TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Florida Orchestra announces Masterworks series schedule

ADVERTISEMENT

By KIM MacCORMACK | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 12, 2012

Stefan Sanderling of The Florida Orchestra.

The Florida Orchestra promises to make some beautiful noise in its 2012-13 Masterworks series, announced today.

Under the leadership of Music Director Stefan Sanderling, the season will offer familiar favorites, orchestral showcases and possibly something new to patron's ears.

Four conductors will make their debut with the Florida Orchestra: Gerard Schwarz, who celebrated his last season with the Seattle Symphony; Princeton Symphony Orchestra Music Director Rossen Milanov; Chinese conductor Xian Zhang; and Tito Munoz, music director of the National Opera of Lorraine.

The season's guest artists include piano soloists Sara Davis Buechner and Peter Rosel, Florida Orchestra concertmaster Jeffrey Multer and German soprano Barbara Krieger.

The Master Chorale of Tampa Bay will join the orchestra for two masterwork programs, and St. Petersburg's American Stage Theatre Company will present scenes from Shakespeare's "Hamlet," "The Tempest" and "Romeo and Juliet" during a performance of Tchaikovsky.

"We have a very exciting season of music," Sanderling promises in a news release. "We always want to introduce our audiences to work that they may not be familiar with, but which provides them with some extraordinarily beautiful music."

Select performances include:

• Opening night: Beethoven to Bernstein (Oct. 12-14) – Buechner will explore a "kaleidoscope of moods" in performances of Bernstein's "Symphony No. 2, The Age of Anxiety" and Schoenberg's "Ode to Napoleon Boneparte." The concert includes Beethoven's "Egmont Overture" and Karl Amadeus Hartmann's "Symphony No. 2 Adagio."

•Dvorak's "Symphony No. 7" (Nov. 9-11): On Veterans Day weekend, Schwarz leads the orchestra and The Master Chorale in the orchestra's premiere of Vaughan Williams' prayer and plea for peace, "Dona Nobis Pacem (Grant Us Peace)."

• Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet" (Jan. 25-27, 2013): Sanderling has the baton for performances inspired by Shakespeare's hallmark plays, "Hamlet: Fantasy-Overture after Shakespeare," "The Tempest: Fantasy-Overture" and "Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy." American Stage will present a brief scene from each play as a prelude to the music.

• Mozart's "Requiem" (April 19-21, 2013): Zhang makes her conducting debut leading the orchestra and The Master Chorale in Mozart's inspiring "Requiem."

•Strauss' "Alpine Symphony" (May 24-25, 2013): Varese's groundbreaking essay on solitude "Deserts" has its orchestra debut with Sanderling conducting. The program also includes two works that reflect nature, Debussy's "La Mer" and the panoramic tone poem "Alpine Symphony" by Richard Strauss.

For the complete season, go to www.floridaorchestra.org. The orchestra performs at the David A Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa, Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater and The Mahaffey in St. Petersburg.

Masterworks tickets are $15, $30 and $45 with $10 tickets for students/educators and the military. There also are several subscription packages and "Compose your Own" series offers available.

Subscriptions are on sale now; call (727) 892-3337 or (800) 662-7286 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends, or go online at www.floridaorchestra.org.

ADVERTISEMENT