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Pianist and conductor Jeffrey Kahane will be leaving after nine years in the role
A summer program of the Sarasota Orchestra, the Sarasota Music Festival has seen faculty members and pre-professional musicians perform together for more than 60 years.
For the last nine years, the festival has been led by Music Director Jeffrey Kahane, who is the third director in the festival’s history. Though he will be stepping down from the role as of next season, he will return to perform as a guest soloist with the Sarasota Orchestra in the 2026/27 season.
Highlights from his tenure have included expanding the roster of faculty members, recruiting renowned chamber ensembles including the Attacca, Calidore, Borromeo, and the Pacifica string quartets, as well as the Montrose Trio.
He also expanded the festival’s agenda to include the teaching and performance of world music, jazz, and folk music, with violinist/fiddler Tessa Lark and cellist Mike Block.
Kahane launched his international career in piano following his Grand Prize win at the Arthur Rubinstein International Competition in 1983. After making his conducting debut in 1988 at the Oregon Bach Festival, he served as music director of the Santa Rosa Symphony and the Colorado Symphony. For two decades ending in 2017, he served as music director of the LA Chamber Orchestra. Kahane is also a faculty member at the USC Thornton School of Music.
As the Sarasota Orchestra looks for Kahane’s successor, the 2026 Sarasota Music Festival will be curated by the festival’s faculty artists and will run for two weeks instead of three, from June 1–13.
“It’s been an extraordinary three weeks at @sarasotamusicfestival!” Kahane wrote following the 2025 edition. “I’m so deeply grateful to the brilliant and inspiring faculty, immensely gifted fellows, devoted and hardworking staff, generous donors, and all the audience members who helped make this festival such a powerful experience.”
“It has been one of the great privileges of my career,” Kahane added in the Observer. “The Festival holds a unique and vital place in the musical landscape, and I’m proud of what we’ve created together — especially the extraordinary faculty and transformative experiences we’ve offered our fellows.”
“In connection with this transition, we are thrilled that Jeffrey will return to perform as a guest soloist with the Sarasota Orchestra in the 26-27 season,” added Sarasota Orchestra President and CEO Joseph McKenna, “and we are confident that he will be returning to the festival in the future as a teacher and performer.”
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