Festival Concerts

Festival fellows bring their favorite chamber works to life, performing a selection of short pieces and movements.

The theme of music and memory takes center stage in the final Festival Friday. Samuel Barber’s 1953 Summer Music, an evocative portrayal of a balmy outdoor afternoon, was composed with the wind players’ favorite effects in mind. Richard Strauss’s powerful Metamorphosen, featuring 23 unique string parts, delves into a period of massive change in Germany. Singer-songwriter Gabriel Kahane, Jeffrey Kahane’s son, performs October 1, 1939/Port of Hamburg, based on his grandmother’s diary as she traveled across America in 1939 after fleeing Germany. Jeffrey Kahane is the soloist in Heirloom, the piano concerto his son composed and dedicated to him “with love, admiration, gratitude, and awe.” Gabriel Kahane conducts this captivating and deeply personal work that intertwines three generations of family history.

The 2025 Sarasota Music Festival concludes with a true “Hollywood ending.” Elena Urioste, a Festival alum, will captivate you with her passion and flair for drama as she performs Korngold’s post-Romantic Violin Concerto, brimming with soaring melodies from his film scores. In his Symphony No. 2, Robert Schumann draws inspiration from other music, honoring Bach and incorporating the music of Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, and perhaps even his own scores. Tinged with only a hint of melancholy, the work’s overall message is one of joy, concluding the 61st Sarasota Music Festival on a jubilant note.