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Orchestrating A New Season

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By KURT LOFT, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 10, 2008

Updated: 02/09/2008 05:55 pm

TAMPA - The Florida Orchestra today announces the classical and pops lineups for next season, hoping to secure subscribers early and avoid cash flow problems when the curtain rises in October.

Armed with a new three-year contract, the musicians will be primed for a season that includes no less than 10 Florida premieres for adventurous ears, a handful of gargantuan symphonies and plenty of chestnuts to please the conservative crowd.

The season features a relatively young crop of guest soloists and conductors, as well as performances by the orchestra's own principal players. Music director Stefan Sanderling holds the podium through most of the season.

As expected, one of the big challenges continues to be scheduling concerts in Tampa, while the St. Petersburg and Clearwater venues are more flexible. At the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, a plethora of productions competes for time and space, one reason the orchestra will see just four concerts in 2,500-seat Morsani Hall.

The group plays seven masterworks programs in 1,000-seat Ferguson Hall. However, scheduling conflicts in both Tampa halls forced the orchestra to move other programs either to St. Petersburg or Clearwater.

Musically, highlights include a rare staging of a Bach cantata; an appearance by Tampa's Bits 'N' Pieces Puppet Theatre for Stravinsky's "Petrushka"; Mahler's sprawling "Resurrection" Symphony; another dip into the Bruckner cycle with the Fifth Symphony; a return of Holst's celestial suite "The Planets"; Verdi's Requiem; and a Chinese concerto featuring the two-stringed erhu.

Evergreen classics include Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, Copland's "Appalachian Spring," Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony, a night of Strauss waltzes and "Moldau" by Smetana.

Concerts dates vary at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center in Tampa, Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg and Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater. Single ticket prices are expected to rise slightly from the current range of $19 to $54, but students with an ID can buy a seat at any concert for $10. For information, call (813) 286-2403 or go to www.floridaorchestra.org.

Here's a look at the 2008-09 Florida Orchestra masterworks and pops season:

Oct. 3-5 - Piano Pops; Richard Ridenour, conductor and soloist

Oct. 24-26 - Bach: Cantata No. 60; Berg: Violin Concerto, Beethoven: Symphony No. 7; Stefan Sanderling, conductor; Jeffrey Multer, violin

Oct. 31 to Nov. 2 - A Musical Spooktacular (Pops); Jeff Tyzik, conductor

Nov. 7-9 - Holst: "The Planets"; Debussy: "Prelude to an Afternoon of a Faun" and "Nocturnes"; Sanderling, conductor

Nov. 21-23 - Barber: Essay No. 2; Corigliano: Piano Concerto; Copland: "Appalachian Spring"; Edwin Outwater, conductor; William Wolfram, piano

Nov. 28-30 - Fiddles on Fire (Pops); Richard Kaufmaan, conductor; Zachary De Pue, Nicolas Kendall and Ranaan Meyer, soloists

Dec. 12-14 - Haydn: Divertimento in B-flat major and Symphony No. 103; MacMillan: "Veni, veni, Emmanuel"; Brahms: "Variations on a Theme of Haydn"; Sanderling, conductor, John Shaw, percussion

Jan. 2-5 - Five by Design (Pops); Willis Delony, conductor; Five by Design, featured group

Jan. 9-11 - Stravinsky: "Circus Polka" and "Petrushka (1947 version); Borodin: Symphony No. 2; Sanderling, conductor; Bits 'N' Pieces Puppet Theatre
Jan. 23-25 - Rimsky-Korsakov: "Suite for Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh"; Rachmaninoff: "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini"; Mussorgsky/Ashkenazy: "Pictures at an Exhibition"; Sanderling, conductor; Peter Rösel, piano

Feb. 6-8 - Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4; Chen/He: "The Butterfly Lovers"; David Alan Miller, conductor; Betti Xiang, erhu

Feb. 13-15 - An Evening of Romance (Pops); Matt Catingub, conductor

Feb. 20-22 - J. Strauss: "Gypsy Baron Overture"; "On the Beautiful Blue Danube," "Emperor Waltzes"; Mozart: Symphony No. 35, Piano Concerto No. 17; Klauspeter Seibel, conductor; Markus Groh, piano

March 6-8 - Verdi: Requiem; Sanderling, conductor; soloists to be announced; Master Chorale of Tampa Bay

March 13-14 - El Ritmo de la Vida (Pops); Doc Severinsen, conductor and soloist

March 20-22 - Ravel: "Mother Goose"; Dutilleux: "Tree of Dreams"; Franck: Symphony in D minor; Thierry Fischer, conductor; Pekka Kuusisto, violin

March 27-29 - Film Music of John Williams (Pops); Kaufman, conductor

April 3 - Bruckner: Symphony No. 5; Sanderling, conductor

April 18-19 - Schumann: Symphony No. 2; Smetana: "The Moldau"; Martinu: Concerto for Oboe; Sanderling, conductor; Katherine Young, oboe

May 1-3 - Brahms: Symphony No. 3; Adler: "The Fixed Desire of the Human Heart"; Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1; Sanderling, conductor; Karen Gomyo, violin

May 15-17 - Mahler: Symphony No. 2, "Resurrection"; Sanderling, conductor; Master Chorale of Tampa Bay

May 29-31 -Broadway by Request (Pops); soloists and conductor to be announced.

Reporter Kurt Loft can be reached at (813) 259-7570 or kloft@tampatrib.com.

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