The Florida Orchestra has released the lion’s share of its 2026-’27 season program, and its Masterworks series — always the red meat of what’s on offer — focuses heavily on American composers, honoring the nation’s 250th anniversary. Those include Bernstein’s captivating “Age of Anxiety,” led by legendary U.S. conductor Leonard Slatkin on April 2 &…
As The Florida Orchestra winds down another successful Masterworks season and our thoughts turn to outdoor diversions, I thought I’d shift the classical spotlight to some lighter fare, including a pair of free concerts set for open-air venues. The Florida Orchestra, under resident conductor Chelsea Gallo, will present its latest Raymond James Pops in the…
Opera lovers new to the area will be pleased to know there’s no need to fly off to La Scala or Covent Garden to sate their musical appetites. Quality opera can be found on three sides of Tampa Bay, with established professional companies in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota. Opera Tampa, founded in 1996 by…
The Tampa Bay area is spoiled for choice when it comes to affordably priced, quality classical music concerts. My pick to top such a list: the Palladium Chamber Series. Its tickets start at just $15, and $45 will secure one of the best seats in the house — with the house being the historic Palladium…
Anyone looking to get a handle on Handel’s “Messiah” this holiday season won’t have to search long or far. Joined by the masterful Master Chorale of Tampa Bay, maestro Michael Francis and The Florida Orchestra will perform the timeless sacred-music favorite on Friday, Dec. 5, at the Straz Center in Tampa and on Saturday, Dec….
The arrival of fall means the onset of a whole slew of new musical seasons — though if you’re as obsessive as me you’ve been scrolling through the new concert schedules for a couple months by now. But no need to worry if you haven’t yet jumped on a season subscription. The windows for individual…
There’s an old chestnut tossed about by music-industry types paid to put butts in seats at classical concerts. It goes something like this:“People ask me what they need to know to enjoy classical music, and I always respond, ‘Not a thing — just come to a concert and let the music’s magic carry you along.’”…
Look up raconteur in the dictionary, and you just may find a picture of Michael Francis staring at you. Francis, music director of The Florida Orchestra, is a charming Englishman whose posh accent only serves to highlight a playful public-speaking style when holding forth on an evening’s music program or other musical matters. His enthusiasm…
As Larry David might say, The Florida Orchestra is pretty, pretty, pretty good. If that sounds like damning with faint praise, let me quickly make amends: TFO – its acronymic branding — is arguably the top symphony orchestra in Florida and one of the leading regional ensembles in the Southeast. Certainly, its $14 million annual…
If Florida is a cultural desert, then the Tampa Bay & Sarasota areas must be its oasis. Denizens of seemingly all the other 49 states often can be heard to denigrate the Sunshine State’s cultural offerings, or opine on the supposed lack thereof. But as someone who’s been visiting the Tampa Bay area for decades,…