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 &…
At a live taping of Oh Yeah?!, the regional talk show filmed at FloridaRAMA in St. Petersburg, house band the Oh Yeah-Yeahs got the crowd grooving with their funky sound. The band’s had lots of practice — nearly 26 years — because they’re also known as The Black Honkeys Band, Tampa Bay’s beloved soul/R&B and…
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…
Now in its 17th season, the St. Petersburg Jazz Festival, happening April 8-11, has found new digs at the Warehouse Arts District Rosie Cohen Stage. The festival was founded by David Manson, a multi-talented composer and arranger, trombonist, producer and recording arts educator at St. Petersburg College who, through his non-profit organization EMIT, has been…
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…
Dressed in black and white, artist and DJ collective We’re Sweet Girls played dance music spanning five decades under the lights in the courtyard at The Gallery at Creative Pinellas during the Arts Annual Fundraiser in November. We’re Sweet Girls are Zoë Robinson, Rebeka Burden and Delaney Staack, three friends who formed the collective in…
Damon Fowler is an American electric blues and blues rock singer, guitarist, and songwriter. Damon Fowler doesn’t walk onstage so much as he ambles, loose-shouldered and unhurried, like a guy who’s been carrying a guitar longer than he’s been carrying rent money. But the second his slide hits steel, the whole room leans in. Fowler’s…
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…