Four New Maestros Take Over At Top Florida Orchestras

John Fleming, Classical Voice North America, 12th September 2014

“And then there were four. Over the past couple of years, the largest professional orchestras in Florida all carried out music director searches in the same time frame.

Two of the ensembles – the Naples Philharmonic and the Sarasota Orchestra – had new artistic leadership under contract last season (see “Maestro Makeover Puts New Face on Florida Orchestras”), with the appointments of Russian conductor Andrey Boreyko and Estonian conductor Anu Tali, respectively, though each led only a few performances. Now the two are poised to begin their first full seasons as music directors in Florida in 2014-15.

Meanwhile, the Florida Orchestra, which performs in the greater Tampa Bay area, and the Jacksonville Symphony concluded their searches at the end of the 2013-14 season. In Jacksonville, Courtney Lewis was named music director-designate in late May, to succeed Fabio Mechetti. A few weeks later the Florida Orchestra designated Michael Francis as successor to Stefan Sanderling. They will make appearances this season and assume their full directorships in 2015-16…”