{"id":311587,"date":"2026-06-18T10:36:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T10:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/311587\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T10:36:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T10:36:07","slug":"weekend-spotlight-tfos-summer-farewell-groban-hudson-and-gill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/311587\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekend spotlight: TFO\u2019s summer farewell; Groban, Hudson and Gill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The individual Florida Orchestra musicians, many of them, will no doubt turn up over the summer, playing other gigs, other shows, in other configurations.<\/p>\n<p>With regard to the mighty TFO, however, after Saturday they won\u2019t all be in the same room at the same time until September, when they start rehearsals for Season #59.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s right, summer vacation starts now.<\/p>\n<p>Saturday\u2019s concert, 7:30 p.m. at Ruth Eckerd Hall, ends the current season. And it\u2019s not a Masterworks concert. Nor is it a Pops concert, or a chamber music performance. And the conductor isn\u2019t TFO\u2019s Michael Francis or Chelsea Gallo.<\/p>\n<p>The conductor is Lawrence Loh, and the program, The Music of Studio Ghibli, consists of orchestrations of music from one of Japan\u2019s leading animation studios, composed by Joe Hisaishi.<\/p>\n<p>Loh is Music Director of the Waco Symphony Orchestra, and Conductor Laureate of The Syracuse Orchestra. He has guest-conducted for TFO several times.<\/p>\n<p>This is just Hisaishi\u2019s acclaimed music, with no projected visuals.<\/p>\n<p>Find tickets, and more information, <a href=\"https:\/\/floridaorchestra.org\/event\/music-of-studio-ghibli\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">at this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-79060\" class=\"wp-image-79060\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Billy-Currington-300x188.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"344\"  \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-79060\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Billy Currington is at the BayCare Sound Saturday. Publicity photo.<\/p>\n<p>Concert calendar<\/p>\n<p>Two extremely popular vocalists of considerable emotional power, Josh Groban and Jennifer Hudson, perform separately (and presumably, together) Friday at Benchmark International Arena. Groban\u2019s Catalyst interview was published a few days ago; check it out <a href=\"https:\/\/stpetecatalyst.com\/the-catalyst-interview-josh-groban\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">here<\/a>). <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ticketmaster.com\/event\/0D00638BEA85E1BC?utm_source=BIA_Event_Page&amp;utm_medium=Website&amp;utm_campaign=BIA_2026_josh_groban\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Ticket link<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Also on Friday, country music legend (and part-time member of the Eagles) Vince Gill appears at Ruth Eckerd Hall. We spoke with him, too \u2013 read that one <a href=\"https:\/\/stpetecatalyst.com\/the-catalyst-interview-vince-gill\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">here<\/a>. And <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rutheckerdhall.com\/events\/detail\/vince-gill\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">here is the ticket link<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Tonight in the Palladium Theater\u2019s Side Door Cabaret: It\u2019s R&amp;B, boogie-woogie piano player Eden Brent. She is the real deal; among her many accolades, Brent was named \u201cPinetop Perkins Piano Player of 2010\u201d by the Blues Foundation. Locate tickets for tonight\u2019s 7:30 performance <a href=\"https:\/\/mypalladium.org\/events\/an-intimate-evening-with-eden-brent\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">at this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Tonight\u2019s Seminole Hard Rock Event Center show with comedian Marcello Hernandez is sold out.<\/p>\n<p>Saturday brings country\u2019s Billy Currington to the BayCare Sound. The Georgia-born singer\/songwriter has had 11 No 1 singles (sales and airplay), including (in no particular order) \u201cPeople Are Crazy,\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s How Country Boys Roll\u201d and \u201cWe Are Tonight.\u201d The show\u2019s at 7, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rutheckerdhall.com\/events\/detail\/billy-currington\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">tickets are here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>On theater stages<\/p>\n<p>The Tampa International Fringe Festival continues daily, through Sunday at Kress Contemporary and \u00a0the Commodore in Ybor City. Check out all shows, showtimes and other essential stuff <a href=\"https:\/\/festival.tampafringe.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">at this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Continuing tonight through Sunday at The Studio@620: The edgy and acclaimed rock musical Passing Strange, by \u201cStew\u201d and Heidi Rodewald. Showtimes and tickets <a href=\"https:\/\/thestudioat620.org\/events\/passing-strange\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">at this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Continuing through June 28 at American Stage is Katori Hall\u2019s Pulitzer Prize-winning dark comedy The Hot Wing King. Showtimes and tickets <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanstage.org\/shows\/hot-wing-king\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">at this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Continuing through June 28 at Stageworks Theatre is the evergreen musical relationship comedy I Love You, You\u2019re Perfect, Now Change. Showtimes and tickets <a href=\"https:\/\/stageworkstheatre.org\/show\/i-love-you-youre-perfect-now-change\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">at this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Bash of the Titans at freeFall Theatre continues through Aug. 2; it\u2019s an original musical by freeFall\u2019s Eric Davis, Matthew McGee and Michael Raabe, in which the Gods of Greek Mythology plot, scheme and sing new lyrics to \u201880s pop songs. Showtimes and tickets <a href=\"https:\/\/ci.ovationtix.com\/34941\/production\/1244284\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">at this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Coming soon<\/p>\n<p>June 25 &amp; 26 Todd Rundgren at the Capitol Theatre<\/p>\n<p>June 26 Cubiche at Stageworks Theatre<\/p>\n<p>June 26 Travis Tritt at Ruth Eckerd Hall<\/p>\n<p>June 26 Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival at the Dali Museum<\/p>\n<p>June 26 and 28 Ye (Kanye West) at Raymond James Stadium<\/p>\n<p>June 27 &amp; July 1 projectALCHEMY at the Palladium Theater<\/p>\n<p>June 27 Classic Albums Live The Beatles\u2019 \u201cWhite Album\u201d at the Capitol Theatre<\/p>\n<p>June 27 The Florida Rock Symphony at Ruth Eckerd Hall<\/p>\n<p>June 28 Micky Dolenz at the Capitol Theatre<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/stpetecatalyst.com\/category\/create\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Your Weekend Spotlight<\/a>\u00a0appears every Thursday in the\u00a0Catalyst\u2019s CREATE section.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Please add us to your mailing list \u2013 send all press releases and event info to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/stpetecatalyst.com\/weekend-spotlight-tfos-summer-farewell-groban-hudson-and-gill\/mailto:bill@stpetecatalyst.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">bill@stpetecatalyst.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>You can also submit your events to the\u00a0Catalyst\u00a0calendar, by clicking\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/stpetecatalyst.com\/contribute\/event\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The individual Florida Orchestra musicians, many of them, will no doubt turn up over the summer, playing other&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-311587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}