What is today known as the Artist Series of Sarasota was conceived in 1996 by Co-Founders Jerold Ross and Lee Dougherty Ross.

Jerold enjoyed a business career that included top management positions. His background in arts management includes service as a key member of the Board of an opera company and ownership of a classical music radio station.

Lee Dougherty debuted at age twelve as a piano soloist with the Norfolk, Virginia Symphony Orchestra and later performed the Rachmaninoff 2nd Piano Concerto with the Eastman Rochester Symphony. She graduated from Eastman School of Music with a double major in both piano and voice. She often accompanies guest artists on the Artist Series.

The two met in Milwaukee in 1976 and married in 1978. Lee's years of performance in New York resulted in friendships with many musical artists who would visit the couple in their Milwaukee home. They began to host musical soirees in their home with principal players of the symphony, conductor, soloists, local artists, music teachers and friends who enjoyed the affairs.

After relocating to Sarasota the couple saw the possibility of transporting the soiree concept here by offering their musical artist friends transportation costs and small honorariums (along with the opportunity to enjoy the community's fabulous weather and beaches) to perform intimate recital programs in Sarasota. The inaugural concerts were held in the lobby area of the Ross's beach-front condo. After four years, the programs had grown in popularity to the point where need for additional seating dictated a move and in 2001 the renamed ARTIST SERIES OF SARASOTA moved to the Beatrice Friedman Symphony Center in Sarasota's cultural district. In 2003 the Series moved to the larger Holley Hall within the Symphony Center and at the same time formalized its structure by seeking and attaining 501(c)(3) tax exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service.

Driving directions to The Artist Series of Sarasota

1800 Ben Franklin # B506 Sarasota, FL 34236