Musician Concert Picks

John Shaw never tires of his top concert pick of the season – which percussionists know well from auditions. Today on the TFO Blog.

Flute/piccolo player Sandra del Cid-Davies has a way of getting to the heart of her 5 concert picks for the season: “The Beethoven will triumph and the Rachmaninoff will sweep audiences off their feet.”

Jeffrey Stephenson’s top concert picks are two stellar programs. Tip: If you hear someone singing from the orchestra, look at the English horn player.

I can easily say I’m most excited about the Masterworks concert in which I’m soloing on Anna Clyne’s The Seamstress. Clyne’s music is expansive and haunting in general.

My first concert as a principal timpanist was with the Anchorage Symphony in February 1970 celebrating the bicentennial of Beethoven’s birth. The program in 1970 was Egmont Overture and the Fifth and Seventh symphonies, a program that would challenge me now.

The Florida Orchestra musicians will play more than 130 concerts in the 2018/19 season. That’s hundreds of works and thousands of pages of music. Which ones are they most looking forward to?