A Message from Jack and Priscilla Schlegel

“When we relocated from Washington, D.C. to Sarasota, we attended our first concert just as Joe McKenna was appointed the administrative leader of what was then the Florida West Coast Symphony. We are very supportive of all the classical performing arts in Sarasota, and the Manatee Players in Bradenton, but the Orchestra was always our top priority.

Over the past 25 years, we have witnessed Sarasota Orchestra transform into a fully professional orchestra that is rapidly becoming one of the best regional orchestras in the country.

We watched over the years as each new Music Director took the Orchestra to new levels of excellence, and the real breakthrough came with the announcement of Maestro Tovey as our Music Director. After his untimely passing, the search was reinitiated, and now we are incredibly fortunate to have Giancarlo Guerrero as our new Music Director.

Our commitment to the Orchestra deepened even further with the announcement of the new Music Center, which quickly became our top philanthropic priority.

The last two Music Director appointments and the purchase of the Music Center site have inspired us to be ‘all in’ with our support. We believe these moves will place both Sarasota and the Orchestra, with its new concert hall, on the map as a premier cultural destination.”