“The Florida Orchestra is launching a round of free concerts in September, part of an emphatic community outreach under music director Michael Francis,” writes Andrew Meacham in Saturday’s (9/3) Tampa Bay Times (Florida). “During ‘TFO on the Go,’ Francis will lead the orchestra in performances for patients and staff of St. Joseph’s-North Hospital, the Moffitt Cancer Center and Tampa General Hospital. Smaller chamber groups will appear at places like the Pinellas Park Boys and Girls Club, retirement homes and veterans centers. Some concerts are not open to the public, but several coming up soon are for everyone. They include chamber performances at Tampa International Airport, 3 Daughters Brewing and Green Bench Brewing Co. … Francis leads the full orchestra Sept. 24 at the week’s finale … at Tampa’s Water Works Park…. Erin Horan, whom the orchestra recently hired as its community engagement director, is overseeing TFO on the Go, the first event of its kind for the orchestra. Efforts such as these are ‘a powerful way for a community to come together and explore its identity,’ Horan said.” Other Florida Orchestra community programs include free parks concerts and “pay-what-you-can ‘Inside the Music’ presentations by Francis, which combine lecture with demonstrations by the orchestra.”
Posted September 7, 2016
Pictured: Music Director Michael Francis leads the Florida Orchestra
