Longtime Sarasota Orchestra supportersJack and Priscilla Schlegel have made a transformative $10 million gift to advance the future Music Center at 5701 Fruitville Road. Their investment marks a major milestone for the project and reflects an enduring belief in the power of the arts to shape and strengthen a community.
Jack and Priscilla Schlegel, who relocated from Washington, D.C. to Sarasota in 1998, have been active supporters of the local arts community for more than two decades. Regular attendees at Sarasota Orchestra performances, the Schlegels view philanthropy as a way to invest in the region’s growth and cultural vitality.
“Over the past 25 years, we have witnessed Sarasota Orchestra transform into a fully professional orchestra that is rapidly becoming one of the best regional orchestras in the country,” said Jack and Priscilla Schlegel. “The last two Music Director appointments and the purchase of the Music Center site have inspired us to be ‘all in’ with our support. We believe these milestones will place both Sarasota and the Orchestra, with its new concert hall, on the map as a premier cultural destination.”
Jack and Priscilla Schlegel with Music Director Giancarlo Guerrero and President/CEO Joseph McKenna
From Inside Higher Ed: The University of Chicago’s Arts and Humanities Division is pausing new PhD student admissions for the 2026–27 academic year across all departments except philosophy and one music department program. The departments […]
The German label Dabringhaus und Grimm has ordered an enoromous skip in which it will crunch up 20,000 unsold classical CDs, rather than paying a five-figure royalty demand from the collection agency Gema. Full story […]
The recent kerfuffles at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra are having wider repercussions. A Swedish rock group at the Utilita Arena caused long street queues by insisting that all patrons surrender their phones before […]