Chopin & Mahler

Emanuel Ax, named Musical America's 2026 Artist of the Year, is the soloist as the Sarasota Orchestra closes its Masterworks season at the Van Wezel. He plays Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2, which, despite its number, is the earlier of the composer's two concertos. Music director Giancarlo Guerrero surrounds it with a program of thresholds: - Weber's overture to Der Freischütz, a cornerstone of German Romantic opera. - The Adagio from Mahler's Tenth, the movement he came closest to finishing before his death. - Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2, which opens on a slowly gathering orchestral daybreak and ends in a whirling bacchanal.