Tonight at the Seminole Hard Rock Event Center, it\u2019s country singer Carly Pearce (\u201cEvery Little Thing,\u201d \u201cHide the Wine,\u201d \u201cWhat He Didn\u2019t Do,\u201d\u00a0 \u201cI Hope You\u2019re Happy Now,\u201d with Lee Bryce, and \u201cNever Wanted to Be That Girl,\u201d with Ashley McBryde). Tickets for the 8 p.m. show are at this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not all she wrote for country music fans, no ma\u2019am, no how. The inaugural St. Pete Country Fest takes place in Vinoy Park Friday through Sunday, with some 50 on four stages. Headliners are Red Clay Strays, Treaty Oak Revival and Parker McCollum. This Catalyst story<\/a> from earlier in the week will tell you everything you need to know.<\/p>\n At the Suncoast Jazz Festival: Professor Cunningham and His Old School.<\/p>\n Clearwater jazz<\/p>\n There are lots of fine local and regional jazz players, plus nationally-known names, at the 2026 Suncoast Jazz Festival, all of which takes place inside Clearwater Beach\u2019s Sheraton Sand Key Resort (and outdoors on the beach) Friday through Sunday. It\u2019s the 35th annual.<\/p>\n National headliners making return Suncoast Jazz Festival appearances are trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, guitarist Diego Figueiredo, clarinet\/sax player Ken Peplowski\u202fand vibraphonist\u202fJason Marsalis.<\/p>\n Also scheduled: New Orleans\u2019 Tuba Skinny, New York\u2019s Adrian Cunningham (Professor Cunningham and His Old School), Dave Bennett Quartet, Chuck Redd, Ehud Asherie, Jonathan Russell, St. Louis Stompers and Tom Rigney & Flambeau.<\/p>\n With some exceptions, the Tampa Bay gang\u2019s pretty much all here too; players include James Suggs, La Lucha, Nata Najar and Daniela Soledade, the Simon Lasky Trio, Bryan J Hughes and The Crew, the Al Downing All-Stars and the ageless John Lamb.<\/p>\n View the entire lineup, get pertinent info and purchase tickets at this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Tampa jazz Mauricio J. Rodr\u00edguez: At New Tampa Performing Arts Center.<\/p>\n There\u2019s jazz on the other side of the bay Sunday, as Cuba-born bassist Mauricio J. Rodr\u00edguez brings his MJR Latin Project to the New Tampa Performing Arts Center, at 3 p.m. The band also includes saxophonist Zach Bornheimer, pianist Pablo Arencibia, drummer Andy Fornet and Cuban percussionist Carlos Javier Navarro. The New Tampa theater will be arranged like an intimate jazz club, with candlelit cabaret seating and a cash bar. Tickets are at this link.<\/p>\n Friday at the Palladium Theater Side Door Cabaret: J.P. Soars & the Red Hots. Blues guitarist Soars, based in South Florida, is a versatile musician who previously played in metal and jazz bands. Find tickets for the 8 p.m. show at this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n Saturday at the Mahaffey Theater: Offbeat British comedian Sarah Millican, on her second-ever American tour. Find tickets here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Radio Theatre Project (a live onstage \u201cradio broadcast\u201d) returns to The Studio@620 Monday at 7 p.m. Tickets<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ann Morrison stars in the touring production of \u201cKimberly Akimbo,\u201d through Sunday at the Straz Center in Tampa.<\/p>\n On theater stages<\/p>\n It\u2019s the second and final weekend for Art, Yasmina Reza\u2019s dark comedy at the Off-Central in St. Petersburg. There are performances tonight through the Sunday matinee \u2013 visit the website<\/a> for showtimes and tickets.<\/p>\n Broadway musical theater veteran (and Sarasota resident) Ann Morrison is starring in the current national tour of the Tony winner Kimberly Akimbo; it\u2019s onstage through Sunday in the Straz Center\u2019s Morsani Hall, in Tampa. There\u2019s a link for showtimes and tickets in this Catalyst interview<\/a> with the ever-effervescent Morrison.<\/p>\n Ybor City\u2019s LAB Theater Project is opening the drama So Long Life tonight (it runs through Dec. 7). It\u2019s an original play by company founder Owen Robertson, the story of former stage actor Ned Masters battling Alzheimer\u2019s, as his daughter Maggie struggles to care for him while putting her own life on hold.\u00a0It\u2019s produced in the round, with an operating bar to add to the atmosphere. Find showtimes and tickets at this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n Still going strong at freeFall in St. Petersburg is the classic stage thriller Deathtrap. See this link<\/a> for tickets and showtimes; the production continues through Dec. 7. There won\u2019t be a show Friday night, however \u2013 that\u2019s reserved for a single-show performance of the epistolary play Lark Eden, by playwright Natalie Symons (who happens to be co-starring in Deathtrap). She appears in this one, along with Katherine Michelle Tanner and Teri Lazzara. It\u2019s at 7 p.m. Friday; tickets are here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The classics<\/p>\n St. Petersburg Opera\u2019s 2025 edition of the hourlong storybook opera for children, Pinocchio, is entering its final weekend (schedule and tickets at this link<\/a>). And Opera Tampa, with The Florida Orchestra, has Benjamin Britten\u2019s adaptation of The Turn of the Screw onstage Friday (8 p.m.) and Sunday (2 p.m.) in the Straz Center\u2019s Ferguson Hall (tickets at this link<\/a>).<\/p>\n This weekend\u2019s performances of Mozart & Handel by The Florida Orchestra, in Tampa and St. Petersburg, are conducted by the esteemed Jeanette Sorrell. We spoke to the conductor this week<\/a> (there\u2019s a link for showtimes and tickets in the story).<\/p>\n Your Weekend Spotlight<\/a>\u00a0appears every Thursday in the\u00a0Catalyst\u2019s CREATE section.\u00a0<\/p>\n Please add us to your mailing list \u2013 send all press releases and event info to\u00a0bill@stpetecatalyst.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Suncoast-Jazz-Professor-Cunningham-300x207.jpg\")
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