“For the first time, the Florida Orchestra will go on the road with a new program of community residencies across Florida, the orchestra announced Monday,” writes Sharon Kennedy Wynne in Monday’s (3/21) Tampa Bay Times. “They’ll target smaller communities that don’t already have an orchestra in Avon Park, Daytona and Gainesville. Starting in early 2017, musicians will spend several days performing and connecting with residents in three Florida communities picked because of their limited access to a major professional orchestra. The project targets the Avon Park area of Highlands County, Daytona in Volusia and Gainesville in Alachua County. The residencies will include the full Florida Orchestra in youth concerts for public school students; side-by-side concerts with students and amateur musicians; and community concerts performed in a hospital, park or mall. In all, the residencies will bring symphonic music and education to at least 15,000 people. Most events will be free.” Said Music Director Michael Francis, “The effect of our community engagement in Tampa Bay has been dramatic.… What we’ve seen and heard has been so rewarding and uplifting that we want to share it and help enrich these other vibrant communities in Florida.”
Posted March 22, 2016
Pictured: The Florida Orchestra performs for staff and patients at the Moffitt Cancer Center, January 2016. Photo by Will Vragovic / Tampa Bay Times
