The Florida Orchestra’s history is steeped in orchestral tradition from both sides of Tampa Bay. In 1966, the Tampa Philharmonic and St. Petersburg Symphony merged as the Florida Gulf Coast Symphony, which opened its first season on November 14, 1968, under the baton of Music Director Irwin Hoffman. Performing as the Florida Gulf Coast Symphony until changing its name to The Florida Orchestra in 1984, the orchestra has since been led by music directors Jahja Ling and Stefan Sanderling. In 2015, Michael Francis took over as music director. Over the years, The Florida Orchestra has had a series of successes. In 2011, it launched a multi-year cultural exchange with the Cuban Institute of Music as well as its Accessibility Initiative, which effectively reduced ticket prices to all of its Masterworks and Pops concerts. The orchestra also has taken steps to be more involved with the Tampa Bay community, including a collaboration with the Tampa Bay Lightning to produce the team’s onetime theme song and free pop-up concerts in hospitals, malls and beyond. To showcase its artistic excellence, the orchestra released a CD featuring music by Florida influenced classical composer Frederick Delius on the Naxos label in 2012. On the CD, the orchestra is joined by The Master Chorale of Tampa Bay and baritone Leon Williams in a performance of Delius’ Sea Drift and Appalachia. In 2014, the orchestra released another CD, Holiday Pops Live! on its label TFO Live! 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 most vibrant orchestras in America. Through extraordinary musical performances, the orchestra inspires the people of Tampa Bay and serves as a leader and beacon for the musical arts throughout the state.