By Coral Gables Gazette staff

Sanctuary of the Arts will host the opening night of the 2025 FIU Music Festival on Thursday, October 23 at 7:30 p.m., bringing one of South Florida’s leading chamber ensembles to the heart of Coral Gables. The Amernet String Quartet, the Ensemble-in-Residence at Florida International University’s Wertheim School of Music & Performing Arts, will be joined by mezzo-soprano Rachel Calloway for a program that bridges classical clarity, lyrical drama and romantic intensity.

Festival launches in an intimate setting

The eight-night festival begins in one of Coral Gables’ most resonant performance spaces. Sanctuary of the Arts, located at 410 Andalusia Avenue, offers a setting that suits chamber music: close audience proximity, fine acoustics and a subdued visual environment that keeps the focus on the performers. FIU has used off-campus venues in recent years to expand its reach, and opening in Coral Gables reflects the festival’s growing footprint beyond university grounds.

The October 23 concert is expected to draw listeners who follow the Amernet String Quartet’s regular appearances at Temple Israel, the Wolfsonian-FIU and regional chamber festivals.

Beethoven in youthful light

The program opens with Beethoven’s String Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 18 No. 6, the final quartet in his first published set. Though composed in his early 30s, the piece shows Beethoven already stretching the classical form inherited from Haydn and Mozart. The quartet is known for its spirited outer movements and the slow “La Malinconia” section, which shifts from introspection to brightness without losing coherence. Hearing this work in a venue the size of Sanctuary allows the softer dynamics, pauses and phrasing to land with clarity rather than projection.

The Amernet has performed Beethoven cycles in past seasons and is known for approaching early Beethoven with articulation and energy rather than weight, giving the music a youthful quality rather than a museum polish.

Voice and strings in Respighi’s “Il Tramonto”

Rachel Calloway joins the ensemble for Ottorino Respighi’s “Il Tramonto” (The Sunset), a work for mezzo-soprano and string quartet based on a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley. The music evokes the shifting colors and emotional undercurrents of dusk, drawing on both Italian lyricism and late-Romantic harmony. It is not often programmed in South Florida despite its modest scale, in part because it requires a vocalist comfortable with both operatic phrasing and chamber restraint.

Calloway has performed with ensembles including the Amernet and International Contemporary Ensemble, and her work in both traditional and new repertoire has made her a frequent collaborator at FIU. “Il Tramonto” gives her room to blend with the strings rather than sing over them, creating the kind of tonal pairing that listeners rarely hear outside festival settings.

Mendelssohn as emotional finale

After intermission, the program closes with Felix Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in F Minor, Op. 80, a work written after the death of his sister Fanny Mendelssohn. Unlike his more lyrical quartets, Op. 80 is tense and driven, with agitated rhythms and harmonies that often turn abruptly. It stands as one of his final completed works and carries little of the composer’s usual elegance, instead offering restlessness and grief in a concentrated form.

For the Amernet, which has a reputation for balancing warmth and precision, this piece offers a different demand: urgency and contrast rather than polish. In a 200-seat venue, the quartet’s rough edges and sudden shifts become more immediate, which suits the music’s intent.

A festival with growing reach

The FIU Music Festival has evolved beyond a campus showcase into one of Miami-Dade’s longest-running classical series. Past seasons have featured visiting orchestras, Latin American artists, faculty recitals, and collaborations with Seraphic Fire and the New World Symphony. By opening in Coral Gables this year, the school signals an intent to reach both neighborhoods and audiences that follow performance calendars across municipal lines.

Sanctuary of the Arts, which hosts dance residencies, theater workshops and chamber performances, has become a recurring partner for regional presenters seeking mid-size space away from downtown or campus venues.

Tickets and attendance

The October 23 performance begins promptly at 7:30 p.m., with seating typically opening 30 minutes before the concert. The venue is ADA accessible, and parking is available in nearby municipal garages. Ticket information is available through FIU’s Wertheim School of Music & Performing Arts website and through Sanctuary of the Arts’ performance listings.

The festival’s opening night offers a concentrated way to hear three major composers interpreted by one of Miami’s longest-established quartets. With the addition of a guest vocalist and a curated program built around reflection and intensity, the festival begins on a tone that is both serious and inviting.