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You Are Here: Home » Things to Do » Culture » Symphony For Everyone »
By Lawrence Hollyfield
Few things, if any, can capture the complete range of life and human emotions the way that music can, from soothing adagio afternoons to the forceful staccato of anger to the energetic crescendo of events coming to their dramatic conclusion.
That range helps explain why music – the dynamic blend of composer, instrument, musician and message – is a universal language. The deeply talented Florida Orchestra, based in the St. Petersburg/Clearwater/Tampa area, takes full advantage of this universality by fusing it with astounding accessibility: For the 2005-06 season, the orchestra scheduled more than 90 shows in about 15 venues. That means that visitors to the St. Petersburg/Clearwater area can enjoy music no matter where they are enjoying themselves because the Florida Orchestra will come to them.
If you prefer a more relaxed atmosphere and enjoy your performances during the late morning and early afternoon, look for the Cozy Morning Coffee Concerts. If you look for an edge to the show that might include fireworks, investigate the park and special concerts. Looking for dinner first and then the traditional grand evening on the town? Masterworks performances and the Super Pops series are for you.
The Florida Orchestra caters to the different regions of the Bay Area by performing in the Pasadena Community Church and the Mahaffey Theater in the southern portion of the Florida's Beach area; Ruth Eckerd Hall in the northern half; and at the Performing Arts Center in Tampa. As of early April, the Mahaffey is in the final stages of a $15-million renovation and soon will welcome the Orchestra again.
“What we have to do as a group, and certainly individually, is adjust how we play, how we listen and how we respond to what we’re seeing on the podium - in other words, how we interpret the conductor’s gestures according to the venue that we’re in,” said principal cellist James Connors. “And each one of those is remarkably different acoustically.”
Orchestras typically have one venue at which they play, but the Florida Orchestra folds in parks and other locations, all with the intent of feeding a widespread audience that lives and plays in its own distinct areas.
That creates challenges for rehearsing, because musicians prefer a nice, solid, clear acoustic space in which to rehearse, especially when they are at the early stages of reading a piece and working on a piece to bring it to performance level. Another hurdle are the logistics of physically moving the orchestra from venue to venue, encompassing incredibly difficult acoustic settings as attendance can swell from a couple hundred to more than 2,500.
“We have both different physical venues that we play and also the different presentations of different musical products that the orchestra puts on,” Connors said.
The theme of the 2005-06 season is “Bursting with Beethoven,” a nod to the possibility of hearing all nine of the legend’s symphonies. Performances of works by Brahms and Mahler have passed; Dvorak is on the way at the end of April.
“Our accessibility certainly does change with the types of music that we play and we get all sorts of different audiences for each of those things, too,” said Connors, who has been with the Florida Orchestra since 1988-89. “With the coffee concerts, a lot of retirees come to those because they are in the mid- to late-morning going over into the early afternoon. Those have proved to be very popular. I believe next year we’re going to have several concerts of that nature down at the Tampa Theater. That’s something we’re done in the past but not in the recent past.”
In some venues, smaller groups of musicians are needed; different venues also open up differently sized arenas and different music, which can draw younger crowds.
The 2006-07 season brings new opportunities to the Florida Orchestra’s schedule as music director Stefan Sanderling will conduct a collection of chamber orchestra concerts titled “Mozart & More.” Works by Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert will be included along with those of Mozart. The performances will be given, of course, on both sides of Tampa Bay.
For information, visit or call: Florida Orchestra, (813) 961-5362.
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