It's music as usual for the Perlman Music Program's winter residency

Was there ever a moment in the fall after Sarasota’s back-to-back hurricanes when Lisa Berger, executive director of the Perlman Music Program Suncoast, worried that the winter residency for young musicians might not happen in January 2025?

The short answer, according to Berger, is “no.”

“The campus of USF Sarasota-Manatee, where our tent is set up, was cleaned up pretty quickly,” she says. Ditto for the hotels used by PMP Suncoast, founded by virtuoso Itzhak Perlman and his wife Toby Perlman and now in its 21st season.

“There was never a doubt in my mind that the winter residency wouldn’t go on as scheduled,” Berger said in a telephone interview Dec. 19.

Berger, who has been executive director of PMP Suncoast since September 2020, is excited about this year’s winter residency, which brings together 27 music students between 11 and 20 who play string instruments and six fellows.

For the first time, PMP Suncoast is offering a program to introduce children to classical music. Like all the other rehearsals, master classes and works in progress during the two-week residency, the “Classical for Kids” program is free.

It takes place Jan. 2 under PMP’s heated tent on the USF-Sarasota Manatee campus that seats 600.

You’ve heard of a petting zoo, right? At the end of PMP Suncoast’s Classical for Kids session, children will be invited to come up and “pet” the musicians’ instruments.

The interactive program, similar to what PMP Suncoast offers in local elementary schools, provides spontaneous moments for kids “to really connect with music,” Berger says. “A child might be selected from the audience to go up and try to conduct the orchestra.”

Classical for Kids has been on Berger’s wishlist since she arrived at PMP Suncoast after eight years at the helm of Art Center Sarasota. “A lot of grandparents have family in town and this is something to give kids a free cultural introduction to music. You never know who’s going to be inspired in the audience.”

The kids program is just one of 13 free public events culminating in a celebration concert at the Sarasota Opera House on Jan. 11, followed by a dinner at Michael’s On East that will include more music.

No one knows yet what music will be on the bill at the celebration concert, Berger says. That will be determined by Perlman over the two-week residency as musicians rehearse their repertoire under his direction.

Also featured at the celebration concert is the PMP Chorus under the direction of Chorus Master Patrick Romano.

In addition to the Classical for Kids event, Berger says she is looking forward to the program’s master classes, which allow audience members to watch the process of a young musician being taught and coached.

During rehearsals and classes, Perlman and instructors are “miked” so their direction to students can be heard by the audience.

Catering to music lovers with disabilities

Now, about that tent: It was receiving finishing touches and a final safety inspection on Dec. 19, ahead of the PMP’s opening day, Dec. 30.

The tent is ADA-compliant and golf carts are available to shuttle people back and forth from the parking lots and restrooms to the tent. A cement walkway runs through the tent to make it easier for people using walkers and wheelchairs.

Perlman, who got polio as a child, has been a vocal advocate for people with disabilities and has worked to improve accessibility in concert halls, theaters, restaurants and airports. 

So if Granny is a music lover but needs a walker to get around, the PMP Suncoast events aren’t out of the question.

Because of changeable weather, PMP Suncoast advises attendees to dress in layers even though the tent is heated.

Courtesy image

When an interviewer observes that staging a music residency with students from all over the world must “contain a lot of moving parts,” Berger interjects, “A million.”

Some of the challenging logistics pertain to transporting large string instruments. “Cellos require their own seats. They can’t be stored in the same area of the plane with luggage because they are too valuable and fragile,” she says.

For students coming from Israel, the cost of an extra seat for a cello can be prohibitive, she notes.

Also, it doesn’t make sense to transport a heavy instrument like the double bass to the PMP Suncoast residency, Berger says. 

The program will rent a double bass, a couple of cellos and any other instruments that are needed from the Violin Shop in Tampa, she says. 

The program book for the 21st PMP Suncoast residency lists the program’s many supporters, ranging from the Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax to Ernie Kretzmer, who died this summer four months before his 100th birthday. However, one’s eye is drawn to the Chocolate Lady Fund.

Who is the Chocolate Lady? Berger explains that young musicians who practice all day get very hungry. Ilana Jones earned her nickname because she used to bring homemade sweets for the students and fellows in the PMP Suncoast program.

According to her obituary, Jones was born in Shanghai, China, and grew up in Japan and Israel before moving to the U.S. 

After coming to Sarasota, the devoted wife and loyal friend with a flair for baking won the hearts — and stomachs — of PMP participants with her confections.

After Jones died in 2023, a group of donors, including Rabbi Edgar J. Weinsberg, Carol Segal and Brent Rubin, set up a fund in her honor to keep the cakes, cookies and candies coming. There are too many to name all of the patrons of the Chocolate Lady Fund.

The sweet treats underwritten by the fund supplement the meals and savory snacks provided to PMP students and faculty members through USF’s catering services, Berger notes.

If audience members feel hungry or thirsty, there are snacks and drinks that they can buy.