principal flutist, pair up for Higher Ground, which explores the upper strata of the sonic spectrum in works by Mason Bates and Libby Larsen. The April 29 program Sweet & Low closes the series for the season, with Nate Seman (tuba) and Jason Donnelly (euphonium) sharing a wide range of music composed for these instruments including works by Vaughan Williams, Bizet, and others. The Lunch and Listen series is sponsored by Jo Ann and Don Burhart and Kandy Kaak.
The popular Lighter Fare series offers concerts outdoors at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens Downtown Campus, and indoors at Plantation Golf and Country Club (PGCC) in Venice. Programs at PGCC include dinner following the concert. The series kicks off November 17 at Selby Gardens with Biribá Union. This trio is comprised of Mike Block (cello, vocals), Christylez Bacon (beatbox, guitar, rhymes), and Patricia Ligia (electric bass, vocals) whose original compositions draw on hip-hop and Go-go music, Brazilian forró and choro, American roots music, and jazz. PROJECT Trio returns by popular demand, December 8 at PGCC. Featuring a beatboxing flutist, the trio’s repertoire spans everything from Mozart and Bach to Bernstein, Grieg, and The Beatles. Selby Gardens next hosts Bach in the Americas on February 16. Powerhouse Spanish violinist Leticia Moreno will lead a program focused on the influence Bach has had on centuries of composers in the Americas. Atlys Quartet closes the series at PGCC on March 2. A female string quartet, Atlys Quartet is a classically trained high energy crossover ensemble that has reimagined what a modern string quartet can be. Their program includes two original works by Chicago-based composer Ari Barack Fisher: The Sonnenberg Suite provides the listener with a musical escape to a whimsical secret garden in the Finger Lakes of upstate NY, and Mahzorim: Jewish Cycles highlights different Jewish holidays in its evocative movements.
Daniel Jordan, ASC’s director of artistic planning, has included three special events this season. The first is Schmaltz & Pepper, January 5 at The Ora. A uniquely virtuosic and entertaining chamber ensemble, the quintet performs original music inspired by klezmer, Yiddish swing, jazz, and classical music. Next up is Piano Grand VI, January 30 at Church of the Palms – a reprisal of the enormously popular Piano Grand concerts, this time featuring sisters Michelle Cann and Kimberly Cann, Joseph Holt, and Thomas Purviance. The final special event of the season is Heartstrings – ArcoStrum and Empire Wild, April 11 at the Historic Asolo Theater. Trailblazers ArcoStrum (Strauss Shi, violin, erhu, dizi; TY Zhang, classical guitar, electric guitar) and Empire Wild (Mitchell Lyon, cello; Ken Kubota, cello) join forces for Heartstrings, a program that takes the audience on a vibrant multi-cultural and cross-era musical adventure that traverses genres, cultures, and eras. From fresh arrangements of Vivaldi, Tango, and Polyphia to traditional Chinese tunes, Japanese melodies, and Scottish fiddling, you’ve never heard a quartet like this before.
Keren Shani-Lifrak, ASC’s executive director, stated, “From the thrilling spontaneity of Caroline Campbell – Without a Net to the sublime Ehnes and Lark duo, to the delectable Schmaltz & Pepper, something extraordinary is waiting for you this season. Bold, brilliant, and beautifully unexpected – musical experiences you won’t want to miss.”
Discounted tickets are available through August 31 (concerts at Sarasota Yacht Club and Plantation Golf & Country Club are excluded). For more information and tickets, visit ArtistSeriesConcerts.org or call (941) 306-1202.
