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…
A COMMUNITY OF MUSIC “Music is the soundtrack of your life” – Dick Clark In 2018, two musicians with a deep love for jazz and a shared commitment to making people feel good set out on a musical journey that would not only transform their lives but enrich the lives of countless others. David Busch,…
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,…
Since 2013, the Palladium’s audiences have had the opportunity to become intimately acquainted with some of the world’s finest chamber musicians that look forward to returning to the Hough Hall stage each year. They are welcoming back the renowned The Calidore Quartet performing works from their recently released Beethoven Quartet albums as well as Jessie…
MAGNETIC DUO WITH MELLOW BOSSA NOVA VIBE by Donna Sorbello Katharine Hepburn once said of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, “He gives her class, and she gives him sex.”, meaning, of course, sexual appeal. In the case of Nate Najar and Daniela Soledade, each, individually, has plenty of both. Together, however, they are a magnetic…