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Florida Orchestra lands singer Michael Feinstein for January gala concert

 
Musician Michael Feinstein in 2012.  (Getty Images)
Musician Michael Feinstein in 2012. (Getty Images)
Published May 22, 2015

Playing off the American theme running through the Florida Orchestra's coming season, the orchestra has landed one of the greatest American pops singers of all time: Michael Feinstein.

The Florida Orchestra's second annual fundraising gala concert on Jan. 30 will bring the multiplatinum selling artist and master of the Great American Songbook to join new music director Michael Francis in his inaugural season.

In an evening of Manhattan-style glitz and glamor, Feinstein will take the stage with the orchestra and Francis at the baton. The night will kick off with a champagne reception and end with a gourmet post-concert dinner, all at the Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg.

Event tables are available for the gala at (727) 362-5424, and concert tickets go on sale to orchestra subscribers on Sept. 28 and to the general public on Nov. 2. Tickets will be $50-$150 at floridaorchestra.org.

Francis takes over in the fall, the fourth music director in the Florida Orchestra's 48 seasons. The British conductor also is music director of the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego and enters his third season as chief conductor and artistic advisor to Sweden's Norrkoping Symphony Orchestra.

The orchestra's last fundraising gala featured a performance from legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma and raised more than a half million dollars to support the orchestra.— Sharon Kennedy Wynne. Times Staff Writer