As he nears the end of his first season as music director of the Sarasota Orchestra, Giancarlo Guerrero is quickly feeling part of a large community of music lovers. Even as he spends most of his time flying around the world for other engagements, he has been a frequent visitor to Sarasota, conducting numerous concerts, working on plans to build a new music center and getting to know the musicians, donors and staff.
“It’s been a reaffirmation of everything I knew when I came here during the search. I knew it was an incredible organization with a great vision for the future,” Guerrero said in a recent Zoom interview from Nashville where he was preparing to lead a series of concerts. “It’s great to work with amazing people, staff, board members, supporters and the musicians. It’s everything I expected and more.”
Guerrero lives full time in Miami, but spends as much time as he can in Sarasota between other conducting assignments, or when he’s not being secretly whisked off to Los Angeles to appear in the Super Bowl halftime show with Bad Bunny, as he did in February.
“It gives me full days to try to understand what makes the community special and let people see the work of a music director that most don’t see. The machinery is always going.”
His positive attitude before he joined Sarasota Orchestra has only been reinforced in the months since his fall debut as music director.
“The orchestra is quite remarkable,” he said. “Now that I get to work with them regularly, there’s absolutely nothing they can’t do, no challenge they would not cherish. The proof of that is the repertoire this season and what comes next.”
He also has recognized a “closeness” between the audience and musicians. “The people that support the orchestra, subscribers or regular concert goers, have a great connection with individual players and know them so well.”
Joseph McKenna, the orchestra’s president and CEO, noted that Guerrero arrived last fall after the organization went nearly six years without a full time music director and was in great need of an artistic leader.
“Maybe it’s an unfair comparison, but it’s like an NFL team that gets a really great franchise star quarterback to be the spiritual ethos of the group,” McKenna said. “Giancarlo has brought in an incredible level of leadership, musicianship, community engagement. It’s like this incredible surge of all kinds of positive energy.”
Guerrero himself feels a connection with audiences.
“People are reaching out to me. They’re not afraid to say ‘Have you thought of programming this?’ or ‘What about this soloist?’”
Some of those suggestions may be evident in the season he has revealed for 2026-27 – which includes performances by superstar soloists Emanuel Ax and Gil Shaham – and he is sure the audience is open to almost whatever he has in mind.
“The audience here is incredibly sophisticated,” he said. “When given and presented in the right context, they will get it and know where we’re going. I try to take them on a journey in every performance.”
Audience members may come to hear one piece, but will tell him that “this other piece had a great impact on me,” he said.
“When you do that they start to trust you. I want all of us, including myself and musicians, to go on a journey together. I put a program together in a lab like scientists and we won’t know until we play the pieces back to back if they work together or not. In reality, what I’m asking every single time is give us a chance and we’ll introduce you to stuff you may not have been familiar with but you will think where has this been all my life.”
The more connected audiences feel to Guerrero and the orchestra, the more likely they will be to support construction of the new music center planned for a 32-acre site on Fruitville Road near I-75. It will feature an 1,800-seat concert hall, a 700-seat recital hall and an education and administrative wing. The orchestra is still raising money for the project and has not yet determined a possible pricetag for the construction.
McKenna said new design plans may be revealed later this year when the orchestra will have a better sense of the overall price tag. He added that Guerrero has “been very active in sharing the vision of the music center.”
New season
Guerrero was announced as the new music director in August 2024, after winning over musicians and orchestra leaders as a guest conductor the previous season. He came to Sarasota after leading the Nashville Symphony since 2008.
He had already booked a number of engagements around the world, so his time in Sarasota this season has been more limited than he would have liked. His schedule allowed him to conduct eight programs; for 2026-27 he will lead nine, including five in the Masterworks series.
As the orchestra continues to diversify its programs, McKenna said it will drop performances at the Neel Performing Arts Center on the campus of the State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota in Bradenton. All Masterworks concerts will be presented in Sarasota at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall.
“Everything we do at the orchestra is about making sure we continue excellence and provide service and have a strong and positive impact,” McKenna said. He said it is a challenge “coordinating five separate concert series among multiple venues” and said the organization is “responding to the post-COVID environment and doing it in a way that ensures continued excellence, service and impact.”
While leading major pieces by Beethoven, Prokofiev, Mozart, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Brahms and more, Guerrero continues to introduce more contemporary works by American composers, including Carlos Simon’s “Tales: A Folklore Symphony,” Julia Adolphe’s “Underneath the Sheen,” Lera Auerbach’s “Icarus” and John Adams’s “Doctor Atomic Symphony” in three different Masterworks concerts.
Shaham will join the orchestra for the opening concert, which includes Beethoven’s Violin concerto, and Ax will play Chopin Piano Concerto No. 2, in a program that also includes Gustav Mahler’s Adagio from Symphony No. 10.
“We have two of the greatest world class artists coming to Sarasota.”
Other guests soloists include violinist Stella Chen playing Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto and two of the orchestra’s own musicians. Principal cellist Natalie Helm and principal viola Stephanie Block will be featured in Richard Strauss’ “Don Quixote.”
“I think the world of our musicians and we get to highlight some of them telling the story of a knight, who is either completely a genius or out of his mind, and Sancho Panza whose job was to keep him from killing himself,” Guerrero said.
Two guest conductors will make their Sarasota debuts next season. Benjamin Manis, whose 2026 calendar includes the Utah Opera, Richmond Symphony, Houston Grand Opera and San Francisco Opera, will lead a “Mozart and Dvorak” program that features pianist Zlata Chochieva performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23, as well as Dvorak’s Symphony No. 7.
Christian Reif, recently named chief conductor of the Gavle Symphony Orchestra in Sweden and the music director designate of the Wuppertal Opera and Symphony Orchestra in Germany, will be joined by cellist Sterling Elliot for Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto in a program that also includes Brahms Symphony No. 2.
Guerrero also serves as artistic director and principal conductor of the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago, and in February, he will feature the Grant Park Chorus, along with three soloists for a performance of Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana.”
He also will lead two of the company’s Discoveries concerts. In October he will conduct “Classical Music Humor,” featuring works by Rossini, Haydn, Mozart and Prokofiev.
“This is one of the programs I’m looking forward to most. Composers were very funny and they wrote music almost as a joke,” he said.
He also will lead the “Beethoven Bookends” concert featuring the composer’s second and eighth symphonies. In January he also will conduct one of the six Chamber Soirees, "Mozart: A Little Night Music,”
“As conductors we don’t get to do a lot of chamber music, but this is a way I can get to know my players more deeply.
He also plans to conduct a special “Happy Birthday Mozart” as a winter family concert.
The season also includes six of the popular, often sold-out Great Escapes Concerts, three Pops concerts and a screening of “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi” with the orchestra led by Christopher Confessore.
Here is a look at the full Sarasota Orchestra 2026-27 season:
Masterworks Series
Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall
“Beethoven & Prokofiev,” Nov. 7-8
Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor, Gil Shaham, violin
Lera Auerbach – “Icarus”
Ludwig von Beethoven – Violin Concerto
Sergei Prokofiev – Symphony No. 5
“Tchaikovsky & Strauss,” Dec. 5-6, 2026
Guerrero conductor with Natalie Helm, Principal cello and Stephanie Block, Principal viola
Richard Strauss – “Don Quixote”
Pyotr Ilya Tchaikovsky – Act II from “The Nutcracker”
“Mozart & Dvořák,” Jan. 9-10, 2027
Benjamin Manis, guest conductor; Zlata Chochieva, piano
Benjamin Britten – Four Sea Interludes from “Peter Grimes”
Mozart – Piano Concerto No. 23
Dvořák – Symphony No. 7
“Carmina Burana,” Feb. 5-7, 2027
Guerrero, conductor; Grant Park Chorus; Jana McIntyre, soprano; Logan Tanner, countertenor; Troy Cook, baritone
Witold Lutosławski – Concerto for Orchestra
Carl Orff – “Carmina Burana”
“Bernstein & Barber,” Feb. 19-21, 2027
Guerrero, conductor; Stella Chen, violin
Carlos Simon -- Tales: A Folklore Symphony
John Adams – Doctor Atomic Symphony
Samuel Barber – Violin Concerto
Leonard Bernstein – Symphonic Suite from “On the Waterfront”
“Brahms & Elgar,” March 5-7, 2027
Christian Reif, guest conductor; Sterling Elliot, cello
Julia Adolphe – Underneath the Sheen
Edward Elgar – Cello Concerto
Johannes Brahms – Symphony No. 2
“Chopin & Mahler,” April 3-4, 2027
Guerrero, conductor; Emanuel Ax, piano
Carl Maria von Weber – Overture to “Der Freischütz”
Gustav Mahler – Adagio from Symphony No. 10
Frederic Chopin – Piano Concerto. No 2
Maurice Ravel – Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2
Orchestra Pops
Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall
“Hollywood’s Greatest Hits,” Jan. 22-23, 2027
Evan Roider, conductor
“Music of the Knights,” Feb. 26-27, 2027
Mélisse Brunet, conductor
“Rock Legends of the ‘60s & ‘70s,” April 9-10, 2027
John Gennaro Devlin, conductor with singers Rick Brantley, Sarah Darling, and Jesse Nager
Discoveries
Sarasota Opera House
“Classical Music Humor,” October 3, 2026
Guerrero, conductor; Terrence Wilson, piano
Rossini – Overture to “The Barber of Seville”
Haydn – Andante from Symphony No. 94 (Surprise)
Mozart – Menuetto maestoso from Ein musikalischer Spass (A Musical Joke)
Strauss, Jr. – Thunder and Lightning Polka
Michael Daugherty – Le Tombeau de Liberace
Prokofiev – Symphony No. 1 (Classical)
“A Festive Celebration,” Dec. 23, 2026
Naomi Woo, conductor; Sarah Fleiss, soprano
Tchaikovsky – Overture from The Nutcracker
Amy Beach – Bal masqué
Mozart – Exsultate, jubilate
Handel – “Rejoice Greatly, O Daughter of Zion” from Messiah
Britten – “Men of Goodwill: Variations on a Christmas Carol”
Andrew Balfour – Kiwetin-acahcos (North Star)
Jean Sibelius – Andante festivo and “Finlandia”
“Beethoven Bookends,” May 8, 2027
Guerrero, conductor
Beethoven – Symphony No. 2
Beethoven – Symphony No. 8
Great Escapes
Holley Hall, Symphony Center
“Planes, Trains, & Automobiles,” Oct. 14-17
Evan Roider, conductor
“Happy Holley Days,” Dec. 9-13, 2026
Tamara Dworetz, conductor
“Moonlight,” Jan. 13-17, 2027
Matthew Troy, conductor
“Romantic Rendezvous,” Feb. 10-14, 2027
Mélisse Brunet, conductor
“Soundstages,” March 10-15, 2027
Christopher Confessore, conductor
“Voices of Spring,” April 14-17, 2027
William Waldrop, conductor
Chamber Soirées
Holley Hall, Symphony Center
“Water Music,” Sept. 27, 2026
Osvaldo Golijov – Last Round
Dvořák – Serenade for Winds
Handel – Suite No. 2 from Water Music
“Adagio for Strings,” Oct. 29, 2026
Bernstein – Dance Suite
Frank Bridge – Phantasy for piano quartet
Ravel – Le Tombeau de Couperin
Barber – String Quartet
“In the Mix,” November 15, 2026
Arnold Bax – Quintet for Harp and Strings
Florence Price – Octet for Brasses and Piano
Andy Akiho – LIgNEouS
Charles Gounod – Petite symphonie
“Mozart: A Little Night Music,” Jan. 28-29, 2027
Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor
Mozart – “Eine kleine Nachtmusik”
Mozart – Serenade No. 9 (Posthorn)
“Old World/New World,” Feb. 28, 2027
André Previn – Four Outings for Brass
Eugène Bozza – Variations sur un thème libre
Alexander Borodin – String Quartet No. 2
“Bruch & Beethoven,” April 8, 2027
Max Bruch – Piano Quintet
Beethoven – String Quartet No. 16
Special Concerts
“The Conductor’s Magical Book,” Oct. 9. Free family concert. Stilian Kirov, conductor
“Star Wars: Return of the Jedi in Concert,” Oct. 23-24, 2026. Film with live orchestra. Christopher Confessore, conductor
“Happy Birthday Mozart,” Jan. 31, 2027. Winter Family Concert: Guerrero, conductor
“Side-by-Side,” April 18, 2027, Stuart Malina, conductor
“Disco Divas,” Outdoor Pops, April 23-24, Ed Smith Stadium. Byron Stripling, conductor; with singers Shayna Steele, Crystal Monee Hall and Kelly LeVesque, vocals
For ticket and subscription information: 941-953-3434; sarasotaorchestra.org
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