Musical Musings

One October day in 1992, Fernando Traba stepped off a plane and into his first season as Principal Bassoon with Sarasota Orchestra. To his astonishment, a bassoon trio made up of his new colleagues stood at the airport gate and, upon spotting Fernando, they burst into a fanfare of Mexican dance music.

Centuries before stories and poems were first set down in writing, the sister arts of music and storytelling were inextricably linked with one another, filling a deep human need for words to be illuminated, enriched, and enhanced by musical sounds. Our 2023 Sarasota Music Festival has celebrated the mysterious and magical power through an expansive range of works, both familiar and new, that have invited us to set our imagination ablaze, and illustrate the Festival theme: The Power of Music Through Storytelling.

As we head into the final week of the Festival, we are reflecting on some of the aspects that have made this year so special for our fellows:

“The connections that are made at SMF last a lifetime!” says King.

Former clarinet fellow Kazem Abdullah joins the ranks of Sarasota Music Festival’s prestigious faculty this year as guest conductor for the second Festival Saturday: Sound Stories.