Ed Smith

Sarasota Orchestra has unveiled its 2024-2025 season. Learn more about the season and see how to purchase tickets.

Sarasota Orchestra’s May concerts promise to showcase hits that have captivated audiences “Time After Time.” The Orchestra will transport audiences back to the ‘80s with its ever-popular Outdoor Pops concert. After the electrifying nostalgia of the music of the ‘80s, audiences can bask in the romanticism of Tchaikovsky in Sarasota Orchestra’s final Discoveries program of the season.

Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe's 25th season will be a celebration of “25 Years of Black Heritage.” During its 2024-2025 theatre season, WBTT will offer fan favorites as well as a brand-new world premiere show. Learn more about the lineup here!

Learn how the Sarasota Orchestra is set to enhance its community music programs, thanks to a generous grant from the Barancik Foundation. Find out more about the initiative and its impact on the local music scene.

Sarasota Orchestra receives a $70,000 grant from Community Foundation of Sarasota County to support various programs, including the upcoming 2023-2024 Dinner Series with conductor David Alan Miller.

Sarasota Orchestra concludes its season with pizzazz. The Orchestra returns to the Orioles' Ed Smith Stadium for the 10th anniversary of Outdoor Pops, this time with a Motown theme. Acclaimed guitar virtuoso Bokyung Byun makes her Sarasota Orchestra debut in the final Discoveries series concert of the year, performing the Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez.

Sarasota Orchestra has been awarded a ­­­­­$65,000 grant from Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation to bolster the programming of the 2022-2023 season. Sarasota Orchestra's mission is to engage, educate and enrich the community through high-quality, live musical experiences.

Sarasota Orchestra concludes its season with fan favorites. The ever-popular Outdoor Pops at the Orioles' Ed Smith Stadium returns. Two young virtuosi star in the final Discover Mozart series concert of the year, performing the composer's much-loved Sinfonia concertante.

The Group Rep presents producer/director/writer Bruce Kimmel’s L.A. Now and Then, a brand new musical revue celebrating the City of Angels opening April 1, 2022. Cast features the vocals talents of Bita Arefnia, Lottie Arnold, Lisa Dyson, Harrison Fahn, Liz Grannis, Tim Hearl, Haruna Kajino, Marcel Licera, Danika Masi, Hisato Masuyama, Alariza Nevarez, Alec Reusch, Jeffrey Rockwell, Margaret Staedler and Tamir Yardenne, with musical direction by Richard Allen. I had the chance to find out some behind-the-scenes details on L.A. Now and Then from Richard, as well as some highlights of his long musical career.

Sarasota Orchestra was awarded a ­­­­­$50,000 Arts Appreciation grant from Gulf Coast Community Foundation.

Sarasota Orchestra was awarded a ­­­­­$120,000 grant from Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation.

Lara D. Herberger

Sarah Wertheimer, the executive director of Embracing Our Differences, announced that the organization is presenting a mini-display of artwork from its 2021 exhibition during the Orioles spring training season located in the East Lot at Ed Smith Stadium.

On October 16 - 18, Woodie King Jr's New Federal Theatre's Octoberfest virtual revival play reading series will present the acclaimed 'From the Mississippi Delta,' the biographical journey of a Black woman's rise from poverty and prostitution to become a Civil Rights activist and historian by late scholar-poet Endesha Ida Mae Holland, PhD.

Woodie King Jr's New Federal Theatre's Octoberfest virtual revival play reading series will present 'Dr. DuBois and Miss Ovington,' the acclaimed 2014 drama about the beginnings of the NAACP with original stars Peter Jay Fernandez and Kathleen Chalfant.'Dr. DuBois and Miss Ovington' are 7:00pm on Friday, October 9 and 7:00pm on Saturday, Oct 10.

On Fridays from October 2 to 20, New Federal Theatre (NFT) will present 'Octoberfest,' a retrospective readings series in which five rarely-done yet noteworthy plays, all previously produced by NFT, will be recreated by accomplished actors.

On Fridays from October 2 to 20, New Federal Theatre will present 'Octoberfest,' a retrospective readings series in which five rarely-done yet noteworthy plays, all previously produced by NFT, will be recreated by accomplished actors.

Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe has announced a change to its 2020-2021 season lineup. WBTT has replaced 'Broadway in Black' with 'The Soul Crooners' to open the season; this decision was made with respect to budgetary and logistical considerations due to the coronavirus.

The Sarasota Orchestra's Seventh Annual Outdoor Pops Concert honors the music from the 70s May 8 and 9 at Ed Smith Stadium, home of the Baltimore Orioles. Tickets to the performance are available after January 13, 2020.

The Sarasota Orchestra and its musicians, represented by American Federation of Musicians Florida Gulf Coast, Local 427-721, have reached agreement on a successor collective bargaining agreement.  The four-year agreement, which has been ratified by the musicians of the Sarasota Orchestra Players Association, will cover this current season through the 2022-2023 season.