In the latest step toward the realization of its future home, the Sarasota Orchestra on Monday announced a gift of $11.7 million from an anonymous donor toward its new music center project on Fruitville Road east of I-75. The donation brings the publicly announced total of fundraising for the center, which is estimated to cost from $375 to $425 million in total, to nearly $87 million.

“Creating a home where the Orchestra can fully control its artistic calendar, safeguard its instruments and library and expand opportunities for music education made this a deeply meaningful investment,” said the donor in a statement released by the organization. “It’s a vision that strengthens both the artistic future of the Orchestra and its role in the broader region.”

In February of last year, the orchestra received a gift of $60 million from another anonymous donor, the sixth largest gift to a North American orchestra in the last 25 years. That was followed in May by a $10 million gift from Jack and Priscilla Schlegel, major supporters of many of the area’s performing arts organizations. Arts philanthropists Tom and Sherri Koski contributed an additional $5 million late last year. Tom Koski serves as president of the Orchestra’s Board of Directors.

Joseph McKenna, the orchestra’s president and CEO, said the recent gift was from a family that “really loves what the orchestra is doing” and was interested in supporting a concert hall that is both state-of-the-art acoustically and more protected from climate impacts. In addition, he said, the donation underscores in general patrons’ support for the orchestra’s musicians, who currently contend with multiple logistical challenges due to a lack of space.

“So much of it is driven by this incredible appreciation for the musicians and their resilient attitude to deliver excellence when they’re having to move and shift and change,” said McKenna. “Many donors talk about giving back to the musicians who have given so much to us.”

New architectural renderings released in conjunction with the announcement of the recent donation have also excited Music Director Giancarlo Guerrero, who just completed his inaugural season with the orchestra.

“What is emerging is far more than a concert hall,” Guerreo said in a statement. “It is a shared cultural haven, a place where music in all its forms can flourish, where creative partnerships can thrive and where Sarasota’s voice can resonate powerfully across the musical landscape.”

The new renderings offer a more detailed look at both the interior and exterior spaces of the complex, which includes a 1,800-seat concert hall, a 700-seat recital hall, an education building with rehearsal spaces and a support building to house the organization’s administrative offices and instrument storage.

The buildings are situated in a horseshoe shape around a central courtyard and behind a reflecting pond facing Fruitville Road that is a part of the site’s water management system, with parking on either side of the buildings. The primary entrance to the campus will be off Fruitville Road, where valet parking will be available at the courtyard entrance to the concert hall, but the more than 1,000 parking spaces will also be accessible from east and west side easement roads.

The site has been designed, by OJB landscape architects, for climate resiliency, with the buildings raised to 26 feet above sea level and the parking lots, which can act as a “spillover” area in the case of flooding, at about 24 feet above sea level. That is well above the 22.7 feet above sea level adopted by Sarasota County as the 500-year flooding standard after Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024.

The design of the buildings, by William Rawn Associates Architects, has an organic feel, with curved walls, peaked at the corners, that reference both the Sarasota School of Architecture and circus tent elements. The concert hall, at 110 feet in height for optimal acoustics, will act as a sunshade for the courtyard area in the latter part of the day.

The lobby of the concert hall is grand in scale, with large curved staircases on either side to the balcony areas. Thanks to overwhelming requests from patrons, there are two 4 to 5-foot aisles that extend from the front of the stage to the rear of the orchestra, as well as two cross aisles, helping to facilitate access for the mobility impaired. Handicapped seating is scattered throughout the hall, which also includes three side balconies and a rear balcony on the third level. Approximately 900 seats can be accessed without a patron having to navigate any steps.

The 700-seat recital hall will be about 60 feet in height, with a window behind the performance area looking out on the reflecting pond. The space will be flexible to accommodate the needs of a variety of community organizations that were consulted prior to the design phase.

The education center will contain practice rooms, teaching studios and places for the Orchestra’s Youth Symphony to rehearse. It has also been designed with flexibility in mind to accommodate all of the orchestra’s education programs, as well as suit the needs of smaller area musical organizations who lack their own home spaces.

The support building will contain a green room for conductors and soloists, a musicians’ “hub,” with lockers and areas to relax or eat, and a donor lounge/event space accommodating about 75 patrons that can serve either the concert hall or the recital hall. A terrace area and exterior deck will provide outdoor access.

Guiding the vision for the entire complex, McKenna said, was the desire to create not just a world-class space for presenting music, but a place that would welcome the next generation of music-makers and lovers and would feel welcoming and accessible to the entire community.

“We live in a world that’s quite divisive and loud and noisy and this project is the exact opposite,” McKenna said. “It’s about community, listening, appreciating and respecting differences. I think this is a hallmark project and the answer to some of what is our current daily experience.”

With the schematic design phase now complete and design development nearing its conclusion, the Orchestra is entering the final phase of construction planning, which is estimated to take about a year. Subject to fundraising, weather and other variables, a groundbreaking is envisioned sometime next year, with hard hat tours in 2028. The goal is to open the new center by the end of 2029.

Will McKenna, who has led the organization since 2001, be around for that momentous occasion?

“God willing,” he said.