- June 10, 2025
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Perlman Music Program alumni Max Tan is a violinist and what might be called a cultural entrepreneur through his classical music nonprofit Soundbox Ventures. He’s also proven himself a bit of an amateur meteorologist. Or maybe he’s just plain lucky.
After founding the Suncoast Composer Fellowship Program to partner emerging composers with mentors and performers, Sarasota Orchestra member Tan launched the inaugural Suncoast Composer Festival and scheduled it for October 4-7, 2024.
In case you’ve forgotten, that was just days before Hurricane Milton made landfall on Oct. 9. Fortunately for Tan, all the events at his festival came off as planned. “None of the events got canceled,” he said in a telephone interview. “It was miraculous.”
Miracle or no, Tan isn’t taking any chances with Suncoast Composer Fellowship Program’s second event, which will take place from May 16-21 at various locations in Sarasota, including Selby Library, Holley Hall, St. Boniface Episcopal Church and Aloft Sarasota hotel.
Designed to advance classical music by bringing together artists, scholars and curators, the program consists of no less than 15 public events, including seminars, lecture-performances, masterclasses, concerts, tours and parties. Some discussions will be offered via webinar for those who aren’t able to attend.
Although Suncoast dodged a hurricane with its October 2024 event, Tan believes May is a better time to hold a conference that draws participants from all over the world. “Even though a lot of snowbirds leave after Easter, we think May is a better window,” says Tan.
A native of East Lyme, Connecticut, Tan began coming to Sarasota in December 2007 as a member of the Perlman Music Program, founded by Toby Perlman, the wife of superstar violinist Itzhak Perlman. PMP holds sessions for its young musicians in Shelter Island, New York, during the summer and sets up shop each winter at the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus.
Besides being a PMP alum, Tan earned a degree at Harvard and is pursuing a doctorate at the Juilliard School. In April 2024, he made his Carnegie Hall debut, with pianist Marisa Gupta, after winning the 2023 Gershon Cohen Violin Award.
Tan believes Sarasota is the perfect place for a program that will explore a wide range of topics, including how musical texts are created; how canons are created and sustained; and how classical music continues to evolve. Most of the events are free, although they require registration.
Tan think local audiences will appreciate the behind-the-scenes look at lively exchanges about the state of classical music. He describes the conference as “a meeting ground.” The theme that runs through all the events is “storytelling,” he says.
Tan believes the same crowd of diehard classical music fans who flock to Perlman Music Program’s free rehearsals and masterclasses with superstar violinist Itzhak Perlman will be interested in the Suncoast Composer Fellowship Program, which is being presented with the assistance of Sarasota Music Archive and the Sarasota Music Conservatory.
While Tan has no doubts that discussions about the past and future of classical music, concerts and other events will be well attended, the Suncoast program has faced some unexpected challenges.
Concerns about the U.S. political climate have prompted some participants to drop out. “People are concerned about visa problems or that they might have trouble getting in or out of the country,” he says.
Still, having a webinar format will allow the conference’s proceedings to reach those who won’t be physically present in Sarasota, Tan notes.
Despite some last-minute hiccups, Tan has created an ambitious program with help from a grant from Chamber Music America. Highlights of the conference include keynote presentations by performer and curator Annie Dutoit-Argerich, Juilliard School Vice President for Library and Information Sciences Jane Gottlieb and Suncoast faculty directors Tan and Sean Friar.
The Suncoast program kicks off Friday, May 16, with a benefit concert for St. Boniface Episcopal Church that takes place at the church. The program, “Ysaÿe’s Organ at 100,” showcases a piece for piano, organ and violin, an unusual grouping of instruments, in which Tan will perform.
The capstone of the conference will be a concert at Holley Hall on Tuesday, May 20, that includes the Sarasota premiere of “Carnival de las Indias” by Catalan composer Marc Migó Cortes, narrated by Dutoit-Argerich, daughter of legendary pianist Martha Argerich.
The program, which will be conducted by Glen Cortese, will offer a sneak peek of of the piece before its New York premiere on May 23 and its European premiere in July, when it will be performed in Barcelona with Martha Argerich.
The Sarasota concert will also feature works by Friar, Ania Vu, Will Stackpole, Sergei Rachmaninov and the late Sarah Gibson. The program will be presented the style of a live radio concert with commentary framing the performances.
