For nearly four decades, the La Musica Chamber Music Festival has been a cornerstone of Sarasota’s cultural scene, offering audiences a rare opportunity to experience internationally renowned musicians in an intimate setting. Wu Han is an acclaimed Taiwanese-American pianist who performed at La Musica a handful of times 25 years ago. In 2022, Wu Han returned to La Musica in her new role as Artistic Director and is poised to take the festival to new heights. “Derek Han, the previous artistic director, was a dear friend of mine.” Wu Han says. “Joan Sussman was a volunteer in Saratoga Springs, where I have other projects and she retired in Sarasota. Derek asked me if I knew any volunteers that could help with festival administrative duties so I recommended Joan and the next thing I knew she became the executive director.” Sadly, Han passed away during the Covid pandemic which also shut down the festival during Sussman’s first year as executive director. 

“She called me up and said, ‘You have to help me, you got me into this,’” Wu Han recalls wryly. “So I came down and I saw the audience and met with the board and I realized that what Derek has done with La Musica had laid down really solid ground that I could help to build on and bring the best of chamber music to Sarasota.” Wu Han is in demand in the world of chamber music. She currently serves as the co-artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and is the artistic director and co-founder of Music@Menlo Chamber Music and Festival. She’s an artistic advisor at Palm Beach’s Society of the Four Arts and until recently served in the same role for Wolf Trap’s Chamber Music at the Barns series in Washington DC. When the board at La Musica asked her to consider coming on as artistic director it would have been easy to decline.

“I did not need another job,” she says. “But I realized that my Rolodex and my connections could bring this community the best performers from around the world, and that thought intrigued me.” Those connections and Wu Han’s tireless energy are paying dividends. Ticket sales jumped over 30% in her first year and she has expanded the festival to include more performances. While La Musica originally consisted of a four-concert festival in April, it now spans several months. This year, the festival has already had three performances at the Riverview Performing Arts Center: Celebrating Mendelssohn in January, Spanish Journey in February and Violin Virtuosity in March. The final three performances will be held at the Sarasota Opera House. The first one on Friday, April 11, will feature compositions from Beethoven, Martinu, and Dvorák. The second, on Monday, April 14, will showcase works from Beethoven, Dvorák and Dohnyani. The final show on Thursday, April 17 will highlight music from Barber, Bloch and Faure. All three performances will be at 7pm, with a free pre-concert talk for ticket holders at 6:15pm. There is also an opportunity for sponsors, donors and subscribers to attend select open rehearsals by invitation.

“It’s another way of opening up the door for the audience to start to understand and be a little more engaged and gain an appreciation for classical music,” says Wu Han. “It’s a complicated art form and I can say honestly that it is one of the greatest art forms. It’s the highest achievement for a human being to be able to listen to music and enjoy it.”