By Henry Adams
The Florida Orchestra (TFO) welcomes 2015 in January with morning Coffee Concerts, a celebratory pops called “New Year’s from Vienna to New York,” Tchaikovsky’s achingly beautiful Violin Concerto, Prokovfiev’s glorious Romeo and Juliet, a Rock mash-up concert of Radiohead+Brahms and The Florida Orchestra’s Gala featuring cellist Yo-Yo Ma, which is already sold-out. Readers can visit www.floridaorchestra.org for details on all of these concerts, but in the meantime, here are highlights on just a few of them.
For those who need to catch their breath after the holidays, the next Raymond James Pops, titled New Year’s from Vienna to New York should be the right time to celebrate the New Year. Guest conductor Damon Gupton and the orchestra are joined by soprano Lauren Snouffer with spirited favorites from both Vienna and Broadway in a program of music by Mozart, Lehar, and Johann Strauss, Jr., together with hits from Broadway and the American songbook, including music from Gypsy, Candide, Carousel, Girl Crazy and other favorite musicals. Concerts are Friday-Sunday, January 9, 10 and 11 in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater.
Hailed as “an exciting violinist” by The New Yorker , Jennifer Koh is featured on the next Tampa Bay Times Masterworks in Tchaikovsky’s beloved Violin Concerto. Tito Muñoz conducts this program, which also includes Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 and American composer Adam Schoenberg’s atmospheric lullaby Canto. These concerts will be Friday-Sunday, January 16, 17 and 18 in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater.
As part of The Florida Orchestra’s mission to expand its symphonic programming to reach all musical tastes in our community, the next Rock Series concert definitely does that in Radiohead+Brahms Mash-Up. Hailed as “musical chemistry,” this concert is a free-flowing fusion of Radiohead’s indie-rock sounds with the symphonic might of Brahms. Concertgoers can enjoy a new sound world of Radiohead songs from their landmark OK Computer album…Airbag, Paranoid Android, Karma Police and more…all combined in a mystical mix with the dramatic and soaring themes of Brahms’ Symphony No. 1. Creator and arranger Steve Hackman conducts this program on Friday, January 30 at the Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg.
Concert tickets are all available at www.floridaorchestra.org or by calling 727-892-3337 or -800-662-7286, Monday to Friday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Most concerts offer affordable single-ticket prices of $15, $30 and $45.
