An aerial view of the future home of the Sarasota Orchestra Music Center
The Sarasota Orchestra purchased a 32-acre site on Fruitville Road west of I-75 as the site for its future music center.
When you visit the future home of the planned Sarasota Orchestra Music Center on Fruitville Road, all you might hear are the sounds of birds and other wildlife, or perhaps the radio of a passing car.
It will take several years for a new building to be completed, but the orchestra, which originally planned to remain in downtown Sarasota, has carefully and thoughtfully conducted the planning process to prepare for the design, fundraising and construction phases of the new facility.
A little over a year ago, the orchestra completed the purchase of a 32-acre property just west of Interstate 75. The property is still covered in brush and grass, and it will likely be early 2026 before design plans are completed and construction can begin.
The orchestra’s building committee is currently reviewing proposals from more than a dozen firms that could be considered as architects for the overall design of the building. However, the committee has decided not to publicly disclose the names of the firms.
However, an agreement is in place with HKS Architects, a design firm with offices in Orlando and Miami, to serve as executive or lead architect, a role required to ensure the project complies with all local codes.
The design and architecture firm “will give the building its personality and appearance,” said President and CEO Joseph McKenna.
“It’s safe to say that the designing architect has extensive experience with music centers, educational centers and concert halls and has an amazing pedigree,” said McKenna.
Why is the orchestra building a new music center?
The music center project has been in the planning stages since 2018, when the orchestra announced it wanted to build its own home and not rely on the increasingly limited availability of Van Wezel Performing Arts or the new performing arts center now planned as the centerpiece of the Bay Park project on the Sarasota Bayfront.
McKenna said at the time that the orchestra wanted control over its own schedule, which was not possible at the Van Wezel, which has expanded its slate of Broadway musicals, and that it also wanted to stay away from the potential for rising sea levels on the Bayfront. The orchestra planned a facility with more space for its educational programs and a concert hall where “every note, every nuance and every harmony can be heard perfectly from every seat,” he wrote in a 2019 Herald-Tribune column.
The orchestra also plans to use the new music center as a home for other, smaller organizations that would also use either the concert hall or a planned smaller concert hall.
What is the schedule for the new music center?
McKenna said once a design architect is selected, which will hopefully be by the start of the 2024-25 season, it should take about 18 months to get designs ready. “We’re thinking early 2026,” he said. The design will inspire philanthropic efforts to raise money for the project. “And then we’ll start construction and probably take up to three years to build a structure of this quality.”
That could mean the music center could be completed by 2029, but McKenna said it’s far too early to set an opening date.
Leaders of the Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation expect the new performing arts venue they are building with the city of Sarasota on the bay to be completed by 2032.
What will be in the building?
One orchestra first hired a firm called Stages Consultants, founded by acoustician Damien Doria and theater planner Alec Stoll. They have worked on projects such as the Dr. Phillips Center in Orlando, the Arscht Center in Miami, the Harpa concert hall in Reykjavik, Iceland, and Segerstrom Hall in Costa Mesa, California.
You have been working with the orchestra for almost a year.
“The big task is to finalize the building plan, determine the spaces we need, determine how much space we need in the concert hall, how many classrooms and offices, and get all that ready for the design architect,” McKenna said.
While Doria focuses on the acoustics in new (and old) rooms, Stoll is “the one who plans all the rooms together with the acoustician and determines what we need for everything we do.” The architects transfer this information into a design.
Earlier this year, Doria was in Sarasota to test different configurations for the concert hall’s stage area.
“We did some sketches of possible stage configurations in Holley Hall and marked them with tape. The musicians would then sit in those boxes,” said McKenna. “If there is a platform system, woodwinds, strings and brass are placed on alternating levels to create an optimal acoustic experience. Can the musicians on stage hear themselves?”
How much does it cost?
The orchestra has been talking to potential donors and supporters to find out what they think is needed for the new facility and how much money the orchestra could raise at a time when other nonprofits are raising money from the community for major projects such as the Mote Marine Aquarium, the Sarasota Performing Arts Center and Selby Gardens.
“The biggest takeaway from major donors is that we need a concert hall and a home for the orchestra, and donors have been very vocal in their support that that’s important,” McKenna said. “We’re also hearing that our education program is really the future and our music center really needs to have both components – education and concert hall.”
Originally, the plan was for a concert hall with about 1,800 seats, as well as administrative and teaching space. There may also be a smaller concert hall where some of the other nonprofit music organizations the orchestra works with can share some of the space.
McKenna said the combination of need and potential fundraising will determine what type of building will be constructed, but the cost will not be determined until the architect submits his designs.
The realities of inflation and supply chain problems caused by the COVID pandemic “have turned these projects upside down in terms of costs.”
The orchestra is in a “quiet phase” of fundraising and planning. “It’s a bit like an iceberg,” McKenna said. “You can see some things above the waterline, but underneath is all the work that Stages has done, and that goes for fundraising as well.”
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Search for new music director continues
While the Sarasota Orchestra was developing plans for the new music center, it was also on a multi-year search for a new music director. Anu Tali left the orchestra in 2019 after six years. Bramwell Tovey was hired as her successor in late 2021, but died a year later at age 69 before he could officially take office.
Tovey had experience leading efforts to raise money for a Vancouver music centre named after him. The orchestra wants someone who can both lead the musicians and plan strong concert programs, but also serve as an ambassador for the new venue in the community. The 2024-25 season will again be led by guest conductors. Peter Oundjian, who has worked as creative partner, will lead two concerts, and three returning guest conductors — Giancarlo Guerrero, Miguel Harth-Bedoya and Rune Bergmann — will lead Masterworks concerts in the new season. McKenna said that does not mean any of them will become the new music director.
A decision and announcement could be made at any time.
“We want the new music director to have the opportunity to add his voice to what we’re ultimately going to do,” McKenna said. “He’ll want a space with great acoustics and be passionate about education, and we anticipate there’s room for that in this schedule.”
Some had hoped Oundjian might get the job. He has been guest conductor and artistic adviser since Tovey’s death. But like many conductors, he has multiple responsibilities and has said the orchestra needs a music director who can devote more time and attention to the music and the musical center.
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