Important update from TFO President Mark Cantrell
This is it! The moment we’ve been waiting for. We are thrilled to bring back The Florida Orchestra at full power for full audiences throughout Tampa Bay. Since the beginning…
Grant will help TFO musicians create new piece for harp, percussion
By Kelly Smith and Anna Kate Mackle, Principal Harpist For TFO harpist Anna Kate Mackle and her percussionist husband, John Shaw, their mission to create new music is personal: “We…
A year in the making: All County Music Festival in the time of Covid
By TFO Teaching Artist Kaitlin Springer and Steve Harris, Seminole High School Director of Music During a typical school year, students in Pinellas County have an opportunity to come together…
TFO to perform U.S. premiere of unique ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’
The Florida Orchestra is bringing the U.S. premiere of a wickedly fun version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to Tampa Bay for its socially distanced Family Concert matinee…
John Shaw’s beat-by-beat preview of TFO’s Percussion concert
By John Shaw, TFO Principal Percussionist The percussion family often plays a supporting role in an orchestra. The endless variety of drums and other things you can strike, shake or…
TFO plays 1991 national anthem to honor Whitney Houston, Bucs in video
Thirty years ago at Super Bowl XXV in Tampa, Whitney Houston walked onto the field with The Florida Orchestra and made history with an epic rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner. Now…
Art, music create fairy-tale world for Ravel’s ‘Mother Goose’
This weekend The Florida Orchestra will present its fourth multimedia collaboration with Visual Artist-in-residence Geff Strik, featuring original artwork inspired by the youthful innocence of Ravel’s Mother Goose ballet. Despite its title,…
Pianist embraces intimacy of Covid concert world
Many years ago, when TFO was playing Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini at the Mahaffey Theater, a young couple on a Saturday night date sat rapt in their seats, entranced…
Watch The Florida Orchestra on WEDU TV this Friday
The Florida Orchestra debuts on WEDU-PBS television this Friday (Dec. 18) at 9 pm with Inside the Music: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, a special broadcast recorded live at the Mahaffey Theater…
Unmasking Mozart while playing it safe
For soloists Clay Ellerbroek and Anna Kate Mackle, the pandemic brings new challenges for Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp. But it’s worth it for “Mozart’s idea of heaven.”