Theatre UCF’s 2017-18 Season Features New and Provocative Works
June 13, 2017 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...
1st Generation Student Encourages Classmates to Give Back
April 25, 2017 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...
Successful UCF Celebrates the Arts 2017 Already Looking Ahead to 2018
April 20, 2017 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...
Dr. Luis Araya joins the UCF Faculty as Assistant Professor of Trumpet
April 18, 2017 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...
Congratulations to the UCF School of Performing Arts' New Horn Professor, Dr. Benjamin Lieser!
April 13, 2017 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...
UCF Music Professor to Conduct Youth Jazz Orchestra
April 13, 2017 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...
UCF Welcomes Director of Bands, Dr. Scott Lubaroff
April 03, 2017 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...
UCF Celebrates the Arts to Team with Orlando REP to Produce The Giver
March 22, 2017 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...
Henrik Ibsen’s drama Hedda Gabler still resonates
March 17, 2017 Theatre UCF’s production of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler will open on Thursday, March 23 and run through Sunday, April 2. Hedda Gabler is a spellbinding drama of revenge, manipulation, sexual repression, deceit and despair, climaxing in an ending that never fails to shock and surprise. Kate Ingram, the show’s director...
Ninth Annual UCF-Orlando Jazz Festival Engages Both Students and the Community
March 13, 2017 The ninth annual UCF-Orlando Jazz Festival, occurring March 24 and 25 on the University of Central Florida campus, will showcase the talent of local high school jazz bands and feature performances by renowned jazz musicians. Coming in from New York City, Peter Bernstein and his jazz trio open the festival...
Theatre UCF wins at Kennedy Center regional competition
February 24, 2017 Theatre UCF students gathered a number of awards at the regional Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival at Georgia Southern University. BFA Design and Technology student Jack Audet won the Regional National Sound Design Award and will be head to the national competition at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C....
UCF Celebrates the Arts to Return April 7-14 for 3rd Season
February 24, 2017 UCF Celebrates the Arts – the university’s annual showcase of student and faculty presentations – will return April 7-14 to the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Orlando. The eight days of music, performances and visual displays, which are open to the public for free, will feature...
Romeo and Juliet gets a Jazz Age treatment
February 09, 2017 Theatre UCF’s production of Romeo and Juliet will open on Thursday, February 16 and run through Sunday, February 26. The Shakespeare classic will be set in the 1930’s, and tell the tale of star-crossed lovers whose families clash in their fight to achieve the American Dream. The prohibition-era setting depicts...
UCF students to present musical for youth about hunger
February 06, 2017 Orlando, Fla. – On Friday, February 24, Theatre UCF will present the musical Puddin’ and the Grumble, a coming-of-age tale that follows Puddin’, a young girl struggling with starting over at a new school, living with her eccentric, avid singer and yogi of a grandma, and most of all, overcoming...
UCF School of Performing Arts Student, Alumni and Staff Engaged in Upcoming Cabaret Performance
February 06, 2017 On February 11, 2017, The Orlando Gay Chorus is presenting Love Is…A Fairy Tale, an evening of cabaret performances featuring several UCF staff, alumni and a current student. “I realized as I was putting the show together how many people were part of the UCF School of Performing Arts now...
Rupert & Drexler’s new release climbs jazz album charts
January 31, 2017 The latest album from UCF’s esteemed jazz faculty has been well received following its release on January 6. Imagination, a live duo recording from Rupert & Drexler, debuted at #16 during its first week on the CMJ chart, made the Top 50 on the Roots Music Report, and landed on...
Virtuoso Pianist André Laplante Returns for UCF Piano Day
January 25, 2017 Due to popular demand, virtuoso French-Canadian concert pianist André Laplante returns as the guest artist of the third Annual UCF Piano Day. Laplante will perform a solo recital on Saturday, January 28 at 7 p.m. in the UCF Visual Arts Building Auditorium. General Admission is $25 or $10 with valid...
Piano Professor Reviews Student Auditions in Beijing
January 12, 2017 Piano professor Yun-Ling Hsu has been invited to review live piano auditions in Beijing, China in January. Hsu will attend the performances of young Chinese pianists and interview potential undergraduate and graduate students for UCF’s School of Performing Arts. During this trip, she will visit the Conservatories of Music in...
Potter to sing opera in Lakeland
January 12, 2017 Thomas Potter, UCF voice teacher and opera director, will sing the lead baritone role of “Tonio” in Leoncavallo’s famous opera Pagliacci (the clowns) with the Imperial Symphony Orchestra at the Branscomb Auditorium in Lakeland, FL on Saturday, January 21. I am very happy to be able to perform this amazing...
Wind Ensemble Concert Moves
December 02, 2016 Sunday’s concert by the UCF Wind Ensemble, which will feature a marimba concerto by Dean Jeff Moore of the College of Arts & Humanities as soloist, has a new venue and time. The free concert will be 5-7 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4, at Timber Creek High School, 1001 Avalon Park...