The bar remains high at streamlined Sarasota Music Festival

Performances during the opening weekend of the Sarasota Music Festival’s 62nd season provided convincing evidence that the core spirit and artistic excellence of one of America’s premier chamber music training festivals remain intact.

Though this year’s festival has been streamlined from three to two weeks with fewer concerts, fellows and faculty artists, the caliber of the young musicians remains exceptionally high. The most significant change is a shift in performance emphasis: Public concerts now primarily showcase fellows performing alongside a single faculty mentor, rather than featuring faculty-dominated ensembles with a handful of students added to the mix.

While occasional moments of less-than-perfect ensemble cohesion surfaced, the vast majority of the June 5 and 6 performances in Holley Hall rivaled some of the finest faculty performances of previous seasons.

A memorable Saturday finale with Robert Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. 44 displayed an astounding level of confidence and artistry. Four students—Gabriela Salvador Riera and Minkyung Kang (violins), Elizabeth Chernyak (viola) and Amy Minchae Jo (cello) —matched the trademark combination of virtuosity and collaborative sensitivity of pianist and faculty artist Michael Stephen Brown. It was truly a “lean in” experience for the audience.

This was not the only standard chamber fare work we heard. In Beethoven’s Septet in E-flat Major, Op. 20, violinist Salvador Riera stood out for her remarkable shimmering tone. Faculty violinist David Bowlin led Mendelssohn’s youthful blockbuster Octet in E-flat Major, Op. 20. The musicians clearly expressed the virtuosity, exuberance and overabundance of joy in the score.

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Two larger ensemble works topped Saturday night’s concert: Louis Spohr’s Nonet in F Major, Op. 31 and Mozart’s Serenade No. 11 in E-flat Major, K. 375. We do not hear the Nonet as often as the Serenade, but each is entertaining and congenial. The performances were excellent, displaying fine collaboration, balance and artistry.

Three works by American women composers deserve special mention — not as exercises in diversity programming, but because each makes a compelling case for a permanent place in the standard repertoire. Count yourself lucky to be introduced to them through such committed performances.

Short but nonetheless lovely was Florence Price’s reverent "Adoration," featuring clarinetist Kevin Jin as the lone wind voice alongside a string quartet.

Composer Ruth Crawford Seeger won awards for her Suite for Wind Quintet, if not wider recognition for her fresh take on 20th-century modernism. The five musicians, each with a strong solo voice, blended effectively while navigating the work’s unorthodox turns and twists.

Violins Gabriel Roth and Sydney Scarlett, faculty violist Teng Li, cellist Joie Kuo and pianist Qinghong Lian delivered Amy Beach’s Piano Quintet in F-sharp Minor, Op. 67 as the masterpiece it is. The collaborative spirit was strong, as was the ensemble’s cohesion. Similar to the Schumann Quintet, the score offers a starring role to the piano. Lian played with sensitivity, fluency and beguiling flair.

Two more concerts remain next weekend, but the festival has already demonstrated that its essential mission remains unchanged. The format may be evolving, yet the combination of exceptional young musicians, distinguished faculty mentors and ambitious repertoire continues to produce performances of remarkable depth and maturity.

 If opening weekend is any indication, the Sarasota Music Festival’s future remains in very capable hands.