Chamber Orchestra of Sarasota

Robert Vodnoy, music director and conductor

The Chamber Orchestra of Sarasota is one of the few professional chamber orchestras in the State of Florida. Its mission is to provide opportunities for diverse audiences and performers to experience the unique repertoire and aesthetics of a chamber orchestra by employing the finest musicians in the Sarasota area, performing in small and intimate venues.

This season, the orchestra will present a three-concert orchestral series at the First Presbyterian Church in downtown Sarasota, with its glorious acoustics and beautiful Mission- style architecture. The orchestra will also give a free concert in Venice at the Venice Performing Arts Center on the campus of Venice High School.

2023-2024 Orchestra Personnel

Violin 1
Yefim Romanov
Cindi Qi
Baoling Xu
José Antonio Guédez
Laura Jensen-Jennings

Violin 2
Laurie Vodnoy-Wright
Shawna Trost
David Qi

Viola
Rafael Ramirez
Anabel Tejeda
Daniel Cortes
Jonas Benson
Juan Carlos Siviero

Cello
Scott Kluksdahl
Nadine Trudel
Helen Lewis
Michael Amos

Bass
Christopher Riley
Dee Moses

Flute
Carmen Bannon

Oboe
Nicholas Arbolino
Lane Lederer

Bassoon
Fernando Traba

Horn
Scott Sanders
Troy Messner

Harp
Giuseppina Ciarla

Keyboard
Ann Stephenson-Moe

Events

2023-2024 Season

 

Music Director – Robert Vodnoy

Robert Vodnoy has enjoyed a long and illustrious career as a conductor, composer, violinist, and educator. He made his professional debut as a conductor in 1975 with the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra, which he led as music director for 30 years. He was Music Director of the Northwest Indiana Symphony (1976-1996), the Whiting Park Festival Orchestra (2000-present), the Huron Symphony (2010-2015) and has guest conducted orchestras throughout the United States, Europe, Latin America, and the Pacific Rim including the Symphony Orchestra of the Zhejiang Song and Dance Theatre (China), Mississippi Symphony, Orchestra of the Colorado Music Festival, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Czech National Symphony, Orchestra Sinfonica de Sanremo (Italy), Maracaibo Symphony, National Philharmonic of Taiwan, Jonköping Symphony (Sweden), and the Seoul Philharmonic.

He was Director of Orchestras/Professor of Strings and Music History at Northern State University from 2005-2018. In 2017 he co-founded the Chamber Orchestra of Sarasota which is one of the few professional chamber orchestras in the State of Florida.

Vodnoy holds a BM summa cum laude and MM in composition from Hartt College of the University of Hartford where he studied under Arnold Franchetti. Vodnoy holds a DM in Conducting from Indiana University. He also studied conducting with Charles Bruck at the Monteux School for Conductors in Hancock, Maine, and with Piero Bellugi in the North Carolina School of the Arts’ Summer Sessions in Siena, Italy.

He and his wife Kayla reside in Venice, Florida and Valparaiso, Indiana.

 

Violinist Laurie Vodnoy-Wright

Laurie Vodnoy-Wright is a concert violinist and co-founder of the Chamber Orchestra of Sarasota with Maestro Vodnoy. She is the Principal Second Violin of the orchestra since its inception. Laurie has performed throughout the United States, Austria and Israel. She is a former member of the Florida Orchestra, Sarasota Opera, Tampa Opera, Florida Opera West, Kentucky Opera, and Principal second with the Midwest Chamber Orchestra. She has performed with many orchestras including the Kuchel Austria Festival, Nashville Symphony, Lexington Symphony, Battle Creek Symphony as Artist in Residence, Twin City Symphony, South Bend Symphony, and Kalamazoo Symphony. Laurie is also sought after as a soloist comforting Alzheimer and Parkinson Place patients through music at Parkinson Place, Kobernick Aviva, and comforting our loved ones at Tidewell Hospice. She currently is the founder and violinist with the Avanti String Quartet. Laurie has a very busy contemporary performance career. She is the premier violinist at the Ritz, The Don CeSar, Vinoy, Hyatt, Powell Crosley, and many venues across Florida.

Concert Sponsors

Global Integrated Development, LLC

Ling Z. and Michael C. Markovitz

This program funded in part by the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County’s Opportunity Grant powered by the State of the Arts Florida license plates.

https://sarasotaarts.org/

The Marie Beckman Declaration of Trust

Leigh and Harvey Cohen

Margaret and Stan Krol

Donna Wood and William MacMillan

The Raymund Foundation

Penny Resnick and Peter Blanton

Barbara Bankoff and Robert Crandall

A Special Thanks To Our Advertisers

We wish to thank the new and returning advertisers in our 2023-2024 program for their generous support. Income from ad sales in our program represents a significant part of the revenue which supports the orchestra. We are proud to say that our 2023-2024 program book exceeded last year’s book by 4 pages and SOLD OUT!

Our program-ad book is printed in full-color. Help grow your business and support the Chamber Orchestra at the same time! When you see one of our advertisers, please thank them for supporting the COS. If you did not advertise with us this season, please consider purchasing an ad in our 2024-2025 booklet when we reach out to you in the spring.

View The 2024 Program Book Here

Donors

2023-2024 Donors

Video

Clips from Recent Concerts

Click on Program Details to read notes on the music on these concerts

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