The orchestra welcomes nine full-time musicians for its 56th season

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ST. PETERSBURG, FL – As the new season begins, The Florida Orchestra has named Mark Debski as principal oboe and Ryan Sujdak as principal bass, filling two key positions in Florida’s largest professional orchestra under the artistic leadership of Music Director Michael Francis. In total, the orchestra welcomes nine new musicians to their first full season with TFO. All have won highly competitive blind auditions that attracted nearly 200 candidates from around the nation and world.

This weekend Maestro Francis launches the premier Hough Family Foundation Masterworks series with Holst’s The Planets, featuring NASA images and the Percussion Collective performing Christopher Theofanidis’ Drum Circles. Concerts are 8 pm Saturday (Sept. 30) at the Mahaffey Theater and 7:30 pm Sunday (Oct. 1) at Ruth Eckerd Hall in TFO’s 56th season. Patrons can listen to audio program notes and more on TFO’s digital program page here. In a bonus pay-what-you-can community event, Maestro Francis tells the story of the music with live orchestra demos at Inside The Planets at 7:30 pm Thursday (Sept. 28) at the Mahaffey Theater; generously sponsored by The Cassaly Foundation.

As principal oboe, Debski fills one of the top-tier positions in the orchestra of 70 full-time musicians and conductors. Seated in the middle of the stage, the principal oboe is often featured in major works and traditionally tunes the orchestra before the performance begins. Florida native Sujdak will be TFO’s first new principal bass in nearly 50 years. He succeeds Dee Moses, who retired last season after 47 years with the orchestra.

The new musicians come from prestigious schools and varied backgrounds, including a featured cellist on NPR’s From the Top, an accordion soloist, and a native of Cuba. In addition to Debski and Sujdak, the tenure track positions include Victor Minke Huls, associate principal cello; Paul Nemeth, associate principal bass; David Raschella, assistant principal/utility horn; Matthew Melillo, contrabassoon; Levi Mitze-Circiumaru, violin; Camila Berg, viola; and David Bender, cello. Highlights