THE FLORIDA ORCHESTRA

Under the leadership of Music Director Stefan Sanderling, The Florida Orchestra is recognized as Tampa Bay's leading performing arts institution, one of the leading professional symphony orchestras in Florida, and one of the best regional orchestras in America. Founded as the Florida Gulf Coast Symphony in 1968, the orchestra was established by representatives of the Tampa Philharmonic and the St. Petersburg Symphony, who signed documents aboard a barge in Tampa Bay to merge the two cultural institutions. The orchestra performs more than 100 concerts annually in the tri-city area of Tampa, Clearwater, and St. Petersburg. Concert series include the Progress Energy Masterworks, Raymond James Pops, Holland America Line Coffee Concerts, Pops in the Park Concerts, and youth concerts.