Sarasota Orchestra Names New Music Director

SARASOTA, FL — Internationally renowned conductor Bramwell Tovey has been appointed Sarasota Orchestra’s new music director.

He’ll begin his role as music director designate Wednesday before taking the reins as music director in the fall of 2022 for four seasons, the orchestra said in a news release.

Tovey has worked with some of the most prestigious orchestras in the world. He recently led the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, New York Philharmonic at Bravo! Vail Festival, Boston Symphony Orchestra and Philadelphia Orchestra, as well as orchestras across Europe and Asia. He is also principal conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra, artistic advisor to the Rhode Island Philharmonic and principal guest conductor of Orchestre Symphonique de Québec.

Before coming to Sarasota, Tovey served for 18 years as music director of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO). He is widely known in the Vancouver community for having advanced the orchestra through tours and recording, Sarasota Orchestra said.

Additionally, his vision and institutional leadership resulted in the creation of the VSO School of Music, which opened in 2011 and is now housed within the Tovey Centre for Music, a state-of-the-art facility named in his honor in 2018.

Sarasota Orchestra’s Search Committee, comprised of musicians, staff and board members, unanimously recommended Tovey for the job.

“We are thrilled to welcome an artist of Bramwell Tovey’s stature at this important time in the development of our organization. His brilliant musicianship, passion for education and his immediate chemistry with our musicians inspired his selection by the search committee and board of Sarasota Orchestra,” Joseph McKenna, president and CEO, said.

Tovey accepted the position “because the musicians’ artistry and dedication, the organization’s health and the community’s support all resonated with an inspirational unanimity of vision,” he said.

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He is a Grammy and Juno award winner with the VSO. He was formerly the music director of the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, where he played an instrumental role in the opening of the Philharmonie Luxembourg, one of the finest concert halls in Europe. He held successful artistic directorships with Calgary Opera and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (WSO) where he created the WSO’s international New Music Festival, now in its 30th year.

“For me, music is a profound language that addresses humanity at a level that is beyond mere words. To have been able to spend my career sharing music through the power of the modern symphony orchestra has been an extraordinary privilege,” Tovey said.

He will conduct the Sarasota Orchestra in a special concert entitled “Tovey: the Adventure Begin” Oct. 30. Held at the Sarasota Opera House, the concert will feature multiple Grammy Award-winning violinist James Ehnes.

Frequent collaborators, Ehnes and Tovey first performed together when Ehnes was an emerging artist in Canada. A current resident of the Sarasota-Manatee region, he and Tovey won a Grammy Award for their 2007 recording of Barber, Korngold, and Walton concerti with the VSO. The concert will feature Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 and music by Verdi, Saint-Saëns and Sarasate.

During his music director designate year, Tovey will conduct two weekends, plan the full 2022-23 season and hold auditions for open spots in the Sarasota Orchestra that have been deferred due to the pandemic.

He’ll also conduct Sarasota Orchestra’s final Masterworks concert of this season. The concert, “Breaking Boundaries,” will be performed at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall April 1-3. The revised program includes Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloé Suite No. 2, Richard Strauss’ Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks and Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto featuring guest artist Angelo Xiang Yu.

Single tickets for these and other Sarasota Orchestra concerts go on sale Sept. 7 and can be purchased online here.