Tchaikovsky & Strauss

The Sarasota Orchestra brings the sounds of the holiday season to the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall with a Masterworks program focused on late-nineteenth-century romanticism. The repertoire highlights selections from Act II of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, moving through recognizable movements like the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Waltz of the Flowers. Paired with works by Richard Strauss, the concert balances familiar ballet themes with complex orchestral storytelling, leaning into the lush, sweeping instrumentation that characterizes both composers' major works.