I first met Michael Ippolito at his parents’ home in Brandon more than 20 years ago, as he sat at the piano crafting his latest creation. The Rhapsodie Pathetique, which was…
I got on an elevator the other day and piping through a speaker was – you guessed it – Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. On the way home, I stopped…
Here is your chance to hear some of The Florida Orchestra’s most talked about concerts this season if you missed them live at the Mahaffey Theater. Live recordings of nine…
Since The Florida Orchestra began playing music in 1968, no season has been like this one, and no experience – including various woes and hurricanes – compares to what Covid…
The Florida Orchestra continues to adapt during this unusual season, and anyone who attended the Tampa Bay Times Masterworks program this past weekend got an unexpected twist under the baton…
Thomas Wilkins is a busy guy these days, regardless of the setbacks Covid has made on the arts, especially symphony orchestras.He should know. The former resident conductor of TFO from…
Jeff Multer has the toughest job in town this weekend. Why? He wants to craft perfection on something already flawless. In three concerts at the Mahaffey Theater, TFO’s concertmaster tackles…
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…
My friends had been itching to get out of the house, to do something – anything – other than sit in quarantine in front of their televisions. The Covid lifestyle…
Ahmed Alabaca, the young American composer featured on this week’s Masterworks program, believes in the healing power of art. In his work, Across the Calm Waters of Heaven – A…