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Sarasota Orchestra names Estonian woman as music director

 
Tampa Bay Times
Published June 12, 2013

Anu Tali, an Estonian conductor, was named music director of the Sarasota Orchestra on Tuesday. Tali, 40, agreed to a three-year contract and will assume the position on Aug. 1. She trained at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory in Russia and, in 1997, co-founded the Nordic Symphony Orchestra with her twin sister, Kadri. Her credits include conducting the Mozarteum Orchestra at the Salzburg Festival in Austria and the ballet La Bayadere at the Royal Danish Opera. She made her U.S. debut in 2005, conducting the New Jersey Symphony. Tali will be Sarasota's fifth music director, succeeding Leif Bjaland, who held the post for 15 years and stepped down in 2012. In January, she led a Sarasota program that included a work by Estonian composer Veljo Tormis and Prokofiev's ballet score Romeo and Juliet. Her first concerts will be Nov. 8-10 when the masterworks season opens. "It has been magical for me to share the stage with the Sarasota Orchestra," she said in a statement. "May the journey begin." — John Fleming, Times performing arts critic