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, finally sinking permanent roots four years ago, I’ve only occasionally bought into such sniping — and then only relative to cultural options in major metropolitan markets.
I’m a Philly native and the Philadelphia Orchestra, aka the Fabulous Philadelphians, remains my fondest U.S. symphony orchestra, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic another personal favorite for its creatively programmed live performances.
But The Florida Orchestra ain’t chopped liver. Relative to other Florida orchestras from Orlando to Miami, the Tampa Bay area-based symphony is more like Delmonico steak. A check of the season schedules for the Palm Beach Symphony or Fort Myers’ Southwest Florida Symphony shows the bay area ensemble’s hefty, ambitious offerings in stark, and rather flattering, relief. And even the Jacksonville Symphony runs at best a close second to TFO in my view.
Then there’s the opera scene, which requires a similar relativity in appraising its merits. But its merits are many, including the mere existence in today’s challenging operatic marketplace of competing, successful institutions in St. Petersburg, Tampa and Sarasota. And if we embrace that latter market as Tampa Bay’s own (and why not?) it should be noted that the Sarasota Ballet’s renown is international in reach.
Musical Matters
Each issue, Classical Spotlight will focus on the many performance gems in our cultural backyard. In addition to classical music organizations there are, of course, scores of groups dedicated to other areas of the performing arts, such as theater, modern dance and more.
But it’s the classical music community that will be front and center here, along with the local organizations and individuals active in the field.
They operate with support from grateful bay area audiences and often from philanthropic donors, yet too frequently they fly below the media radar, with little news coverage or critical reviews.
The Florida Orchestra, or TFO as it’s often branded, is probably the highest-profile musical organization in Tampa Bay. There aren’t many people I’ve asked who were wholly unfamiliar with TFO or its offerings.
Then, too, there are organizations such as the Tampa Bay Symphony, a community orchestra whose mix of professional and part-time musicians has presented modestly priced concerts in St. Pete and Tampa for more than 30 years. Similar community ensembles of varying resources and scope abound, including the Pinellas Park Civic Orchestra and the Suncoast Symphony Orchestra in Clearwater.
At all of these groups, musicians and staff spend countless hours in rehearsals and other prep efforts. And if their resulting programs hold varied degrees of success, they also show an inspiring constancy to music forged over centuries of dedicated striving.
Meanwhile, the new musical season is well afoot, and checks of the relevant websites will show an array of program and location options. Ticket-price ranges are similarly broad.
This column doesn’t propose to offer much music criticism, per se. But hopefully it can help illuminate the dedicated organizations and talented individuals active on the local classical music scene, while addressing some musical topics.
Yet there’s more than just a tubthumping intent here: Could publicizing the local appetite for classical music entice more touring orchestras to visit the bay area? That’s my long-shot hope.
There’s no shortage of nationally touring pop, rock and country music bands stopping by (top jazz groups much less often). And there’s sure no shortage of rock tribute bands touching down in Clearwater, St. Pete and Tampa. But howzabout more touring classical groups, for goodness sake?
A couple years ago, I was tickled to see the Juilliard Quartet scheduled to play the Palladium, until the concert was canceled. The new date in early 2023, as part of the Palladium’s chamber music series, eluded me. But the notion of the famous string quartet holding forth on a St. Pete stage was thrilling, as top-notch touring chamber ensembles and symphony orchestras still are too much of a rarity here.
After all, there are huge numbers of highly cultured professionals to be found in the high-rise condos in downtown areas on both sides of Tampa Bay. And there are tens of thousands more, I reckon, among the hundreds of thousands of retirees who now call this area home — after lifetimes of living elsewhere in locales nobody would call cultural deserts.
So, watch this space for more about the many institutions and individuals plying the classical market locally. And don’t hesitate to give a shout if you see something that rings a bell — or don’t see something you’d like to shove into the spotlight.
First up, in the next Classical Spotlight: The Florida Orchestra. •
