In Wednesday’s (5/27) Tampa Bay Times (Florida), Jay Cridlin writes that Evelyn Pupello, a violinist in the Florida Orchestra for 50 years, will retire “as the orchestra closes its season this weekend… Her departure … is symbolic of a swath of change now under way at the orchestra.” Pupello joined the orchestra in 1965, when it was known as the Tampa Philharmonic. The ensemble merged with the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra in 1968 to become the Florida Gulf Coast Symphony, renamed the Florida Orchestra in 1984. “Pupello is one of six musicians retiring in 2015…. Throw in a long-open oboe chair and a new conductor at the podium, and the orchestra is looking at its biggest roster overhaul in years…. The latest turnover coincides with this fall’s arrival of new music director Michael Francis, 38 [who] is expected to infuse the 47-year-old organization with a shot of youthful energy…. Retirees will receive a retirement bonus courtesy of a patron who [president and CEO Michael] Pastreich said wanted to make sure veteran musicians could leave the organization in comfort…. In the end, it came down to ending her career on a note of grace and symmetry. ‘Fifty,’ she said, ‘is a nice, round number.’ “
Posted May 28, 2015
