Past Events › 2022 Performances

Since winning the Cliburn Gold Medal at the 1997 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Mr. Nakamatsu has toured year-round with today’s leading conductors and orchestras and in recitals and chamber music worldwide. His recording of Gershwin’s Concerto in F and Rhapsody in Blue topped Billboard’s charts for six months. Mr. Nakamatsu has been a frequent guest with such ensembles as the Emerson, Tokyo, Prazak, Escher, Jupiter, and Ying String Quartets, and also toured extensively with the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet. In 2018, Mr. Nakamatsu was appointed Artist-in-Residence of the Chautauqua Institution Piano Program.

The American Chamber Players is among today’s most exciting and innovative chamber music ensembles. They began in 1985 as a core group of artists of the Library of Congress Summer Chamber Festival and “…they have established standards of chamber music performance equal to any in the world,” to quote The Washington Post. ACP’s Founder and Artistic Director, longtime NPR commentator Miles Hoffman, is known for creating programs with a delightful mix of instrumental combinations. The ensemble performs repertoire ranging from familiar masterpieces to neglected gems and newly commissioned American works. They have toured throughout North America and to Paris for a series of special gala concerts at the Paris Opera and Bibliothèque Nationale. They have been heard on NPR’s Performance Today and on radio stations throughout the United States. The ACP first performed for the Sanibel Music Festival in 2001.

“Whenever this trio plays, drop everything and go hear them,” hailed The Boston Globe. Pianist Heng-Jin Park, violinist Grace Park, and cellist Jonah Ellsworth have appeared with major orchestras and leading chamber music festivals throughout the United States and Europe.

Heng-Jin Park, who made her solo debut with the Boston Pops at the age of fifteen, is the founding member of the Boston Trio and founder and artistic director of Halcyon Music Festival.

Grace Park is the winner of the 2018 Naumburg International Violin Competition and has appeared throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and Canada at venues such as Walt Disney Hall, Kennedy Center, Rudolfinum (Prague), Metropolitan Museum of Art, Jordan Hall, and Tri-Noon at Rockefeller University. She has participated in such festivals as [email protected], IMS Prussia Cove, Festival Mozaic, Yellowbarn, and Perlman Music Program.

Johan Ellsworth has performed as a soloist with the Boston Symphony, Akron Symphony, Boston Philharmonic, Jacksonville Symphony, Johnstown Symphony, Symphony by the Sea, and New Bedford Symphony, and attended the Marlboro Music Festival from 2014-2016.

Founded in 1946, and cited by Strings Magazine for “assertive, even intense musicality,” this year’s tour celebrates the 75th anniversary of The Juilliard String Quartet. Guest pianist Anna Polansky joins three members of the renowned Juilliard for this concert, following the January death of their distinguished violist, Roger Topping. This year marks the ensemble’s tenth concert at the Sanibel Music Festival.

After a pause in travel and performances last year, Juilliard String Quartet members have used their time off to imagine a rich feast of programs that celebrate this anniversary season while continuing to honor the distinctive mission established by the founding members “to play new works as if they were established masterpieces and established masterpieces as if they were new.”

Gold Medalist at the thirteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, Hoachenn Zhang is known for a unique combination of deep musical sensitivity, fearless imagination, and spectacular virtuosity. Haochen has appeared with many of the world’s leading festivals and orchestras, including the BBC Proms with Long Yu and the China Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic with Lorin Maazel in a sold-out tour in China, Easter Festival in Moscow, Sydney Symphony, and David Robertson in a China tour, and NDR Hamburg and Thomas Hengelbrock in a tour of Tokyo, Beijing, and Shanghai.

Back by popular demand, Opera Theater of Connecticut returns to Sanibel Music Festival for the 22nd time. This year they present the powerful music of Andrew Lloyd Webber, featuring Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, Evita, and Phantom of the Opera, with commentary from opera and musical theatre cognoscente Alan Mann, Artistic Director.

Andrew Lloyd Webber is arguably the most successful composer of our time. He is best known for stage and film adaptations of his popular musicals. He has collected a variety of honors, including knighthood, seven Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards, an Oscar, and Kennedy Center recognition.

Opera Theater of Connecticut is the state’s oldest opera company, run by Kate Ford, General Director, and Alan Mann, Artistic Director.

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