Florida Orchestra celebrates The Copa

New York City's Copacabana nightclub was a music and movement hot spot for decades. The Copa opened in the 1940s, attracting the famous and infamous alike, including mob boss Frank Costello and performers Barry Manilow, Sammy Davis Jr. and Robin Williams. This month, the Copa and popular Latin entertainers will be the focus of The Florida Orchestra's Pops series.

Grammy Award-winning arranger Victor Vanacore will guest conduct three nights of Latin dance rhythms, accompanied by champion ballroom dancers Andrzej and Jennifer Przybyl. Vanacore designed the program both to showcase the orchestra and to evoke the spirit of Latin performers such as Xavier Cugat, Desi Arnaz, Tito Puente, Carlos Santana and Gloria Estefan.

"It took two years to put the idea together," Vanacore said. "I arranged the program in a way to empower the orchestra. The musicians are playing across the footlights. They really get into it and dig it."

Concertgoers can expect to get their groove on to the sounds of cha-cha, tango, merengue, salsa, sambo and mambo. But there's a catch: Vanacore fused these fiery beats with pop and classic tunes. Gershwin's "American Rhapsody" becomes a samba. "Over the Rainbow" rocks a rumba.

"We take standards and make them into Latin favorites. Every beat is infectious," Vanacore said.

Added to this unusual mix will be the nine dances performed by the husband-and-wife dance team from Detroit. The Przybyls have competed in and won the Heritage Classic in North Carolina, the Holiday Classic in Las Vegas, the California Open, and both the Michigan and Cleveland dance challenges. Between numbers, Vanacore will comment briefly on the history of the dances, including their origin, adaptations, differences and meaning.

"A lot of people like hearing the history of the dances and music. I don't spend much time on it, but people like the diatribe. They can relate better to a song. We have a lot of fun with it," Vanacore said.

Concert preview

'Hot! Hot! Hot! A Night at The Copa'

When and where: 8 p.m. today, David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts, Ferguson Hall, 1010 N. Macinnes Place, Tampa; 8 p.m. Saturday, Mahaffey Theater, 400 First St. S., St. Petersburg; 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Ruth Eckerd Hall, 1111 McMullen-Booth Road, Clearwater

Tickets: $20 to $67; call 727-892-3337 or 1-800-662-7286, or visit www.floridaorchestra.org

Also this month

Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3: Russian pianist Lilya Zilberstein joins The Florida Orchestra to perform Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3. The concert also includes Sibelius' "En Saga" and Symphony No. 7 in C major; 8 p.m. April 15 at Ferguson Hall, Straz Center, Tampa; 8 p.m. April 16 at Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg; 7:30 p.m. April 17 at Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater; $20-$67