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SoundWaves with The Florida Orchestra
For more than 55 years, The Florida Orchestra has been a driving force for cultural arts in the Tampa Bay region. Every work of music, every musician, every composer has a story to tell. SoundWaves with The Florida Orchestra gives those stories a voice, so you can experience a deep, personal connection to the music during a concert or anytime. The non-profit Florida Orchestra is the largest orchestra in the state and the only arts organization that bridges Tampa Bay. TFO exists to INSPIRE – UNITE – EDUCATE as we build community through the power of music onstage and in our schools and community. With 71 full-time professional musicians and conductors, TFO performs more than 100 concerts a season, including a wide range of classical, popular, film, rock and family-friendly music. Performances are at three major performing arts venues: Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg, Straz Center in Tampa and Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater. For tickets and information: FloridaOrchestra.org
Episodes
47 episodes
Program Notes: Beethoven & Bernstein
Experience two monumental works that bridge centuries. Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, a dazzling precursor to his Ode to Joy, blends virtuosic piano, orchestra and chorus in a joyful, triumphant finale that echoes through his
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Season 4
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Episode 3
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9:09
Program Notes: Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto
Experience the emotional sweep of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, a fiery showcase of virtuosity and lyricism once panned by critics but now cherished as one of the greatest violin concertos ever written. From its bold opening to the fo...
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Season 4
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Episode 2
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7:13
Program Notes: Strauss’ An Alpine Symphony
Explore three lush, evocative works that celebrate nature and the power of storytelling through music. Start with a day-long mountain hike in Richard Strauss’ An Alpine Symphony, a grand tone poem with a massive orchestra — including w...
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Season 4
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Episode 1
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11:06
Program Notes: Pictures at an Exhibition
Art comes to life. The great orchestra showpiece Pictures at an Exhibition started out as an extended piano suite in 10 movements by Mussorgsky. That is until a half-century later, when Maurice Ravel had the good sense to see its true ...
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Season 3
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Episode 12
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10:21
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Program Notes: Vivaldi's The Four Seasons
Is it possible to find someone who cannot hum a bit of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons -- arguably one of the most enduring works of all time? Vivaldi presents a musical travelogueof spring, summer, autumn and winter, complete with bird son...
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Episode 11
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9:36
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Program Notes: Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet
This program spotlights an unusual instrument for a classical program: the saxophone. For Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, the tenor saxophone makes a rare appearance in a symphony orchestra with the theme representing Juliet. Of Prokofie...
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Season 3
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Episode 10
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9:33
Program Notes: Beethoven’s Violin Concerto
Beethoven composed his Violin Concerto in 1806, when he was deaf. From the onset, the music unfolds with a sense of spaciousness, its character more graceful than frenetic. This work is not about power and bravura but poise and spiritu...
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Season 3
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Episode 9
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10:38
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Program Notes: Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1
For some listeners, Tchaikovsky’s evergreen Piano Concerto No. 1 is overplayed and overwrought. For others, it never fails to thrill with its embraceable tunes and striking rhythmic flourish. No, Tchaikovsky wasn’t subtle, and this pie...
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Season 3
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Episode 8
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7:48
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Program Notes: Debussy's La Mer
A concert immersed in the sea. It opens with Garth Neustadter’s Seaborne, a film with stunning images of the sea set to music, performed by the Percussion Collective. The work explores water from the air, surface and underwater vantage...
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Season 3
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Episode 7
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9:16
Program Notes: Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations
Variations on a Rococo Theme is the closest Tchaikovsky ever came to writing a cello concerto. Scored for a reduced orchestra, the Variations assume a chamber-like texture and balance the sweetness of the classical style with ...
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Season 3
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Episode 6
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10:51
Program Notes: Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto
Felix Mendelssohn’s best-loved work has to be his radiant Violin Concerto. It is loaded with good tunes. In particular is the finale, a puckish movement full of sparkle and bravado. One of the most significant African-American composer...
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Season 3
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Episode 5
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11:10
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Program Notes: Brahms' Symphony No. 2
Brahms’ idyllic Symphony No. 2 radiates warmth – until an explosion of brass announces one of the most exciting endings in music. In Grieg’s impassioned Piano Concerto, the opening rumble of timpani sends the piano on a flouri...
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Season 3
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Episode 4
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9:53
Program Notes: Beethoven's Symphony No. 5
The concert pairs two of the most famous openings in music: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 and Richard Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra (Theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey). In Beethoven’s Fifth, it’s up to you, th...
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Season 3
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Episode 3
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8:36
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Program Notes: Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 3
Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 3 may be his most intriguing – and underrated – symphony. Four decades separate Rachmaninoff’s First and Third symphonies, both neglected compared to the celebrated Second. Written...
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Season 3
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Episode 2
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8:10
Program Notes: Ravel's Bolero
Ravel’s Bolero begins quietly and ends demonically. The repetition – a maddening rat-a-tat-tat of the snare drum – may sound simple, but the gradual crescendo builds into a frenzy of intensity and brilliant color. Ravel himself underes...
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Season 3
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Episode 1
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12:33
Program Notes: Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony
Mahler knew how to think big. For his Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection,” he stuffed the stage with 270 musicians, including 10 trumpets and 10 horns in the original score. It took Mahler five years to complete the symphony, which stretche...
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Season 2
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Episode 13
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6:38
Program Notes: Elgar’s Enigma Variations
The power of friendship. Edward Elgar’s most popular work, Enigma Variations, was dedicated to 14 friends portrayed in the pieces – from his wife to an Oxford professor, a bulldog and even Elgar himself. Like the Elgar, each section of...
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Season 2
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Episode 12
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8:16
Secret Lives: Listening to Sunsets
All in the family. From a tiny apartment around the world to a chance audition at The Florida Orchestra, family has been a driving force for Principal Cellist Yoni Draiblate. Is he bringing up the next Yo-Yo Ma? Time will tell. Even Brahms’ Dou...
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23:32
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Program Notes: Saint-Saens’ Organ Symphony
We’re taking a tour of France in the spring. Magnifique! Saint-Saens’ Organ Symphony – used so effectively in the 1995 movie Babe – is a lush masterpiece that builds and builds until … wait for it … the organ is let loo...
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Season 2
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Episode 11
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7:31
Program Notes: Dvorak’s New World Symphony
Antonin Dvorak’s Ninth Symphony is as big a deal today as it was in 1893, when it premiered with huge fanfare at Carnegie Hall in New York. The Ninth was special. Major composer. Written in America. Inspired by African-America...
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Season 2
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Episode 10
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8:54
Program Notes: Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony
This is the symphony that changed all symphonies, Beethoven’s monumental Third. No one had heard anything like it before. The work was originally called “Bonaparte” after Napoleon, but a disgruntled Beethoven hastily changed the title to “Eroic...
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Season 2
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Episode 9
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9:01
Secret Lives: Robin Hood of Fried Chicken
Cellist, conductor, Robin Hood of Fried ChickenFor TFO Associate Principal Cello Victor Minke Huls, his life in music started way before he was born. And it keeps getting better. From homework in the concert hall to conducting, sa...
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33:06
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Program Notes: Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto
A heroic concert indeed. Beethoven’s famed Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor,” composed when he was deaf, is a stunning example of Beethoven’s stubborn nature. He overcame his liability to create a work of unprecedented depth and expression....
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Season 2
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Episode 8
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6:42
Program Notes: Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue
This program is packed with American greats in honor of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, a smash hit since its debut 100 years ago. “I wanted to put it on a pedestal because it deserves to be there,” says TFO Music Director Michael Francis. The con...
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Season 2
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Episode 7
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11:18
Program Notes: Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6
Tchaikovsky packs a lot of emotion into his Sixth: “Without exaggeration, I have put my entire soul into this symphony.” Less than 10 days after its premiere, Tchaikovsky died. This symphony would become his requiem, a last will and testament o...
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Season 2
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Episode 6
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8:09
