Gayle Williams, Correspondent
The coronavirus pandemic has created many obstacles for performing arts organization, particularly in limiting how live shows can be presented. But it has also provided them with new opportunities.
“One of the silver linings of this pandemic is that we are bringing our music and our outdoor beauty together,” said Elisabeth Spahn about the Sarasota Orchestra’s series of outdoor concerts presented this season as SO on the Road: Parks & Partners.
Five of these concerts are scheduled now through the end of the season at locations as varied as G.T. Bray Park and Nathan Benderson Park in Manatee County and the Ringling Museum courtyard and Bay Preserve at Osprey in Sarasota County.
Arts events for Sarasota-Manatee: Jan. 7-13
Our weekly guide to the visual and performing arts in Sarasota and Manatee counties.
Taking the music outdoors
Editors Note: The Sarasota Orchestra announced Friday that the Sunday concerts were canceled due to weather and concerns about protecting valuable instruments. More outdoor concerts are scheduled in coming months.
When the Sarasota Orchestra adapted its seasonal concerts to feature chamber programs inside Holley Hall, it focused on musicians who can perform while wearing face masks. That left out brass and woodwind players, who are now bringing the music to the people in a series of outdoor parks concerts that continue this weekend and extend into April. At 2:30 p.m. Sunday, the Sarasota Wind Quintet will perform at Nathan Benderson Park, while the Sarasota Orchestra Chamber Players will perform at the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast’s Bay Preserve at Osprey. The concerts are presented, weather permitting, for fre
Sarasota Orchestra musicians who have been unable to take part in the indoor chamber concerts at Holley Hall, are bringing the music outside to area publics over the next few months.
With support from the Community Foundation of Sarasota County and the Gulf Coast Community Foundation, the orchestra has launched a series of free concerts by three wind and brass ensembles. The concerts include musicians who are unable to wear masks while playing their instruments. With outdoor programs, it is considered safer for them to blow into their instruments.
The outdoor concert series, which began last month, continues Jan. 10 with a performance by the Sarasota Wind Quintet at Nathan Benderson Park. The same group will also perform there on March. 21.