Artist Series Concerts' executive director goes back to the future

When Keren Shani-Lifrak arrived at Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota earlier this summer to start her job as executive director, it was a homecoming of sorts.

The group’s offices are in the same building at 1226 N. Tamiami Trail where Lifrak once worked as director of events for the group now known as the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County.

Today, Artist Series Concerts rents space from the Arts and Cultural Alliance. “I feel like I’m back where I belong — in the arts,” says Lifrak. For the past 13 years, she has been working in real estate in Sarasota.

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A native of Tel Aviv, Israel, Lifrak grew up surrounded by the arts. As a child, she played the flute and “lived and breathed for dance,” she recalled. She attended a performing arts high school and was a member of a dance troupe called Tzabar, a Hebrew word for prickly pear that is also slang for a native Israeli.

After finishing her mandatory military service in Israel, Lifrak took her life savings and bought a plane ticket to New York. She landed on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, in September 1994.

Some young people might have been terrified to be on their own so far from home, but Lifrak relished the challenge. “I was discovering my boundaries and discovering how to survive on my own,” she says.

As she tried to break into the arts, Lifrak held a variety of jobs, from selling clothing to working as a hostess at the upscale French restaurant Jean-Georges.

After meeting her husband, who is now a sports psychologist at IMG Academy, the couple moved to Sarasota. Once in Florida, Lifrak held a variety of arts marketing and development positions.

When she learned that Artist Series Concerts Executive Director Marcy Miller was retiring, Lifrak says she thought, “Somebody has to do this job.” 

Conceived in 1996 by co-founders Jerold Ross and Lee Dougherty Ross, Artist Series Concerts presents about 25 programs a year. 

When she was chosen to succeed Miller, Lifrak says it “felt good to be back in the artistic realm. I feel alive.”

You can hear her enthusiasm when she describes how Artist Series Concerts brings audiences close to the musicians and vocalists.

“When you go to the orchestra, you are sitting in a hall and it’s a passive experience,” Lifrak says. “By holding our concerts in smaller venues, we create intimacy between the audience and the artists.”

Lifrak plans to work closely with Daniel Jordan, Artist Series Concerts' director of artistic planning, to reach out to younger audiences.

Artist Series Concerts kicks off its 2025-26 season Oct. 12 with “Contrasts,” a concert featuring Grammy Award-winning violinist Nicholas Eanet.

Eanet will be joined by Jungeun Kim, director of instrumental accompaniment at the Curtis Institute, and Sarasota Orchestra’s Natalie Helm and Bharat Chandra.

The ensemble will perform Bartok’s “Contrasts” and piano trios by Schubert and Dvorak. Audience members can meet the musicians at a post-concert reception. For more information, visit ArtistSeriesConcerts.org.