provided to The Santiva Chronicle
Sanibel Music Festival welcomes new co-presidents. Deborah Larson and Shirley Witte were elected to head the board of directors in May 2023 and carried out duties in the 2024 SMF season. Both Witte and Larson are long-time residents of Sanibel.
Classical music has always been a part of Larson’s life. She has a good working knowledge of violin, cello, and piano and plays cello and violin with the McLean (VA) Symphony, a community orchestra.
Larson also plays with informal piano trios, quartets, and string quartet groups. After graduating from Tufts University (Medford, MA) early in her career, Larson taught elementary school in Washington DC (Washington National Cathedral- Beauvoir School).
She began a long career in residential real estate in Northern VA/Washington, DC, which continues today. Some of the musical highlights of her life include attending a Canadian fiddle camp in Ottawa in 2010 and teaching music appreciation to Haitian students in the summers of 2017 and 2018.
Shirley Furry Witte spent nearly three decades in Arts Management as Executive Director of three professional orchestras: West Virginia Symphony, Hartford Symphony, and Southwest Florida Symphony.
While raising her family, she also taught piano lessons from time to time in various locations, was an assistant or substitute organist, organized a musical kindergarten, and was a partner in a training and communications company.
Witte received a BS degree in Education from Ohio State University with an additional music major from the University of Delaware. Witte has also served as a substitute organist at Sanibel Congregation Church.
Larson and Witte look forward to continuing to bring chamber music to our island for the exciting 2025 season. Both are elated that the festival has returned to the island after Hurricane Ian’s devastation to the Sanibel Congregational Church.
UCC will showcase internationally acclaimed performers in March 2025 with a newly renovated sanctuary and fellowship hall. Of particular interest is the special benefit gala weekend of Friday, February 28, and Saturday, March 1, highlighted by renowned artists David Finckel, cellist, and Wu Han, pianist.
Please click here to see the SMF website for details, as seating and invitations are limited.