Highlight

The Flying Horse Big Band is garnering a bit of national attention for its most recent album, Big Man on Campus, which at the time of this writing is #6 on the Roots Music Report (RMR) Top 50 and #45 on the JazzWeek Top 50.

Theatre UCF, part of the UCF School of Performing Arts, examines current social issues and focuses on new and contemporary plays in its 2017-18 season. This is the first season planned by artistic director Julia Listengarten and it includes plays and musicals that are rarely produced in Central Florida. Listengarten is a professor of Theatre…

Josh Goodridge, the first in his family to attend college, believes in the power of education so much that the senior already donates his time and money to UCF’s giving drive to financially help other students. During the university’s recent annual Believe campaign, Goodridge spoke at the final presentation for the program because he wanted…

Just a few days after the third annual UCF Celebrates the Arts concluded its eight-day run of concerts, presentations, lectures and workshops, planners have already started working on next year’s festival. “If you liked UCF Celebrates the Arts 2017, just wait until you see 2018,” said Steven Chicurel-Stein, interim director of the School of Performing…

Dr. Luis Miguel Araya is the new Assistant Professor of Trumpet at the University of Central Florida. He is a member of the world renowned Dallas Brass, and most recently was the Trumpet Artist in Residence at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith. Known as versatile musician, he has played a wide range of…

Dr. Benjamin Lieser is the new Assistant Professor of Horn at the University of Central Florida School of Performing Arts. He holds degrees from Florida State University (BA, DM) and the University of Cincinnati (MM). His teachers include William Capps, Randy Gardner, Michelle Stebleton, Duane Duggar, and Randall Faust. Prior to joining the faculty at…

UCF Pegasus Professor and Jazz Studies director, Jeff Rupert, will be the Florida Symphony Youth Orchestra’s new Jazz Orchestra’s conductor starting Fall 2017. The orchestra, a 17-20 piece ensemble, will feature middle and high school musicians from ages 13 to 20, and will focus on big band jazz music. Rupert is an accomplished composer, saxophonist,…

UCF Music professor László Marosi’s recent CD, Ferenc Farkas Music for Wind Ensemble, has been recognized as “recording of the month” on MusicWeb International. The CD, a selection of works by Hungarian composer Ferenc Farkas, was conducted by László with the Budapest Wind Symphony, and includes works from chamber groups to full wind bands. The…

Scott Lubaroff will join the music faculty at the University of Central Florida in the Fall of 2017 as Professor of Music and Director of Bands, leading a comprehensive ensemble program that includes four concert bands, athletic bands, and chamber winds He will also oversee the graduate program in wind conducting. Dr. Lubaroff comes to…

The Giver, an award-winning social-science novel that has become a staple reading assignment in many middle schools around the country, will be a featured stage performance during the upcoming UCF Celebrates the Arts festival. The popularity of the production was recently exhibited when a morning festival performance of the Lois Lowry book was first offered…