In last Friday’s (1/4) Tampa Bay Times (Florida), Colette Bancroft writes, “Just a year shy of William Shakespeare’s 450th birthday, the arts community in St. Petersburg is celebrating the great English playwright and poet’s work with a panoply of performing and visual arts. The monthlong Shakespeare Festival began this week and will include orchestral and vocal music, movies, an art exhibit and children’s activities as well as dramatic performances. Todd Olson, artistic director of American Stage and a passionate fan of the playwright’s work, welcomes the expansive program. … The Shakespeare Festival is a collaboration involving American Stage Theatre Company, the Dalí Museum, the Florida Orchestra, Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg College School of Music, the Studio620, Sunscreen Film Festival and the University of South Florida School of Music. Hundreds of other cities around the world have Shakespeare festivals, but this is a first for St. Petersburg, and its moving force was the Florida Orchestra. … On Jan. 25, 26, and 27, the orchestra’s Masterworks series presents Andrew Grams conducting Tchaikovsky’s fantasy overtures to Hamlet, The Tempest and Romeo and Juliet.”
Posted January 11, 2013
