As part of its 50th-anniversay celebrations, the Florida Orchestra has announced the Florida Fanfare Project featuring premieres of five short fanfares by faculty composers from universities around the state. Each university selected a faculty member from its composition department to compose a fanfare, and the works will open concerts in Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater, led by Music Director Michael Francis. The St. Petersburg-based orchestra premiered Horizon Gravy by Paul Reller (University of South Florida) on October 27, and future concerts will feature Running on Rooftops by Kevin Wilt (Florida Atlantic University, Nov. 3), Splendor Fountain by Daniel Crozier (Rollins College, Jan. 19), Orchids Grow Here by Dorothy Hindman (University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, Feb. 16), and Fanfare for Three Cities by Manuel de Murga (Stetson University, May 4). The initiative also includes a statewide competition for student composers, with the winning work featured on a Florida Orchestra concert in May and a $1,000 honorarium for the composer. The Florida Fanfare Project is an extension of the orchestra’s Beyond the Bay program, which began last season with classical, youth, side-by-side, and hospital concerts in Florida communities that do not have regular access to a major professional orchestra.
Posted November 2, 2017
