TFO Blog

Welcome to The Florida Orchestra Blog

Our goal: a steady beat of TFO stories you won’t get anywhere else, including news, peeks backstage, concert previews, musician profiles, photo albums, videos and much more. Make your TFO concert experience exceptional, and join the conversation with The Florida Orchestra’s blog.
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Remembering famed composer Penderecki, TFO’s first-ever guest conductor

Kurt Loft remembers famed composer Krzysztof Penderecki. Not for his movie music, but as TFO’s first-ever guest conductor. Kurt takes us back to 1985.

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I was really looking forward to Bach’s St. John Passion

As the isolation of the coronavirus continues, it’s a reminder of the magical moments – like Bach’s St. John Passion – that we’re missing in the concert hall. Kurt Loft writes, today on the TFO Blog.

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TFO to air Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons live recording on WSMR

Bummed that Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons got canceled this week? Good news: You can hear it Thursday in a free live recording by The Florida Orchestra and Jeffrey Multer from 2012. Get details and the full WSMR radio broadcast schedule on the TFO Blog.

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Playing second fiddle to COVID-19: TFO violinist keeps the music and herself going

With no concerts and lots of uncertainty, TFO violinist Sarah Shellman writes on how she and her colleagues work to keep the music — and themselves — going. Today on the TFO Blog.

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Our gift to you: Florida Orchestra recordings on the radio

We can’t sit together in a concert hall right now because of the coronavirus, but we still found a way to listen to TFO together. We start live concert recordings on WSMR radio on March 26. Find out more today on the TFO Blog.

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Benjamin Whiting ‘peers into Beethoven’s mind’ for premiere work

This weekend TFO premieres a short work by USF’s Benjamin Whiting that’s “as if one could travel back in time and peer into Beethoven’s mind as he was brainstorming these musical ideas.’’

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Woodson Concert Series: Explore ‘All That Jazz’ with TFO Brass Quintet

Explore “America’s classical music” – jazz – with the history of Fats Waller, Henry Mancini, Duke Ellington and more before the TFO Brass Quintet’s concert Sunday at the Woodson African American Museum.

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50% funding boost will expand free violin lessons for kids

Great news: Our program offering free violin lessons to kids is growing again! All thanks to a funding boost for our partnership with University Area CDC’s Prodigy Cultural Arts Program. Such an uplifting way to help kids navigate their world through music.

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The challenge of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto: Performing perfection

For Simone Lamsma, the challenge of performing Beethoven’s “perfect” Violin Concerto is creating “a true sense of living in the moment.” An interview today on the TFO Blog.