Wu Han took over as artistic director for the La Musica Chamber Music Festival during the 2022-23 season and has a big vision for the future of the organization.
“The vision was really, actually three years ago. When I came in, I realized Sarasota has a great symphony orchestra, (Sarasota Orchestra) incredible ballet theater (Sarasota Ballet), great opera theater (Sarasota Opera), and you have the (Sarasota) Concert Association, which brings in superstars of recitals or orchestra visiting orchestra, but you don't really have the most high-end chamber music series."
"So, as soon as I look at the whole landscape, I decided La Musica should take that role. She'll have a great concert series as good as what I have in New York,” she said.
Han is also the co-artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center with her husband, David Finckel.
To open the 40th season, she’s bringing in 20 artists from Chamber Music Society to perform all six of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos on Dec. 3.
“Brandenburg Concertos in Lincoln Center is like the Nutcracker for the City Ballet. We do that every December, and we always have a packed house. We can sell three concert halls packed, with a big waiting list. So, I arranged for Chamber Society to stop by Sarasota for La Musica to celebrate the 40th anniversary,” she said.
Chamber music is instrumental music played by a small group of musicians. It has a language all its own and Han is a big proponent of the art form.
It all started for Han when her first music teacher in the United States told her she’d never be a great pianist because she didn’t play chamber music.
She elaborated on the many demands of the form and the benefits.
“You become a teacher yourself. You also become a student. Your colleague is going to make a suggestion to you. In order for you to be super successful in the chamber music world, you have to understand the complete score."
"You cannot just play your part right. You have to really know what all other parts are, and then you have to have such incredible technique. Whatever your colleague asks you to do, you will have to be able to execute it immediately. And not to say, 'Oh, I don't know how to do that. Let me go home and practice for three days.’ You don't have that luxury, right," Han said.
She implied that chamber music is the answer to virtually all the problems you might come across in dealing with other people.
“On top of it, personality wise, you have to be fun-loving. Nobody wants to play with you. You're just nasty and miserable. You had to learn how to lead and inspire others. You had to learn how to support others. You have to know in which part that you can diffuse the tension. You have to know like, if somebody is not doing what you want, you have to kind of learn how to negotiate, or you had to learn how to say it in the nicest way," Han said.
"Everybody will join you. You had to be a leader and supporter or at the same time. It's really the best of the best for a civilized, democratic society and for the young ones, to learn how to play chamber music. You learn how to read the room. You learn how to really be sensitive and know how to move the room around. And that kind of skill, you can use it in any business in life, basically," she said.
On top of the Brandenburg Concertos in December, La Musica’s season includes a major Beethoven Celebration on Jan. 20, at Riverview Performing Arts Center.
“He died on 1827 so the 2026-27 season, everybody is doing a Beethoven celebration. And I decided not to wait until 2027 because by that time, you'll be so sick of all the Beethoven."
"We're going to have a head start, and we're going to celebrate Beethoven on this occasion, and then for this particular year. 2026 is also America’s celebration for the 250 years of the Declaration of the Independence. So, we set a great program on Feb. 9 to celebrate America,” Han said.
You can check La Musica’s website for all the details on the 40th season, which runs through April, 2026.
