Florida Philharmonic
| Florida Philharmonic Orchestra | |
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| Orchestra | |
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| Former name | Philharmonic Orchestra of Florida |
| Founded | 1985 |
| Disbanded | 2003 |
| Location | South Florida |
The Florida Philharmonic Orchestra (or FPO, founded in 1985 as the Philharmonic Orchestra of Florida) was a symphony orchestra based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and serving the South Florida metropolitan area (including Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties). With approximately 80 full-time, tenured musicians, the orchestra was led for most of its existence by British conductor and music director James Judd. The orchestra folded after extensive financial problems, performing their last concert in Boca Raton, FL, on May 9, 2003.
The Philharmonic Orchestra of Florida ('POOF') was formed through a merger of two smaller South Florida orchestras, the Fort Lauderdale Symphony Orchestra and the Boca Raton Symphony Orchestra. Though the orchestra was officially founded on February 15, 1985, the merger had existed on a "de facto basis" since August 1984. The new orchestra filled an artistic void in the South Florida area left after the collapse of the Miami Philharmonic Orchestra in 1982. Over the course of the Philharmonic's entire history, the orchestra (at its peak the largest performing arts organization in Florida, and the 20th largest orchestra in the US) rehearsed in a tiny rehearsal hall, dubbed Philharmonic Hall, that was situated on North Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale just south of Sunrise Blvd, and which had also been the home of the Fort Lauderdale Symphony. This acoustically dreadful room would be the sole venue for Philharmonic rehearsals and would host scores of internationally renowned soloists and conductors. Initial performance venues included Fort Lauderdale's War Memorial Auditorium. In addition to its Tri-County subscription concerts, the Philharmonic continued the Fort Lauderdale Symphony's decades-old legacy serving as the resident pit orchestra of the Florida Grand Opera, a relationship that remained intact until 2000 and which was a major source of operating revenue. In addition, the orchestra also consistently performed Tri-County educational concerts throughout its existence, providing hundreds of thousands of South Florida schoolchildren with access to learning about classical music with a world-class symphony orchestra.
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