Sarasota Orchestra names Giancarlo Guerrero as its seventh music director

After a two-year search, Sarasota Orchestra has named Grammy Award-winning conductor Giancarlo Guerrero the seventh music director in its 75-year history. Guerrero, who currently is music director of the Nashville Symphony, succeeds Bramwell Tovey, who died in July 2022.

Guerrero will serve as music director designate during the 2024-25 season as he completes his 16th season in Nashville before officially taking the baton at Sarasota Orchestra in its 2025-26 season.

“Giancarlo’s exceptional talent and esteemed reputation will significantly enhance our orchestra’s standing among the world’s most prestigious ensembles,” said Joseph McKenna, president and CEO of Sarasota Orchestra. “His visionary leadership, coupled with a fervent commitment to community advocacy, will be critical in further establishing Sarasota as a thriving center for classical music excellence."

In a Zoom interview, Guerrero said he fell in love with Sarasota when he came in January as a guest conductor for a Masterworks concert featuring Mahler’s “Titan” Symphony and Marimba Concerto by Grammy winner Kevin Puts, whom the maestro calls a friend. 

"It was my first time visiting. I fell in love with the institution, with the city," Guerrero said. "There was a spark, a great chemistry with the musicians. As a conductor, you can work so well with a great orchestra. As we were rehearsing during the week, we reached greater and greater heights. It was music to my ears."

Guerrero will replace guest conductor Rune Bergmann at Sarasota Orchestra's Masterworks concert on Nov. 8-10 featuring the music of Tchaikovsky, Respighi and American composers Adolphus Hailstork and Jennifer Higdon. In a statement, the orchestra said Bergmann "graciously turned over the week to Guerrero to allow his work with the orchestra to commence as soon as possible."

Guerrero will return to the podium from Jan. 30 to Feb. 2 for a previously scheduled performance at a Masterworks program of Shostakovich and Arturo Márquez. 

A refugee from Nicaragua's civil war

Born in Nicaragua in 1969, Guerrero later immigrated to Costa Rica, where he received his training as a member of Costa Rica Youth Symphony and the Costa Rican National Symphony Orchestra. He earned a bachelor's degree from Baylor University and a master's degree from Northwestern University.

During his tenure, Guerrero collaborated with the Nashville Symphony to premiere over two dozen new works and release 21 commercial albums, harnessing the Schermerhorn Symphony Center’s acoustics. The recordings received 13 Grammy nominations and six Grammy awards. 

Together with composer Aaron Jay Kernis, Guerrero spearheaded the development of Nashville Symphony’s biannual Composer Lab & Workshop for young and emerging composers.

Guerrero recently completed a six-season tenure as music director of the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic. With that orchestra, Guerrero recorded the Billboard chart-topping "Bomsori: Violin on Stage" on Deutsche Grammophon and albums of repertoire by Szymanowski, Brahms, Poulenc and Jongen. 

Image courtesy of Kristen Loken

Guerrero has previously served as principal guest conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, Miami Residency and the Gulbenkian Symphony in Lisbon, music director of the Eugene Symphony and associate conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra.

Guerrero joins the Sarasota Orchestra as it embarks on an ambitious plan to build a new music center at 5701 Fruitville Road, near an entrance to Interstate 75. The state-of-the-art facility is expected to serve as a magnet for the next generation of music lovers and players with its location in the fast-growing eastern part of Sarasota County.

Sarasota Orchestra's current home is at 709 N. Tamiami Trail, at Holley Hall, where it rehearses and performs its Great Escapes concerts. Its more formal Masterworks performances take place next door at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, a city-owned facility that also hosts touring Broadway productions and other popular entertainment. 

When a long-running show like "Hamilton" or "The Lion King" comes to the Van Wezel, that two- or three-week period is off limits for Sarasota Orchestra appearances. The Van Wezel also doesn't have the acoustics that the orchestra's new music center will provide.

In the interim

The sudden death of Sarasota Orchestra's previous music director Tovey in 2022 was heartbreaking for both the institution and its patrons. The much beloved conductor's tenure in Sarasota was cut short before it started. Tovey signed a five-year contract in August 2021. 

As it searched for a new music director, the Sarasota Orchestra has relied on the talents and services of Creative Partner Peter Oundjian and Artistic Advisor David Alan Miller. Both have played major roles in planning programming, auditioning musicians and conducting performances.

Oundjian is a Canadian violinist and conductor who is former music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra while Miller has served as music director of the Albany Symphony since 1992. 

Sarasota Orchestra’s board of directors voted unanimously to advance Guerrero as the organization’s artistic leader upon recommendation by a search committee chaired by Mark Pritchett, former CEO of the Gulf Coast Community Foundation, that also included orchestra musicians, board and staff members. 

“In the search committee’s work to identify our next music director, it was clear to us that Giancarlo’s time with the Nashville Symphony has been extraordinary,” said Daniel Jordan, Sarasota Orchestra concertmaster and search committee member. “When committee members visited Giancarlo and saw his performances, it was obvious he has the special ‘it’ factor that allows him to truly connect with audiences."

In addition to attending his Masterworks appearances during the 2024-25 season, Sarasota Orchestra patrons and supporters will have the chance to meet Guerrero at the orchestra’s dinner series and its annual brunch event in November, which will celebrate the Sarasota Youth Orchestra's 65th anniversary. 

Miami condo provides access to the world

Guerrero says he and his family plan to keep their residence in Nashville while he wraps up his last year with the symphony there, but that he will spend a lot of time in Sarasota getting to know patrons and donors in addition to his performances. 

The conductor and his wife and two daughters also have a condo overlooking the Biscayne Bay in Miami. "As a performer who is traveling around the world all the time, you want to be close to an airport offering enough flights so you make it to where you're going in one trip," Guerrero says. "Miami offers that."

The organization now known as Sarasota Orchestra was founded as the Florida West Coast Symphony and held its first music performance in 1949. A decade later, its Youth Orchestra Program was founded through the sponsorship of the Symphony Women's Association.

One of the most influential music directors in the Sarasota Orchestra's history was Paul Wolfe, whose tenure ran from 1961-1996. In 1964, Wolfe founded the Sarasota Music Festival at New College. The music festival merged with the Florida West Coast Symphony in 1985 and has become an internationally recognized institution for training emerging musicians.

In addition to Wolfe, other notable music directors in the Sarasota Orchestra's history include Anu Tali (2013-19) and Leif Bjaland (1997-2012).

In his first year of programming, which will be the 2025-26 season, Guerrero says he will depend on the expertise of McKenna, who has been with the orchestra for more than two decades, as well as Gordon Greenfield, chief marketing and communications officer. "Joe and Gordon know the tastes of the community, and I will work closely with them," he says.

Asked if his Latin background will result in greater outreach to Sarasota's Hispanic community or a greater emphasis on the works of Spanish and Latin American composers, Guerrero said his job is to attract everyone in the community to the orchestra. 

"Yes, it's great to reach out to Latinos, but what about the Asian community, what about the Hawaiian community?" he says. "The Sarasota Orchestra is supposed to reach everyone."