- November 5, 2024
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In a world filled with drama kings and queens who know how to put on a good show, Sarasota Orchestra President and CEO Joseph McKenna is a rarity. He has the demeanor of an accountant and the soul of an artist.
McKenna’s strangely calm when the winds howl and the power goes out. You can imagine him assembling his team in a bunker and plotting strategy with a flashlight, pen and paper.
He might even give high-wire artist Nik Wallenda a run for his money when it comes to having nerves of steel. Of course, McKenna gets to do his job a little closer to the ground.
In short, McKenna has the perfect disposition for leading an organization through the process of finding a replacement for a beloved music director who died suddenly, planning for a new music center that will survive Florida’s increasingly powerful hurricanes and making last-minute date and venue changes to a season of concerts while planning for the next one.
There’s a bit of a patient tutor sitting in McKenna’s chair at the head of a conference table, despite the power conferred by that position and his title.
When an interviewer asks, “Were you scrambling after the Van Wezel announced it was closing through the end of the year?” McKenna doesn’t miss a beat. He calmly replies, without hostility, “We don’t scramble at Sarasota Orchestra.”
He explains that he got a courtesy call from his friend, Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall Executive Director Mary Bensel, ahead of the announcement that the Van Wezel would close for the rest of 2024 because of damage inflicted by Hurricane Milton on Oct. 9.
While Sarasota Orchestra holds some of its smaller, casual concerts in Holley Hall, down the street from the Van Wezel, the so-called “Purple Palace” is where its formal Masterworks concerts take place.
The most important of these is the first Masterworks of the season, “Going Places.” It will be the first concert to be conducted by Grammy Award winner Giancarlo Guerrero since he was named music director designate of Sarasota Orchestra.
Guerrero was hired in August after a two-year search for a new music director following the untimely death of Bramwell Tovey in July 2022.
The new maestro, who is music director at the Nashville Symphony, will officially start his new position in the 2025-26 season.
After some finessing — don’t call it “scrambling” — McKenna and his team moved Masterworks 1 to the Sarasota Opera House with a slight tweak to the dates. It will now take place Nov. 7-9.
The historic opera house has 1,119 seats, fewer than the Van Wezel’s 1,741 seats, so concertgoers will be treated to a more intimate experience.
Some family-oriented concerts had to be canceled after Hurricane Milton, something that pains McKenna since he rightly sees the orchestra’s future players and patrons among the community’s youth.
The hurricane also prompted Sarasota Orchestra to postpone the announcement of the architect for its new music center on Fruitville Road near Interstate 75. On Oct. 29, the orchestra announced the selection of William Rawn Associates of Boston.
The music center will have an 1,800-seat main performance hall, a 700-seat flexible space for chamber music and special events and multiple rehearsal rooms. The orchestra paid $14 million for a 32-acre site in April 2023.
As Sarasota Orchestra mulled over possibilities for a future home over the last decade or so, McKenna has been vocal, though never loud, about the need for a resilient facility. Not everyone shared his concern about the possibility of flooding and other damage should storms intensify.
Asked if he was tempted to feel “smug” because his fears have become a reality, McKenna turned to Gordon Greenfield, the orchestra’s chief marketing and communications officer, and said, “I’m not smug, am I, Gordon?”
As they say in court, “Rephrase.” Is McKenna feeling vindicated? Well, his immediate concern is the well being of his employees, musicians, patrons and donors.
After that, he’s feeling hopeful about a climate-proof future for Sarasota Orchestra in a new facility that will last 100 years.
McKenna says the torrential rainstorm of June 11 and three hurricanes this season — Debby, Helene and Milton — have demonstrated the importance of having adequate acreage for drainage around the new music center.
Pressed for the price tag of the facility, McKenna demurs. As for the opening date, he and his team are aiming for the end of 2029.
Right now, the orchestra’s development staffers are having “quiet” conversations with potential large donors, McKenna says. He adds that it would be premature to talk about financing options, including a mix of private and public funds.
“People like to say, ‘If you’ve seen one project, you’ve seen them all.’ Well, I say, ‘If you’ve seen one project, you’ve seen one project,’” McKenna says, seeming to pause for the expected laugh that his quip will elicit.
As the interview draws to a close and McKenna is given the opportunity to deliver his own comments instead of responding to questions, a philosopher steps out of the shadows.
“A lot of people ask why we need a new music center,” McKenna says. The bottom line: “We need to learn how to listen.”
In a world where we’re too often thinking about what we’re going to say next or whether we should take a selfie, McKenna has a point.
Our survival may very well come down to our ability to listen — and follow instructions — when the next hurricane comes roaring out of the Gulf or the one after that.
