Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota Announces Added Concert, World Premiere, Special Guest

Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota is pleased to announce the addition of Beethoven, Beats and Beyond, a free, family-friendly concert at The Bay Sarasota, to its schedule on March 15. On April 12, DragonBoot Quartet will present the world premiere performance of composer and Sarasota native Roger Zare’s Gamma for string quartet. Harpsichordist Paolo Bordignon will join the Baroque Treasures concert, with Bobby Nunes, oboe and Phoebe Powell, harp, on May 10. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit ArtistSeriesConcerts.org or call (941) 306-1202.

Artist Series Concerts has added a free, family-friendly concert to its March schedule. Beethoven, Beats and Beyond, March 15, 6:00 p.m. at The Bay Sarasota, will feature the Upward Notes classical string ensemble and award-winning educator, beatboxer, and DJ Karim Manning. Suitable for all ages, concertgoers are invited to bring blankets or chairs to this outdoor concert along the shore of Sarasota Bay. This concert is generously sponsored by the Gulf Coast Community Foundation. General admission, no reservations required.

DragonBoot Quartet performs April 12, 4:00 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church. Grand Prize winners of the Coltman Chamber Music Competition, the members of the DragonBoot Quartet – Cate Carson, violin; Katya Moeller, violin; Sydney Whipple, viola; and Lila Holyoke, cello – are current students in the Honors Chamber Music Program at the Juilliard School. They will present the world premiere performance of composer Roger Zare’s Gamma for string quartet during this concert. Zare is a Sarasota, Florida native who began composing at age 14 and was the first Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota scholarship winner in 2003. Since then, Zare has been awarded the ASCAP Nissim Prize, three BMI Student Composer awards, an ASCAP Morton Gould Award, a New York Youth Symphony First Music Commission, the 2008 American Composers Orchestra Underwood Commission, a Copland House Residency Award, the 2023 International Clarinet Association Composition Competition, and a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The DragonBoot Quartet program also includes Haydn’s String Quartet Op. 33, No. 1, the work that stole the show at their Coltman Competition Grand Prize-winning performance; Jessie Montgomery’s Voodoo Dolls; Janáček’s String Quartet No. 2, “Intimate Letters”; and more. Tickets are $50 for general seating and $70 for VIP seating.

Baroque Treasures – on Mother’s Day, May 10, 4:00 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church – features Bobby Nunes, oboe and Phoebe Powell, harp, bringing the spotlight to the sounds of these ancient instruments. Nunes and Powell will each perform a concerto for their instrument by baroque master G.F. Handel, accompanied by special guests Paolo Bordignon, harpsichord; Katherine Baloff, violin; Leah Latorraca, violin; Stephanie Block, viola; David Bender, cello; and John Miller, bass. Bordignon is harpsichordist of the New York Philharmonic, and organist/choirmaster of St. Bartholomew’s Church, Park Avenue. He has performed organ recitals at venues such as St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue (New York) and St. Eustache (Paris) and has been a frequent recitalist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The concert will begin with Bordignon performing Bach's Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp minor from “Well-Tempered Clavier,” and “Eighteenth Order” by Francois Couperin. Nunes and Powell together will perform Debussy’s Album of Five Pieces for Oboe and Harp. Tickets are $50 for general seating and $70 for VIP seating.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit ArtistSeriesConcerts.org or call (941) 306-1202.