ST. PETERSBURG, FL – For the first time, celebrity travel expert Rick Steves will join The Florida Orchestra and Music Director Michael Francis onstage as a personal guide to some of the most iconic sights and sounds of Europe, the orchestra announced today. Rick Steves’ Europe: A Symphonic Journey with The Florida Orchestra will be March 15 & 16, 2024, at 8 pm at the Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg. Both nights include a pre-concert talk with Steves at 7 pm in the concert hall.
Reserved-seat tickets go on sale to TFO subscribers on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023. General on sale starts Sept. 12. Tickets: $35, $55, $75 and $100, all fees included. TFO subscriptions and single tickets are available at FloridaOrchestra.org, at 727.892.3337 and at The Florida Orchestra Ticket Center, 244 Second Ave. N (first floor) in St. Petersburg.
Breathtaking sights of Italy, England, France, Norway and more will fill the big screen as the PBS star shares personal stories and insight at each stop, matched with musical selections by Beethoven, Elgar, Grieg and Verdi. Maestro Francis conducts.
Rick Steves, America’s most respected authority on European travel, is a popular public television host, a best-selling guidebook author and an outspoken activist who encourages Americans to broaden their perspectives through travel. He lives and works in his hometown of Edmonds, Wash., near Seattle.
TFO will perform more than 100 concerts this season in venues throughout Tampa Bay, including a wide range of classical, popular and family-friendly music. Maestro Francis launches the Hough Family Foundation Masterworks series with Holst’s The Planets on Sept. 30 & Oct. 1 at the Mahaffey Theater and Ruth Eckerd Hall. The Raymond James Pops series opens Oct. 7 & 8 with Cirque Dances with Troupe Vertigo at the Mahaffey Theater. The Morning Matinees series, presented by The Helen Torres Foundation, begins Oct. 4 & 5 at Ruth Eckerd Hall and the Mahaffey Theater. Tickets to all Masterworks, Pops and Morning concerts are on sale now. Special concerts on sale include Jurassic Park in Concert; The Music of James Taylor, Neil Diamond & Paul Simon; Tchaikovsky X Drake; Handel’s Messiah and more. All tickets and info at FloridaOrchestra.org.
About Michael Francis
The 2023-24 season will be Michael Francis’ ninth year as music director of The Florida Orchestra. With bold innovation and creativity, Maestro Francis has raised artistic excellence to new heights, strengthened the audience’s connection to the music and reinvigorated TFO’s community and education programs. The internationally acclaimed conductor also is music director of the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego and principal conductor of Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz in Germany.
About The Florida Orchestra
The Florida Orchestra (TFO) is recognized as Tampa Bay’s leading performing arts institution, the largest professional orchestra in Florida, and one of the most vibrant and innovative orchestras in America. This is its 56th season. Under the leadership of Music Director Michael Francis, TFO performs series of classical, popular, and morning concerts in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater, as well as free Pops in the Park concerts. The orchestra is dedicated to connecting to the community, including family and youth concerts and other educational programs. For tickets and information: FloridaOrchestra.org. The Florida Orchestra is a non-profit 501(c)3 EIN: 59-1223691 CH#1830. To learn more how you can support the power of music in building community, contact: sweymouth@floridaorchestra.org To donate now: FloridaOrchestra.org/donate