Department Archives: School of Performing Arts

Former Distinguished Professor of Music Louis Roney will be inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame. He joins such legendary artists as Ray Charles, Ernest Hemingway and Zora Neale Hurston. Roney was football captain at Winter Park High School and honor graduate of Harvard University before serving four years in the U.S. Navy during […]

Jeff Rupert has been invited to perform at the Midwest Clinic, an international band and orchestra conference, on December 15 in Chicago. Performing with the Downers Grove South High School Jazz Band, Rupert will be a featured soloist along with Rowan University’s Dennis DiBlasio. Both Rupert and DiBlasio toured with Maynard Ferguson and currently direct […]

On the longest day of the year, public spaces across the five buroughs of New York City erupt with sound during the Make Music New York festival—and UCF’s percussionists were there to join in on the celebration. The festival is an innovative approach to making music—it’s a free celebration of sound, where 460 cities across […]

The University of Central Florida’s production of The Pajama Game won’t just be a showcase for actors. The classic musical also will be a creative channel for fine arts students who are taking the lead on many of the behind-the-scenes elements, from the costumes and choreography to the set design and lighting. Those roles traditionally […]

Michael Marinaccio, who received his B.F.A.–Acting in 1998 from the University of Central Florida, has been hired as the producer for the Orlando Fringe Festival. Michael has contributed greatly to the Central Florida theatre community since his days at the university, working on and off stage with local theatres including the Orlando Shakespeare Festival, the […]

It was the “BRPPBBBB” sound that blasts from a trumpet—“so appealing to a 5th grader”— that got Donny Allen hooked on music. Today, as the director of the Marching Knights and the Jammin’ Knights, it is music’s power to inspire and connect that keeps him playing his passionate tune. “94% of our band members are […]

On Sunday evening, September 11, UCF Music faculty members Kimberly Saunders Randall and Thomas Potter will be featured soloists in a special concert to remember and honor those who perished on “9-11” ten years ago. This First United Methodist Church of Orlando Chancel Choir and orchestra concert, entitled “We Remember Them,” is free of charge […]

Recent Music M.A. graduate Chris Belt has organized a contemporary music festival in downtown Orlando. The Accidental Music Festival will take place September 4-13, featuring ten days of concerts, public discussions with composers, open rehearsals, and a workshop for middle school and high school composers. Several UCF faculty members and alumni will perform, and two […]

Robert Reedy and Thomas Potter are featured in the July/August 2011 edition of Orlando Arts Magazine. The latest issue profiles Reedy as a fine artist and a teacher and spotlights Potter’s professional career as well as the local outreach events he organizes through the UCF Opera program. Orlando Arts Magazine, the official publication of United […]

David Knoell, who received his M.F.A. in Acting in 2006 from the University of Central Florida, has been accepted to the Directing Program at The Second City, the leading improv-based sketch comedy company. The competitive program is a year-long intensive program that will have Knoell teaching classes, working as the assistant director for mainstage shows, […]