By Henry Adams
The Florida Orchestra kicks off May with a symphonic rock concert saluting the music of The Eagles. The orchestra will be joined by veteran rock vocalists Terry Brock, Glenn DeLaune and John Hines, along with their band, To Take Flight, with such Eagles’ hits as Heartache Tonight, Take It Easy and more. With Larry Baird on the podium, this concert is Friday, May 9 at 8 p.m. at the Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg.
At the next Tampa Bay Times Masterworks concert, Cuban-American guitarist Manuel Barrueco performs Roberto Sierra’s Concierto Barroco with its lively mix of baroque and tropical musical elements. Cristian Marcelaru conducts this program that includes Stravinsky’s Jeu de Cartes and Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique Symphony Friday through Sunday, May 16-18.
Enjoy complimentary coffee and doughnuts at the final morning Coffee Concert of the season with English conductor Michael Francis in a program featuring Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. The concert also includes Steven Stucky’s Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary, After Purcell and Andrej Panufnik’s Sinfonia Sacra with its powerful blend of horns, violins and percussion in this evocation of his Polish homeland. The concert is Thursday, May 22 at 11 a.m. at the Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg.
The Raymond James Pops series comes to a close with a Memorial Day weekend of overtures, marches and Americana favorites, including an Armed Forces Salute, Washington Post March, Colonel Bogey March and more. Bob Bernhardt conducts these concerts Friday through Sunday, May 23, 24 and 25.
The Master Chorale of Tampa Bay joins the orchestra under the baton of Joshua Weilerstein for Ravel’s dazzlingly lush full ballet score of his Daphnis et Chloe. This season finale Masterworks concert opens with Haydn’s buoyant Symphony No. 60, Il Distratto, and features the orchestra’s principal flutist Clay Ellerbroek and principal harpist Anna Kate Mackle, in Toru Takemitsu’s dreamy soundscape Toward the Sea II. These concerts are Friday and Saturday, May 30 and 31.
The orchestra regularly performs at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa, Duke Energy Center for the Arts – Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg and Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater. For tickets and information on the 2014/2015 concert season, visit www.floridaorchestra.org, call 727-892-3337, or 800-662-7286, Monday-Friday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
