SEASON PREVIEW

From a bird’s eye view, Sarasota and the ensuing suncoast, appears as a beautiful still-life: glittering white sand beaches ring the emerald-lined coastlines. Downtown Sarasota glimmers, a wall of modern glass and steel and historic bungalows and fishing wharfs line the roads from Anna Maria Island down past Siesta Key. But what the bird’s eye view doesn’t show is the cultural history on which this built environment stands. Take a drive down Tamiami Trail, south from Bradenton, through downtown Sarasota and into south Sarasota County and one thing will be unmissable—there is art everywhere you look. Since John Ringling brought his circus down to Sarasota in 1927, the area has become an arts and culture destination. From visually arresting exhibitions at Sarasota Art Museum and The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art to contemporary theater, world-class dance and every variety of classical, chamber and orchestral music, SRQ Magazine gives you the inside eye on this season’s best and brightest arts and cultural events.

Taking Flight

In the 21st season of Sarasota Contemporary Dance (SCD), founder and artistic director Leymis Bolaños Wilmott is taking risks and expanding the breadth of her studio’s artistic community. “For me, this is an opportunity to reset and reflect as an organization,” Wilmott says. “Dance is a tool to love people, empower people and serve our community.” The lineup for SCD’s Raíces y Vuelos (Roots and Flight) 2026-27 season perfectly encapsulates Wilmott’s message. In the past, SCD has organized four productions in one theater. Now, each show will be held at a different venue: Manatee Performing Arts Center, Cook Theatre at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts, Sarasota Opera House and Sarasota Contemporary Dance’s home studio in the Rosemary District. To deepen its connection to the Rosemary District, SCD will host Mural in Motion, a performance series that runs from December 11-13. This outdoor performance series will feature live music and highlight five murals throughout the district. “Let’s activate these spaces,” Wilmott says. “Let’s dance inspired by this artwork.” Wilmott wants to invite audiences to experience SCD’s home turf through movement and sound. Dancers will perform contemporary styles in front of the art. Each mural will serve as a living stage for original choreography. “It’s a way of deepening our connection to our community and adding to the vibrance of our area,” Wilmott says. For Mural in Motion’s three curated performances, over 100 audience members are welcomed for each show, and Wilmott says reservation is encouraged. “For people who have been following us, they know that each performance is different,” Wilmott explains. “You walk in, maybe you have some kind of expectation, but we try to be really intentional about whether a show is more entertaining or will really tug your heart and provoke thought.” Wilmott wanted to emphasize presenting artists of various disciplines this season, from musicians and actors creating pieces for the first time to seasoned choreographers. She believes that dance has a ripple effect to both leave lasting impressions and strengthen connection within community and humanity. “It takes all the dancers in the company to create a masterpiece together,” Wilmott says. “And the audience is part of the artwork.” —M.Evans  Sarasota Contemporary Dance, 1400 Blvd of the Arts, Sarasota, 941-260-8485, info@sarasotacontemporarydance.org

Eszter Sziksz: Seeking I Don’t Know What I’m Looking For at Sarasota Art Museum 

There is a duty that the Sarasota Art Museum (SAM) has as the region’s contemporary art museum. It is to present some of the foremost modern and contemporary art to audiences in Sarasota, enriching the lives of those that walk through its gallery spaces with the works presented in them. At times that art can come from practitioners from all over the world. In other cases, that art can come from the museum’s backyard. Such is the case with SAM’s exhibition Eszter Sziksz: Seeking, I Don’t Know What I’m Looking For (And I Hope I Never Find It). Sziksz is an award-winning and internationally exhibited Hungarian-American artist, specializing in experimental printmaking, installation, sculpture and video. She is also a faculty member at the Ringling College of Art and Design. “We selected Eszter as a featured artist because we find the work she is creating to be incredibly interesting and quite timely,” says Virginia Shearer, Executive Director of SAM. “She is an experimental printmaker who is exploiting the medium of printmaking and is always trying to do something that is different, that’s groundbreaking and stretches her own creative boundaries.” Sziksz’s work in Seeking came as a reaction to a particularly tumultuous time in her life. “Her friend was diagnosed with cancer. Eszter did what artists do, and in a tragic recognition of this life moment, made Seeking as a reaction to that,” says Shearer. “This installation I Don’t Know What I’m Looking For (And I Hope I Never Find It) is her wanting to support her friend, by creating an immersive environment all of us as visitors to navigate the space, but also navigate these big, unanswerable questions that will be printed onto strips of paper hanging from the ceiling.” This interactive installation is set to feature long, semi-transculent strips of wax paper that hang from the ceiling. Viewers will wade through the exhibit and, using magnifying glasses suspended throughout the space, read queries based on the writings of different philosophers embossed into the base of the strips of paper.  “This sensory experience is further augmented by a soundscape she’s worked on with another artist, Douglas Tewksbury. There will be this sonic immersion within the drifting paper,” says Shearer. “I think that this will be a provocative and emotional experience for people.” —D. Campbell   Eszter Sziksz: Seeking, I Don’t Know What I’m Looking For (And I Hope I Never Find It), Sarasota Art Museum, 1001 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, 941-309-4300, sarasotaartmuseum.org

The Verdi Cycle Lives On

In 1989, the Sarasota Opera began a truly unique undertaking—the Verdi Cycle. The goal was to perform the complete works of Giuseppe Verdi and in 2016, under former artistic director Maestro Victor DeRenzi, the Opera did such, becoming the only company in the world to complete such a cycle. In 2027, the Verdi Cycle will return to Sarasota, albeit in a slightly different format—Verdi: Composer and Farmer, Marie Selby Botanical Garden’s 11th annual Jean & Alfred Goldstein Exhibition. The Goldstein Series examines seminal artists through their relationship with nature. As in years past, Verdi: Composer and Farmer will employ every facet of Selby Gardens’ Downtown Sarasota campus to tell the story of Verdi’s lesser-known relationship with the outside world. “Our visitors can expect a truly interdisciplinary immersive experience, combining objects and images connected to Verdi, along with our horticultural interpretation, with immersive plant displays and of course the use of Verdi’s music,” says Jennifer Rominiecki, president and CEO of Selby Gardens. “Maestro DeRenzi is a driving force in what made Sarasota the arts and culture capital of Florida. He’s the only person to ever conduct every note that Verdi wrote and approached me with this idea several years ago in the wake of us featuring George Harrison in one of our exhibitions.” The more Rominiecki examined the life of Verdi, the more the concept for the exhibition made sense. Along with being an iconic composer, Verdi considered himself to be a serious farmer and used the wealth from composing operas to purchase land in his home region in Italy. There, he wrote and worked the land at Villa Verdi, even listing his occupation on official documents as “farmer”. In Verdi: Composer and Farmer, horticultural vignettes will populate the Downtown Sarasota campus, displays will fill the Richard and Ellen Sandor Museum of Botany & the Arts and a special performance series will support the exhibition season. “Until Maestro DeRenzi brought this idea forth, I never knew how intrinsic land, nature and gardening were to Verdi’s life. He viewed the writing and success of his operas as a means of being able to farm and preserve his land,” says Rominiecki. “With this series, we’re revealing the surprising connections that certain artists in different disciplines have with nature and how nature inspires them.” —D. Campbell  Verdi: Composer and Farmer, February 7-May 30, Downtown Sarasota Campus, 1534 Mound St., Sarasota.

Live Cinema and Object Theater at The Ringling’s Art of Performance

Miniature figures, soundscapes, video projection and live action theater will come together at the Historic Asolo Theater this February for Agrupación Señor Serrano’s performance of Birdie. Part of The Ringling Art of Performance’s diverse season of contemporary musicians, dancers and performers of all mediums, Birdie brings the work of internationally acclaimed theater collective Agrupación Señor Serrano to Sarasota for the first time.  “It is this wild collage of something that I would call a mix of live cinema and object theater,” says Elizabeth Doud, The Ringling’s Currie-Kohlman Curator of Performance. Birdie, which pulls from the atmosphere of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, is a multi-media performance that incorporates over 2,000 miniature figures set on a green carpet that simulates a golf course, intermixed with live-video projections of the group. “The group is doing live camera work in which they shoot close-ups on the objects and project them onto the screen behind them and then intermixing it with film and video, primarily taken from The Birds,” says Doud. “They mix this feed in with photographic elements such as newspaper clippings and the script starts to take you through different ideas—when you look at something, are you seeing everything that is really there? Birdie is about what is perceived versus what is real and how those two concepts form our opinions about reality.” For the audience, the experience is watching Agrupación Señor Serrano create a story in real time. The dexterity of their storytelling, as they weave collage, projection and object theater, maintains Doud, is something to marvel at. The other thematic tentpole of Birdie is a conversation about borders and immigration. As the miniature figures move about the projection, the lines of borders begin to disintegrate, interrogating the very concept of what it means to be an immigrant.  “It is absolutely brilliant and a heavy show because it talks a lot about border crossings,” says Doud. “Birdie is not a new piece, the group has been doing it for years, but it’s shocking in how relevant it continues to be.” —D. Campbell  Birdie, Agrupación Señor Serrano, February 10 and 11, Ringling Art of Performance, 5401 Bay Shore Rd, Sarasota.

Asolo Rep Celebrates The Day The Circus Came to Town

Dates and numbers do not often hold an important context in regards to planning Asolo Repertory Theatre’s season, but in the case of the 2026-27 artistic year, they certainly did. In 1927, Sarasota became home to The Greatest Show On Earth, John Ringling’s iconic circus, setting in motion a century defined by a legacy in the circus and the arts. “1927 was an extraordinary year in American history,” says Peter Rothstein, producing artistic director. “It was a cultural renaissance. The first American musical, Show Boat, premiered on Broadway, the invention of television happened in 1927, the first talking moving picture, The Jazz Singer premiered, Duke Ellington made his Cotton Club debut, Charles Lindbergh and Babe Ruth became the first major celebrity athlete.” Keeping that centennial in mind, the entire 2026-27 main stage season for Asolo Rep revolves around 1927. One such production is the world premiere of The Day the Circus Came to Town, developed in partnership with The Ringling and the Circus Arts Conservatory. Directed by Rothstein and created by him along with Carla Noack and David Darrow, The Day the Circus Came to Town, “lives somewhere between a documentary, a musical and a circus.” The show draws upon Sarasota’s rich—and living—history of the circus, incorporating actual circus artists such as aerialists and acrobats as well as stories from interviews with dozens of Sarasota-based circus performers, aged primarily from 75 to 100 years old. “Before I did those interviews, I realized that I had a lot to learn. To build trust, to show respect to their art form, I needed to better understand it and some of the realities of what it meant to live a life in the circus—I spent a year or so at The Ringling Museum, some time in Venice, time at the Showmen’s Museum,” says Rothstein. “The challenge is then taking all of these amazing stories from the interviews—of people escaping Nazi Germany, of people losing a parent in an accident—and trying to fit them into one, big evening. The songs that we created for the production emerged out of the overarching themes of these conversations.” The Day the Circus Came to Town will be narrated by a troubadour, an ode to the transient nature of the circus and its performers. Backed by a century’s worth of archival footage from The Ringling, the show aims to give a sense of both the grandeur and the grind of what life was like in the circus. “What does it mean to not have a home that’s four walls, but you’re sharing a train car with 22 other showgirls?” says Rothstein. “It’s been deeply moving to hear about these folks who have dedicated their lives to bringing joy to people they’ve never met before, one city at a time.” —D. Campbell   The Day the Circus Came to Town, March 21-April 24, Asolo Repertory Theatre, 5555 N Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, 941-350-8000, asolorep.org

Connecting the Cultural Coast 

Incubate, connect, inspire. These are some of the things that Sarasota Rising’s Living Arts Festival hopes to accomplish come November 8. Now in its third year of production, the Living Arts Festival is a weeklong bonanza of all things arts in the Sarasota area. Part of what the Living Arts Festival does is point people towards existing arts and cultural events happening on Florida’s Cultural Coast—shows such as the Sarasota Opera’s Hansel and Gretel, FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training’s You Will Get Sick and Urbanite Theatre’s Ahoy-Hoy will all be in production that week, along with countless other shows and exhibitions.  “We want to enhance and elevate our arts scene in a way that hasn’t been available before,” says Jeffery Kin, executive director of Sarasota. Rising. “During that week, we want people to go to the theater, to the ballet, to an art museum or to an art opening. Since we created Sarasota Rising, it’s been a part of our mission to get people out of their comfort zones. If you’re going to Asolo Repertory Theatre, for example, great, but also check out a show at Urbanite Theatre.” The other component of the Living Arts Festival is its signature events. The festival kicks off on November 8, with Harmony and Hue, an opening night bash at Art Ovation Hotel. “We’ll have singing groups and performance groups as well as live artist paintings,” says Kin. “If an organization doesn’t happen to be performing that week, they can be a part of our events.” Another original event of the Living Art Festival is Rise and Shine Saturday, a family-friendly event replete with vendor booths, live entertainment, arts performances and a newly added talent show. “We’re producing an area-wide, intergenerational talent competition called Sarasota Rising Stars from 10am to 2pm,” says Kin. “It gives kids in the community a chance to see the ballet or part of an opera or a dance group that they may not have witnessed before.”The Living Arts Festival closes with Kaleidoscope: A Colorful World of Entertainment, a closing ceremony held at Sarasota Art Museum. Awards honoring different performers from throughout the week will be given out.  —D.Campbell   November 8-15, Living Arts Festival Sarasota, sarastotarising.org

Tragedy and Romance at the Sarasota Opera 

The 2026-27 season is one of firsts—it’s the first season in which General Director Richard Russell leads the opera as Artistic Director, following the departure of longtime leader Maestro Victor DiRenzi in May 2026. “Maestro DiRenzi created something really wonderful here and I’ve been lucky to be part of it for a long time,” says Russell. “I respect what he created and the quality of what we’ve done—he was very generous in the last decade or so, in involving me with planning on the artistic side. In working with my own team this year, I’m very much looking forward to continuing the tradition of strength.” One of the productions that Russell is set to bring to life this season is the signature Czech opera from Leoš Janáček, Jenůfa. The three-act opera, last performed by Sarasota Opera in 1998, is a gritty story of romance and realism. Set in a small village, the opera follows Jenůfa, a young woman who is in love with the fast and loose party animal Steva Buryja. Jenůfa’s stepmother will not let them marry—however, love pervades and Jenůfa becomes pregnant with Steva’s child. In a jealous rage, Steva’s half-brother, Laca—who is also in love with Jenůfa—slices her face with a knife, leading Steva to fall out of love with Jenůfa.  “In the meantime, Jenůfa has the baby and her stepmother is trying to come up with a way to salvage her life, which leads to a tragic consequence,” says Russell. “Janáček was immersed in the folk music of Moravia. He tried to write operas using that folk music while having a naturalistic approach to the text.” Making her Sarasota Opera debut as Jenůfa’s stepmother is world renowned soprano Karita Mattila. Long the star of the Metropolitan Opera, Mattila became acquainted with Russell through social media, when he learned that she had a residence in nearby Naples, Florida. When the Opera’s production of Jenůfa came about, Russell contacted Mattila’s team to gauge her interest. “She graciously accepted and is going to spend some time coaching and mentoring our apprentice and studio artists as well. It’s so important for younger artists to observe and work with people who have had success in this career,” says Russell. —D.Campbell   Sarasota Opera House, 61 N Pineapple Ave, Sarasota, 941-328-1300, sarasotaopera.org

A Modernized War and Peace 

Among the many high-energy club productions on Dingbat Theatre Production’s dazzling MainStage this 2026-27 season, the area premiere of Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 was one of the early highlights for its bold use of storytelling, according to producing artistic director Luke Manual. This electro-pop opera, which ran from August 14 to September 13, was Dingbat Theatre’s first production with a live band. “While we’ve had band nights and cabarets with live musicians, the theater has never organized a full-scale musical with a live band before,” Manual says. Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 is based on a 70-page excerpt from War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. The show takes place during the Napoleonic Wars in Russia and follows the young Natasha Rostova as her fiancé leaves for the war. It explores familial relationships among Moscow’s upper class and how Natasha’s friend Pierre Bezukhov tries to help save her reputation after Natasha’s affair with the married Anatole Kuragin. “We have to look at every show like it’s never been done before,” Manual says, as the immersive space that the theater has resided in since December 2024 has only 70 seats. “We lean into the fact that we don’t have big regional theater or big Broadway money.” Members of the 11-person cast played multiple roles, and some actors even played instruments during the show, running around with clarinets and guitars—similar to the 2016 Broadway version. “There’s a lot of talent on stage and the actors are able to accomplish a lot,” Manual says. Manual says Dingbat Theatre set Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 in a modern nightclub with disco balls as comets. As Sarasota’s LGBTQ+ theater, Manual says Dingbat Theatre incorporates gender-inclusive casting and programming. —M.Evans  Dingbat Theatre, 7288 S Tamiami Trl, Sarasota, 941-451-7706, dingbattheatreproject@gmail.com

Rhapsodies of Rhythm and Shakespeare 

In the heart of this year’s “Rhapsodies of Rhythm” season at Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe (WBTT), founder and artistic director Nate Jacobs is featuring a “cutting-edge evolution for the company.” He’s referring to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the theater’s first-ever Shakespeare production. “It’s a good opportunity for an African American theater to be exposed to not only this type of theater but also to this show,” Jacobs says, as WBTT is known for celebrating R&B, jazz and pop music that showcases African American culture. Now, they’re expanding into comedy. Running from January 14–February 21, this classic play will be directed by Geoffrey Owens, a new director for WBTT from New York. Owens is known for his role as Elvin Tibideaux on The Cosby Show, as well as many endeavors on Broadway, in film and on TV. “Geoffrey specialized in Shakespeare at Yale University, so we’re very fortunate to have a seasoned director for this show,” Jacobs says. Jacobs says this two-act play will be an innovative performance with around 16 actors in the cast. The production is staged in an elemental setting with dazzling costumes and is full of illusion, mischief and enchantment. Aside from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Jacobs says he’s excited about directing Stevie: A Stevie Wonder Revue in April and May to close the season. This new musical revue celebrates Stevie Wonder’s discography, featuring hits like Superstition, Sir Duke, Isn’t She Lovely and more. “I am so excited about celebrating this iconic singer, songwriter and musician as a part of our season, and for all of our fans and music lovers to remember how wonderful Stevie Wonder is,” Jacobs says. Throughout this season, Jacobs wants to highlight a theater culture that is worthy of celebration and acknowledgment—the same high-spirited, information and celebratory work that WBTT has continued to promote since its 1999 founding. “It is essential that WBTT continues to do the work that we’re doing, because if we don’t celebrate our culture, who will?” he says. —M.Evans Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, 1012 N Orange Ave, Sarasota, 941-366-1505, westcoastblacktheatre.org.

Revisiting an Old Favorite 

With the success of Sarasota Ballet’s last season, director Iain Webb says he may have gotten a little carried away with the ambition he’s introduced to this year’s lineup. However, he’s excited for all the old and new ballets in the program as he celebrates his 20th season directing the Ballet. The third of the seven programs, The Two Pigeons, is exceptionally poignant to Webb. Not only was this the first ballet he produced as Sarasota Ballet’s director, but he also performed this piece with his wife, assistant director Margaret Barbieri, in 1982. “In a way, it’s a little bit of an acknowledgement to Margaret, who graduated from the Royal Ballet School as the gypsy girl in The Two Pigeons,” Webb says. “It’s a really special ballet for her.” Coming to Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall from December 18-19, The Two Pigeons features choreography by Sir Frederick Ashton and music by André Messager. This romantic and heartfelt story follows a young artist who leaves his fiancée to travel the world with a gypsy girl. Pigeons serve as a constant motif, as the former lovers—or “two pigeons”—eventually find their way back together and offer forgiveness. “It is the most beautiful ballet,” Webb says. “It probably has the best pas de deux at the end.” Webb says the Sarasota Ballet truly received their national and international recognition by choreographer Ashton, and several programs this season highlight his work. Sarasota Ballet’s dancers were ecstatic when Webb told them they were performing The Two Pigeons. “For us, it’s really important to respect and preserve the history of classic works and also explore new repertoire and invest in the future with new pieces and choreographers,” Webb says. The Two Pigeons will also feature live music by the Sarasota Orchestra; this is one of four programs this season that will include the full Orchestra. “I’m constantly surprised and inspired by the players of the Orchestra, and they’re all so invested in what we do,” he says. “We never take it for granted. I’m continually trying to push the dancers and push the bar.” —M.Evans  Sarasota Ballet, 5555 N Tamiami Trl, Sarasota, 941-359-0099, directors@sarasotaballet.org

A Comeback Story for the Ages

The mission of the Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota (ASC), first formed in 1996, is to shine a light on the next generation of emerging artists in classical music. Sometimes that means showcasing the talent of fresh-faced, up-and-coming musicians. Other times, such as in this season, that includes championing the work of established stars. On rare occasions, it means catching a once ascendant talent in the midst of a comeback. Against All Odds, part of ASC’s Sunday Best Series, features Korean violinist Hyun Jae Lim paired with Grammy-nominated pianist Robert Koenig. A student at the Curtis Institute of Music and prizewinner at the 2018 Yehudi Mehunin International Competition, Lim was a rising star in the world of classical music—that is until 2020, when a brutal car accident left her with severe injuries, rendering her unable to play. In 2024, Lim finally was able to pick up the bow once again, winning first place at the 2025 Seoul International Music Competition and at the 2026 Elmar Oliviera International Violin Competition. Lim’s win at the 2026 competition brought her into the eyes of Daniel Jordan, Director of Artistic Planning at ASC, who paired her with Koenig for the program. In Against All Odds, Lim and Koenig will perform works from Saint-Saens, Franck, Mozart and Beethoven in a concert both impressive in the quality of music and the power of Lim’s comeback story. “Her journey is nothing short of inspirational,” says Jordan. “The concert is a great program for violin and piano. I’m excited to hear her playing in a full recital—the story combined with great artists will make for a special concert.” —D.Campbell  First Presbyterian Church, 2050 Oak Street, Sarasota, 941-306-1200, artistseriesconcerts.org/

A Celebration of Artists

For virtuosic pianist Wu Han, leading Sarasota’s La Musica Chamber Music Festival is more than just a job. It is a duty, one taken up in 2021 after the passing of the festival’s founder and close friend Derek Han, and one that Han does not take lightly.  “I have a very soft spot for La Musica,” says Han, who also co-directs the Chamber Music Society of the Lincoln Center. “I was heartbroken when Derek passed away from Covid-19—an institution such as La Musica and a city like Sarasota needs artistic leadership to allow classical music to continue to flourish. If La Musica were ever to stop, Derek would turn over in his grave, and I just cannot allow that to happen.” While La Musica is known for its week-long chamber music bonanza in April, the organization’s programming runs throughout the year. Kicking off La Musica’s season is Bach’s Complete Brandenburg Concertos, performed at The Sarasota Opera House. What is special about Brandenburg Concertos is the amount of musicians that it takes to pull off—20 in total—and that they feature unique combinations of instruments for every piece. Using Han’s connection at The Lincoln Center, La Musica has brought in some of the industry’s top soloists, rotating them throughout each piece. “The Brandenburg Concertos require multiple soloists to execute at the highest possible level of musicality,” says Han. “The six concertos are joyous, celebratory, ingenious works that nobody has been able to match ever since these concertos were created.” What is so desirable about playing these concertos, at La Musica specifically, is that there is no conductor. All 20 soloists have the freedom to make their own artistic choices whilst playing the Brandenburg Concertos, making for a truly unique display of chamber music. “I have waitlists for these soloist spots for the next three years,” says Han. “You push each other to another level, which is artistically, such a joy and a thrill. Typically, when you play a concerto, you play one or two of them in an orchestral setting. Here, you actually learn all six concertos, making it a huge artistic growing point for everyone involved.” —D.Campbell La Musica, P.O. Box 5442, Sarasota, 941-347-9656

Unbound at Azara Ballet  

Sarasota is home to such a diverse and voluminous group of arts organizations that it can be difficult to keep up with all that is happening in a given year. One organization that stands alone, both in Sarasota and the world of ballet entire, is Azara Ballet. Founded in 2022 by Martin and Kate Flowers as a body-positive, professional dance company geared towards providing neurodivergent and autistic communities the chance to experience the art form, Azara has quickly established itself as one of the Suncoast’s preeminent dance organizations. Leading the organization in his second season as artistic director is Joshua Stayton, a choreographer and former soloist at the Cincinnati Ballet. “What I’m looking forward to most is continuing the relationship between Azara Ballet and the community. We’re trying to create a company of artists that reflect and resemble your general audience,” says Stayton. “A lot of the audience wants to see themselves out there, so Azara Ballet stands out in that regard.” One performance from the company’s upcoming slate  sure to stand out is the season finale, Unbound, which features three works: The Tides, an original work from dancer/choreographer and board member Leiland Charles new to Azara Ballet; After Hours, a contemporary ballet by Stayton; and The Trial, also a contemporary piece courtesy of Martin Flowers. Both After Hours and The Trial are world premieres. The Tides, Stayton says, will showcase the dancers’ classical technical ability with an emphasis on how waves and water inspire the flow of everyday life. The Trial, which explores the mental turmoil one experiences on the journey toward self-compassion, is an ode to Mozart. “After Hours is a dedication to my career and the relationships I built during that time,” says Stayton. “It’s going to highlight the essence of releasing your inhibitions when you’re out with your friends—peeling back those layers of that shell we have when you show your true colors and are with the people that you’re most comfortable with.” —D.Campbell  Riverview Performing Arts Center, 1 Ram Way, Sarasota, 941-494-9362, azaraballet.org

Showcasing a Pop Art Icon 

The artwork of legendary pop art icon and activist Keith Haring will come to Sarasota this winter at a show at the Ringling College Galleries and Exhibitions titled Keith Haring: Lines in Motion. The exhibition, curated by Ringling College’s Exhibition Design and Management class, brings together over 130 works of Haring’s and is complemented by an auxiliary exhibition, Angel Ortiz (LA II): Collaborative Visions, which showcases over a dozen works by Ortiz, a frequent collaborator of Haring’s. Haring, who passed away at just 31-years-old in 1990 from complications from AIDS, became widely known for his distinctive visual language. Bold, sweeping lines and at times cartoonish imagery made its way from New York City’s street art and graffiti scenes in the early 1980s to the mainstream shortly after, with Haring’s work appearing on vacant lots and subway stations before popping up in mainstream avenues. In addition to creating a plethora of public art works from murals to sculptures, Haring also worked extensively as a commercial artist, illustrating album covers and mass produced objects. “All of these works are going to be seen through the lens of our students and reimagined through the Ringling College of Art and Design,” says Tim Jaeger, director of Ringling College Galleries and Exhibitions. “I think that the gallery will likely be turned into a sort of subway platform—a very temporal experience with big screens, newspapers blowing across the floor and an LED wall with subway cars running across the gallery. It should be a special show.” The message and sentiment behind the works, however, is just as important as the art itself. So much of Haring’s practice was focused around social activism—advocacy for the AIDS Crisis, safe sex practices and gay rights—that Jaeger wants to honor Haring’s mission. The show is more than just the opportunity to display seminal works from a groundbreaking artist, it’s the chance to say something about why Haring’s work still matters today. “Why Keith Haring? It goes into acceptance, accessibility and the political realm as well. Being able to share this work not just with our college students, but with the community’s elementary, middle and high school students is extremely important,” says Jaeger. “The thing that makes this season worth paying attention to and participating in is not just the exhibitions. It’s what the exhibitions do—they bring us together in an environment that is family-friendly, accessible, warm,and educational, and through these exhibitions on view at the same time, it creates a dialog amongst us.” —D. Campbell   Ringling College Galleries and Exhibitions, 2700 N Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, 941-359-7563, ringlingcollege.gallery.

Dracula at The Sarasota Players 

Horror, romance and intrigue—all of the makings of spooky October—are coming to Sarasota this fall in The Sarasota Players’ production of Dracula. Adapted from Bram Stoker’s iconic 1897 novel of the same name, Dracula will take place in The Players’ intimate black box theater, making full use of the tighter confines to up the thrills and heighten tensions. “This season, we’re using that black box space more than we ever have in the past,” says Amanda Heisey, Marketing Director at The Players. “Dracula’s running every weekend except for the last weekend in October and it’s leaning more towards the scary. Because it’s such an intimate space, we can do a little bit more with the shadows and the lighting in Dracula. If you’ve seen any versions of Dracula, you’ll see familiar characters, but our adaptation is going to skew a little more towards the novel.” Adapted and directed by Ren Pearson, a box office associate at The Players who is well-versed in gothic plays, Dracula looks to be the spooky start to Halloween season. For the team at The Players, Dracula is their chance to put their own stamp on the story. Adapted into countless forms of media, Stoker’s novel became not only the preeminent vampire story, but one of the most influential works of English literature ever written. In the 21st century alone, vampire stories have dominated media—from television’s The Vampire Diaries to blockbuster novels and movies such as The Twilight Saga to the more recent 2024, critically acclaimed horror film, Nosferatu. “While there is some level of camp when portraying some of these iconic horror movie monsters, our adaptation is leaning more towards the scary, a la Nosferatu,” says Heisey.  —D. Campbell.  The Sarasota Players, 1400 Blvd of the Arts, Suite 200, Sarasota, 941-552-8879, theplayers.org/

Beauty in Abstraction at The Ringling

Last June, The Ringling exhibited some of the woodblock prints of Japanese master Yoshida Hiroshi, in Yoshida Hiroshi: Journeys Through Light. This season, The Ringling is showing works by another member of the Yoshida family—someone just as important and as much a trailblazer as Hiroshi. Yoshida Fujio: Secret Gardens is the first exhibition in the southeastern United States devoted to Yoshida Fujio, Hiroshi’s wife. Born into the Yoshida family in 1887, Hiroshi became a trailblazer in the Japanese art world as one of the first women to build an international career after being trained in Western-style painting.  “At the time, Fujio’s father had no son, so he adopted Yoshida Hiroshi into their family, with the thought that he would eventually marry one of his daughters,” says Rhiannon Paget, The Ringling’s Curator of Asian Art. “For women in that era, you had to either be rich or from an artistic family to pursue a career in the arts. Fujio was extradoninary—she was publicly exhibiting when she was still in her teens—and in 1903, she and Hiroshi traveled to North America and Europe, supporting themselves by holding exhibitions at established venues like the Detroit Museum of Art.” Upon returning to Japan, domestic life took precedence over Fujio’s career. Fujio began focusing her painting on still lifes, particularly of plants in her garden. After the death of Hiroshi in 1950, Fujio’s works became increasingly abstract—plants gave way to swirls of color and biomorphic forms. Secret Gardens takes 26 of Fujio’s works, a series of woodblock prints and one painting, that show the progression from naturalistic depictions of plant life to more abstract works. “They are sort of blown up distortions of plants and flowers. They are almost swirls and are extremely beautiful and arresting,” says Paget. In celebration of Fujio’s influence and impact on the art world, Secret Gardens places Fujio’s work alongside that of women artists in her extended circle. “We have works from her daughter-in-law Chizuko Yoshida, her granddaughter Ayomi Yoshida, who is still a practicing artist and two prints from a Canadian artist who was a student of her eldest son, Yoshida Toshi,” says Paget. “It helps illustrate the challenges that women have had to overcome to become artists at a higher level in Japan throughout the 20th century. Fujio was always overshadowed by the sheer output of her husband, Hiroshida, but she is someone who really deserves to be better known.”   —D.Campbell   September 12-April 4, 2027, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, 5401 Bay Shore Rd, Sarasota, 941-359-5700, ringling.org

Roomful of Teeth at ensembleNewSRQ

This season, ensembleNewSRQ is returning to its roots. Founded in 2015 by percussionist George Nickson and violinist Samantha Bennett, ensembleNewSRQ celebrated its 10th anniversary last year as a versatile chamber music collective dedicated to championing the works of new and contemporary composers.  “We are looking forward to this season, because it’s a little bit smaller than last year’s, but with a couple of big collaborations still,” says Bennett. “It will be a tad smaller in terms of the amount of musicians involved, keeping it more chamber music focused, rather than the two programs we had at the Sarasota Opera House last season, which were paper orchestra-sized.” One such collaboration is the Season 11 opener, Roomful of Teeth. Pairing with the Grammy-winning vocal band, Roomful of Teeth, musicians from ensembleNewSRQ will present five works: Bits Torn from Words by Peter Shin, On Stochastic Wave Behavior by Leilehua Lanzilotti, The Isle by Caroline Shaw, The Ascendant by Wally Gun and This Might Be a Form of Dreaming by Caroline Shaw. “Caroline Shaw is a Pulitzer-Prize winning composer, we’ve done a ton of her works before and she’s all kinds of cool,” attests Bennett. “They’ll be doing a number of acapella works and then we’ll be doing three works in full collaboration with our instrumentalists.” Bits Torn from Words, On Stochastic Wave Behavior and The Isle will all be a cappella performances by Roomful of Teeth. On Gun’s The Ascendant, a six-song set lasting 22 minutes, Nickson will join Roomful of Teeth on the drum kit. This Might Also Be a Form of Dreaming will see Bennett, Natalie Helm (Principal Cellist of the Sarasota Orchestra), Asher Carlson, Nickson and Sam Nelson of ensembleNewSRQ join forces with Roomful of Teeth. For Bennett and the team at ensembleNewSRQ, working with groups such as Roomful of Teeth—contemporary composers continuously pushing the envelope—is critical to their mission as a company.  “We need to be the people advocating for composers and artists in this time,” says Bennett. “We have a duty to provide a space and an opportunity for them to get their artistic voice into the community and have it heard.”   —D. Campbell  ensembleNewSRQ, PO Box 15372, Sarasota, ensemblenewsrq@gmail.com

Virtuosic Horn Playing at the Venice Symphony

Music director and conductor Troy Quinn has led the Venice Symphony for nine seasons. Since coming to south Sarasota County in 2018, Quinn has helped build the Symphony into a nationally recognized brand, growing in size and prominence with every year. Seasons often include guest performances by some of the world’s foremost musicians, at times having traveled from around the globe to participate in a given program. In Strauss and Surprises!, Quinn turns to a musician that he regards as one of the industry’s foremost horn players—the Venice Symphony’s very own Joseph Lovinsky.  “Joe went to Julliard and the Curtis Institute of Music; he’s an incredible musician who has played all over the world and happens to be our principal horn player,” says Quinn. “What better way to feature our own incredible talent than showcasing a piece for them?” In Strauss and Surprises!, which Quinn refers to as a “New Year’s Eve concert on steroids,” Lovinsky will be featured as the soloist in a program that includes Strauss’s Die Fledermaus Overture, Emperor Waltz and Haydn’s Symphony no. 4 in G Major (Surprise). “We’re going to have some incredible surprises to go along with this thematic material. Strauss is played a lot in all of the Radetsky Marches and all of that wonderful high-level classical music, but we’re also intertwining the program with other, non-familiar pieces that showcase our soloist,” says Quinn.  Part of what makes Lovinsky’s musicality so special is his emotional maturity as a player, relays Quinn. Possessing a dynamic range, Lovinsky’s ability shines in his deft handling of the material, a skill that only comes with experience. “Joe’s one of those rare players where he can play anything,” says Quinn. “He’s played for so long and on so many levels, in many different genres, from symphonies to brass quartets and quintets, that he brings another level of not just artistry, but emotional maturity. He’s a virtuosic horn player.”  —D.Campbell  Venice Symphony, Venice Performing Arts Center, 1 Indian Ave Building 5, Venice, 941-218-3779, veniceperformingartscenter.com

Upgrade at Florida Studio Theatre 

In an age where audiences seem to feel increasingly disconnected from one another, Florida Studio Theatre (FST) is trying to rectify that. FST’s 2026-27 Winter Mainstage season, Stories That Connect Us: Finding the Light Together, features productions that interrogate the human condition and bring viewers closer together. One such production is Sandy Rustin’s Upgrade. Developed at FST’s 2026 Burdick New Play Festival, Upgrade is a part of a (rolling) world premiere. The comedy follows a couple living in Manhattan’s Upper West Side, who, after becoming empty nesters, turn to artificial intelligence to “upgrade” their marriage.  “At its core is a very human issue of why do we want to upgrade everything?” says Richard Hopkins, executive producer of FST. “The play is a great comedy that deals with this important subject of AI. When this happily married couple discovers that if they could have a secret lover or the perfect relationship with a form of AI, what does seeking that out do to them as human beings? They chase everything that they want to be perfect, but then they have to decide what flaws they’re going to accept in each other.” Part of why FST wanted to produce Upgrade is because of how “exquisitely” the play speaks to the modern age. Artificial intelligence has poured into nearly every aspect of life—FST wants to produce stories with these pressing issues that audiences are facing.  “We’re all worried about artificial intelligence, but we don’t know what to do with it. Sandy has found a beautiful way into this subject, which is by examining it through a personal relationship,” says Hopkins. “It’s very funny what technology can do to relationships, which makes the play entertaining, but also allows it to point out that there are dangers to us and things we have to be careful about as we enter this age of artificial intelligence.” FST was also keen on producing Upgrade as part of its commitment to manufacturing new works. “We’ve always been highly engaged in new play development,” says Rebecca Hopkins, executive director of FST. “Particularly because we’re a contemporary theater and part of being a contemporary theater is making sure that new work is going out into the different regions of the country. We’ve been working with playwrights for almost half a century—we’re seeing a big need and a big opportunity to speak to our community by developing work that speaks to the issues our region is facing.”  —D. Campbell  Florida Studio Theatre, 1241 N Palm Ave., Sarasota, 941-366-9000, floridastudiotheatre.org

Compassion Through Chamber Music

The 23rd year of the Perlman Music Program (PMP) Suncoast’s Winter Residency will touch down in Sarasota on December 30. This elite program is a training ground for some of the brightest young musicians in classical music. Led by internationally renowned conductor, Maestro Itzhak Perlman, students at the Winter Residency participate in a holistic learning program, designed to grow their skills as soloists, orchestral and chamber musicians. Last year, this program moved from USF to downtown Sarasota, where all of the events—which are free to the public—are easily accessible due to the location. The alumni of PMP are some of the most internationally celebrated classical musicians, found in orchestras, quartets and ensembles around the world. This winter, audiences in Sarasota get the chance to see these ultra-talented teenagers before they’re famous. “Everything is held at First Presbyterian Church and it has made a world of difference,” says Lisa Berger, executive director of PMP Suncoast. “We have Works in Progress concerts, solo performances, master classes for the public to watch and choral rehearsals all on display each evening. At the end of the Winter Residency, we have a chamber concert in which all of the students, who form chamber quartets during their time here, perform in front of an audience.” Another angle of PMP Suncoast are the alumni programs that occur throughout the year, separate from the Winter Residency. In November, the Karuna Quartet, all alumni of the PMP Suncoast Winter Residency, will come to Sarasota for two nights of performances. Formed at The Julliard School in 2025, the Karunas—Sophia Werner and Nicole Yun (violin), Erin Emi Nishi (viola) and Isabelle Nichols (cello)—take their name from the concept of “karuna” in the Sanskrit, which means compassion. Practicing chamber music as a form of compassion, these four standout string players were Gold Medalists and Composer Prize Winners of 2026 St. Paul String Quartet Competition.  —D.Campbell   PMP Suncoast Winter Residency, December 30, 2026 - January 11, 2027. Karuna Quartet, November 10, Venice Community Center, 326 Nokomis Ave S, Venice; November 12, First Presbyterian Church, 2050 Oak St, Sarasota

Duality in Design

The Sarasota Design Conference returns this November with one main goal: to inspire. The conference, organized by the Florida Gulf Coast Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), has run every two years since its inception in 1988. This year’s conference is themed Duality: Harmony In Contrast, features four keynote speakers from firms with global reach. “The idea comes from how opposites work together to create the whole,” says Karl Bernhard, President of the AIA Gulf Coast Chapter. “There’s always an interplay, not only in architecture but in life, there’s always a duality, whether it be through religious beliefs, science-based or design.” Over the two-day conference the speakers—Kai-Uwe Bergmann, BIG; Amy Donohue, BORA; Leo Marmol, Marmol Radnizer and Daniel Ralls, Olson Kundig—will share examples of their work, providing insight into the how and why of what they do. Each will speak individually as well as in a paneled discussion on the second day.  “I’m going to show a range of work that we’ve done from the smallest projects to the largest,” says Bergmann, a global partner at BIG. “This is for anyone in the room that is a one or two-person design office and doesn’t think that they have the infrastructure to take on and tackle big challenges. I want to prove to them that no matter what scale of project you have, you have the ability to really inspire, to do research, and to truly put forth a vision for what the future might be in your community.” Since it began, the Sarasota Design Conference has always been focused solely on the design element of architecture. “We want to focus on design and the importance of it, how design changes and affects how we live. The idea is to invigorate people and educate them on what it means to practice and experience architecture,” says Bernhard. “For me, personally, past Sarasota Design Conferences have done just that. As you continue to practice architecture, you can fall into your ways and lose touch with the creative, playful aspect of it if you’re not careful. Putting yourself into these situations and conversations within the design world reinvigorates and inspires.” While the Sarasota Design Conference is geared towards architects, Bernhard insists that it is not just for architects, but the general public as well. This year’s Conference is set inside St. Paul Lutheran Church, a Victor Lundy-designed campus, and a shining example of the Sarasota School of Architecture—the regional coastal modernism movement that took the design world by storm in the mid-20th century. Additionally, the Conference also takes place during the same timeframe as Architecture Sarasota’s MOD Weekend, with the hope that the two events can bleed into each other, creating one super weekend for design enthusiasts.  —D.Campbell   November 12-14, St. Paul Lutheran Church, 2256 Bahia Vista St, Sarasota, srqdesignconference.com.

A Centennial of Historic Significance

This past July, the United States celebrated its 250th birthday, a momentous semi-quincentennial that could be felt from every corner of the country, from Sarasota all the way up to Seattle. In 2026, Sarasota, also celebrated an anniversary of its own. 1927 marked the year that John Ringling brought the Barnum and Bailey Circus to town, as well as the year that Ringling’s historic Mediterranean-revival residence, the Ca’ d’Zan, was completed. “We use the completion of the Ca’ d’Zan as the beginning of the Sarasota School of Architecture. It’s the project that brought architect Ralph Twitchell to Sarasota, working under Dwight James Baum, and went back and forth between New York/Connecticut and Sarasota for about 11 years before he moved here permanently,” says Marty Hylton, President of Architecture Sarasota. “In those 11 years, this revolution of modern architecture—specifically European modernism—was being introduced in the United States. Twitchell was one of the first practitioners locally to begin to eschew the traditional approaches to architecture and experiment with what would become known as the modern movement to architecture.” This season, Architecture Sarasota is producing a multi-layered initiative, 100 Years of Sarasota School, that includes an exhibition in the organization’s McCulloch Pavillion, guided tours, lectures, special events and educational programs. The Sarasota School, a guiding light of mid-century modernism propounded by superstar architects such as Twitchell and Paul Rudolph, is a movement that not only shaped Sarasota’s built environment, but is still alive today. The use of modern design language, adapted to the unique environment of Florida’s Gulf Coast, set a standard for a wave of regional architecture that has had international influence. 100 Years was made possible in part by a grant from the Florida Division of Historical Resources, that allowed Architecture Sarasota to do an update of a survey of Sarasota School last completed in 1997. “We identified with the survey 1,700 properties affiliated with the Sarasota School of Architecture. We’ve expanded that original list of architects who were members of the Sarasota School to around 180 people—not just the architects, but the patrons, contractors, builders and engineers—that contributed to the movement,” says Hylton. “We’ve also brought it into the present day to include the current designers and architects, the living legacy, of the Sarasota School.” —D.Campbell   Architecture Sarasota, 265 S Orange Ave, Sarasota, 941-424-9956, architecturesarasota.org

The Masteriece of Carmina Burana

Seven Masterworks performances grace the stage of Sarasota Orchestra’s upcoming season, ranging from Beethoven concertos to the popular Symphony No. 7 by DvoÅ™ák. RoseAnne McCabe, senior vice president of artistic operations at the Orchestra, says each of these large symphonic orchestra concerts are very unique in their delivery of iconic classical pieces. One of the performances, Carmina Burana, is what McCabe describes as this season’s “most spectacular work.” “It’s a piece where you’re on the edge of your seat the entire time you’re listening to it,” she says. As the fourth concert in the Orchestra’s Masterworks series, Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana is under the musical direction of Giancarlo Guerrero, who is celebrating his second year conducting the Sarasota Orchestra. “His attention to detail and way of bringing out different elements of the orchestra at different times is going to make for a really stellar experience for the audience with the way Giancarlo thinks about the work from the inside out,” McCabe says. Guerrero is also the artistic director and principal conductor of the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago and will bring in the Grant Park Chorus to perform Carmina Burana. “Giancarlo has been so impressed with the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra, so we’re bringing the Grant Park Chorus to Sarasota,” McCabe says. Masterworks 4 will feature soprano Jana McIntyre, countertenor Logan Tanner and baritone Troy Cook. The concert will open with Lutoslawski’s Concerto for Orchestra and will close with the six movement Carmina Burana. Performances run from February 5-7 at Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall. McCabe says a lot of Guerrero’s personality shines through in his artistic direction of Carmina Burana and other Masterworks selections. “We’ve performed Carmina Burana before, but not with the kind of leadership that Giancarlo brings,” McCabe says. With each Masterworks—the Orchestra’s biggest series—McCabe says audience members will leave with something they didn’t expect, even if they’ve heard a melody before. “There really is something for everyone this season,” she says. “I really hope people think of the Orchestra as their Orchestra. When you sit down and the lights go dark, you’re transported into this soundscape—a shared experience with humanity.”—M.Evans  Sarasota Orchestra, 709 N Tamiami Trl, Sarasota, 941-953-3434, questions@sarasotaorchestra.org

A Hauntingly Beautiful Ballet  

A new wave of talent is gracing the stage at Sarasota Cuban Ballet this season with a six-person company of youth dancers. According to artistic
director Ariel Serrano, this is the biggest group the Ballet has organized since the COVID-19 Pandemic. “The growth that we have has been slow but steady,” Serrano says. “We try to mix different repertoire for younger dancers and give them the opportunities that other companies wouldn’t give them because they’re too young. But we believe they’re ready and we’re looking at the future stars of dance.” This new company will be featured in all of the upcoming season’s performances—one of which has been three years in the making. Dracula, which will premiere from October 30–November 1, will include dramatic original work and choreography that Serrano says has a “beautiful development.” “Dracula has a mix of classic music, and the choreography is classic and neoclassical,” he says. “It also has a bit of contemporary style where some of the movements are on point but still a little off set.” In this dramatic production, an ancient vampire leaves Transylvania for London in search of fresh blood. This gothic love story explores the unlikely pairing of horror and beauty in the world of vampires. As a Halloween weekend production, Serrano says his goal throughout the summer was to finalize the performance to be stage-ready in its 90-minute form. It will be presented in the Sarasota Cuban Ballet Auditorium, and although he says “it’s a small venue, many people have come to see our performances here.” Along with the six company dancers, Dracula will also feature some of the Ballet’s trainee dancers from its award-winning school. “They are younger and still in training, but they look every bit as professional as the company dancers,” Serrano says. Looking ahead to the 2027-28 season and beyond, Serrano hopes to continue growing the company to include about 10 people. “Having this company has been a dream,” he says. “For years, we’ve been planning this company, and it was important to develop these young dancers.” —M.Evans  Sarasota Cuban Ballet, 4740 Cattlemen Rd., Sarasota, 941-365-8400, info.sarasotacubanballet@gmail.com

Urbanite Theatre’s Unlikely Pairing

There are some occupations that while essential, are often taken for granted. Or least those that perform those select duties are. Take your town’s sanitation department, for example. If those who worked on the back of garbage trucks simply stopped doing their jobs, then neighborhoods would suddenly be a whole lot less pleasant to stroll through. Those workers are the focus of Urbanite Theatre’s production The Garbologists. The play by Lindsay Joelle is making its regional premiere at Urbanite in January and follows two unlikely co-workers: Danny, a white, blue-collar longtime New York City sanitation worker and Marlowe, a Black, Ivy-educated newcomer, who has just been assigned to his route. The Garbologists follows this unlikely pairing throughout their route in the garbage truck, where class and generational divide seems to rule supreme. “They could not be more different in personalities, in style, in how they work and how they function in the world,” says Summer Wallace, producing artistic director of Urbanite. “They spar over everything, from high art to the way that you should drink coffee, but even though their worlds are so different, Danny and Marlowe discover that they do have common bonds and that they can help each other in unexpected ways.” Part of what Wallace loves about The Garbologists is that it’s a story that proves that people can come together, despite being from widely different backgrounds. Danny is going through a divorce—a piece of Marlowe’s past provides an in to helping Danny through this tough time. “It’s similar to if you’ve gotten a speeding ticket and have to go to traffic school and think to yourself, ‘Wow, I would never assemble with these other human beings if I didn’t have to,’” says Wallace. “Because Danny’s blue-collar and Marlowe’s Ivy-educated, the play dives into class structure as well. As a society, we tend to make a lot of assumptions about the human beings who do these jobs.” The other part that excites Wallace about the production is the physical staging of it. With The Garbologists set entirely in the cab and back of a garbage truck, creating that set within the tight confines of Urbanite’s black-box theater is a challenge Wallace is looking forward to. “I imagine that this is going to be more of an abstract version of a garbage truck and cab, which will be quite fun. I went to our master carpenter before putting this show in our season and said, ‘Gene, do you think we could actually do this?’” says Wallace. “He said yes and has been taking a lot of pictures of garbage trucks and studying them—the whole team is looking forward to pulling this one off.” —D.Campbell   Urbanite Theatre, 1487 2nd St, Sarasota, 941-321-1397, www.urbanitetheatre.com

Hearing and Seeing Voices 

During Via Nova Chorale’s rebranding in 2024, artistic director Steven Phillips chose the Chorale’s Latin title, translating to “new way,” as he envisioned inspiring concerts that bring people together in an uplifting environment. This “new way” drives the Chorale’s program in its 17th season this year as it showcases five concerts to highlight different voices of people and music. “We want our concerts to inspire positive change in the world through art and transformative experiences,” Phillips says, as his team considers the audience experience first when designing each season. Among this season of “Voices,” Phillips is especially excited about the Chorale’s third concert—a collaboration with the Ringling Museum of Art to perform If Art Could Sing: The Ringling in Music. This is the first performance Via Nova Chorale has produced that involves both auditory and visual elements. “We’re aiming for an integration of visual art and musical art,” Phillips says. “Some of the subjects are very touching, from love and family to war and poverty.” On this February 19 performance, the Chorale will perform dialogue alongside projections of art and sculptures from the Ringling’s permanent collection. Phillips says art will be displayed from a variety of periods, ranging from Renaissance to Modern. “Hopefully, our pairings of music will represent the emotional tone and intent of the artist,” he says, emphasizing the impact that simultaneously hearing music and viewing art will have on audiences. This performance will run between 75 and 90 minutes, without an intermission. The 45-50 voice ensemble will also be accompanied by several string instruments and a pipe organ. Phillips wants this performance to be a holistic experience for the audience to see and hear themes that are beautiful, inspiring and powerful.  “We aim to be a blend of artistic excellence and humanitarian action,” he says. “We really want to integrate positive change in our community and in our world—and to inspire that through really excellent performances.”  —M.Evans   Via Nova Chorale, First Presbyterian Church: 2050 Oak St., Sarasota, 941-263-2086, info@vianovachorale.com

The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci 

For Joseph Caulkins, artistic director of Key Chorale, the upcoming arts season is all about storytelling. “We chose a number of pieces that really drew on that idea,” Caulkins says. One such piece in the Chorale’s 2026-27 program is The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci, a new composition by Jocelyn Hagen that feeds on multimedia work. Caulkins says the Chorale is very excited to feature Jocelyn Hagen’s 2019 score, which provides a look into Da Vinci’s writing and artwork by weaving them into music to help understand his creative outlets. “The composer takes images from Da Vinci’s notebooks and animates them,” Caulkins explains. “Images are very interesting and engaging.” Notebooks will be an approximately 45-minute piece without an intermission and will be shown on April 24 at Church of the Palms. This large concert hall, which sits about 600-700 guests, is undergoing renovations in December, according to Caulkins. With a blend of orchestra, immersive video projection and the full 100-person Chorale, Notebooks will reveal da Vinci’s reflections on art, science, nature and the human spirit. “You generally have a click track with live music and video, but with The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci, the composer worked with a new software developer who created a new program where an operator is following the hand of the conductor, so everything is perfectly timed in a live performance,” Caulkins says. This production will also feature selections of film music, ranging from Hans Zimmer’s works in The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons to Bear McCreary’s Theme from Da Vinci’s Demons. “These inclusions will give us a good wash of all the music that is influenced by Da Vinci,” Caulkins says. Overall, Caulkins wants audience members to embrace the concert experience and leave with music they will never forget. “We want people to remember the music after the standing ovations,” he says.  —M.Evans   Key Chorale, 1900 Main St., Sarasota, 941-552-8768

Dear Evan Hansen’s Area Premiere 

With a diverse musical and play lineup this upcoming season, producing artistic director Rick Kerby says the biggest excitement and challenge for Manatee Performing Arts Center lies in the technical aspects of performances. Five out of six shows at the mainstage are brand new for audiences, and Kerby says he’s particularly enthusiastic about Dear Evan Hansen’s area premiere. The musical, showing from October 22 to November 1, follows a shy high school student who becomes entangled in a fabricated friendship after a classmate’s suicide. “It’s got a lot of heart,” Kerby says. “I love the story of it, and it talks about bullying and the whole idea of cyberbullying. This is such a hot topic right now.” Kerby says the center received a special invitation from its licensee to have an advanced opportunity to perform Dear Evan Hansen. “Dear Evan Hansen has an LED screen wall that will be used extensively during the production,” Kerby explains. The show will be a high-tech production with multiple monitors and projections. Kerby says an LED wall amplifies the concept of social media use, a key theme throughout the musical. “It’s a fun musical that has a lot of upbeat, poppy score to it,” Kerby says, adding that the center welcomes this different style of theater.   —M.Evans   Manatee Performing Arts Center, 502 3rd Ave. W, Bradenton, 941-748-5875, manateeperformingartscenter.com

Caesar at the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training

Part of what makes Sarasota such an incubator for the arts is not just the fact that there are a myriad of cultural organizations dedicated to showcasing various art forms, but there is also a push to train the next generation of artists here on the Suncoast. That’s where programs such as the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training come into play. A highly-competitive three-year, Master of Fine Arts graduate program, the Conservatory produces shows that are both entertaining for audiences and informative for the students taking part in them. One such production next year is William Shakespeare’s Caesar, directed by faculty member Jonathan Epstein, who teaches Second Year Acting at the Conservatory. Epstein, who has a long history of performing on and off-Broadway is perhaps best known for his 25-year association with Shakespeare & Company in Lennox, Massachusetts. Second-year acting students at the Conservatory study under Epstein to learn how to ingest and act in the classics. Shakespeare, celebrated as the bard is, wrote in a completely different way than how students speak and act today. Learning how to act in a play such as Caesar, builds foundational skills that are transferable to contemporary scripts and plays. “I always ask our second-year students when starting to work with Shakespeare, ‘What moves you about this text?’” says Epstein. “There’s always something that awakens some capacity in an actor, because the language is so evocative and connotative. Actors who are skilled in the classics are able to get deeper in the modern material.” Part of what excites Epstein about Caesar are the thematic undertones that feel relevant to politics and society today. Epstein argues that Caesar proves that politics are personal and Shakespeare’s tragic play becomes an interrogation about what honor means to three of the main characters—Julius Caesar, Brutus and Caius Cassius. “There’s honor in which the level I’m getting praised and talked about, which is the kind of honor that Caesar’s getting. Then there’s the kind of honor that centers around not being shamed, which is a destructive honor and the type that Cassius is worried about,” says Epstein. “Then there’s a different kind of honor—behaving in alignment with my own ethical principles—doing what I know to be proper, even if it hurts. That is Brutus’s version of honor, which makes him in a way the tragic hero of the play.”—D.Campbell   Caesar, February 4-14, 2027, Jane B. Cook Theatre at FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N Tamiami Trail, Sarasota.