The Florida Orchestra has announced its 2026-27 season, a lineup that combines classical masterpieces, contemporary American composers and popular entertainment while expanding access to audiences throughout the Tampa Bay region.
The orchestra’s 59th season, led by Music Director Michael Francis, will feature 14 Masterworks programs, a variety of Pops concerts and community performances designed to attract both longtime patrons and first-time concertgoers.
“This season is about new discovery and familiar connection,” Francis said. “We’re performing some of the most powerful works ever written while pairing them with music that feels fresh and unexpected.”
Inspired in part by America’s upcoming 250th anniversary, the season places a spotlight on American composers, including George Gershwin, Florence Price, Joan Tower, Michael Torke and Christopher Theofanidis. The orchestra will also revisit the work of Ludwig van Beethoven ahead of the 200th anniversary of the composer’s death in 2027.
Among the highlights are three Beethoven works never before performed by The Florida Orchestra, including the complete incidental music to Egmont, Wellington’s Victory and the composer’s only opera, Fidelio. The orchestra’s first-ever concert presentation of Fidelio is scheduled for March 2027 and will feature internationally acclaimed tenor Stuart Skelton alongside The Master Chorale of Tampa Bay.
The Masterworks series also includes audience favorites such as Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Verdi’s Requiem.
The season will bring several notable guest artists to Tampa Bay stages. Rising British pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason will make her Florida Orchestra debut performing a concerto by Florence Price, while conductor Leonard Slatkin, violinists Tessa Lark and Charles Yang and pianist Joyce Yang are among the featured performers.
The Raymond James Pops series will showcase large-scale productions, including Revolution: The Music of The Beatles and Dreams of Bollywood. Other Pops offerings include tributes to film composer John Williams, soul music legends and the music of The Wizard of Oz, Wicked and The Wiz.
The orchestra also announced efforts to make performances more accessible. Season packages have been simplified, lower-priced seating options expanded and evening concert start times moved to 7:30 p.m. Season tickets start at $22 for Morning Matinees and $25 for Masterworks and Pops performances.
“Our goal is to create more pathways for people to experience live orchestral music,” said President and CEO Ignacio Barrón Viela.
Season ticket packages are on sale now, with individual tickets available beginning Tuesday, August 11.
For tickets and information: https://floridaorchestra.org/. To donate now: https://floridaorchestra.org/donate-now/.