Over the past year, the UCF School of Performing Arts stood out for its creativity, hard work and community impact, highlighted by a successful UCF Celebrates the Arts festival, a full season of performances, student accomplishments and hands-on learning experiences.
It was a very busy year of concerts, productions, camps, workshops and elevated educational experiences. Our ultimate event of the year – the 11th annual UCF Celebrates the Arts festival – featured 39 events and drew more than 15,000 attendees. Theatre UCF’s production of Fiddler on the Roof resonated with the Orlando community, selling more tickets than any other production in the festival’s history. We hosted four invitational events that brought high school students from across Central Florida to perform on professional stages under the guidance of UCF faculty. The UCF Percussion Ensemble collaborated with Brazilian composer Ney Rosauro, Francisco Abreu, Tutti Choir Brasilia and UCF singers for a dynamic concert. Other highlights included a Gershwin concert featuring the original orchestration from over a century ago and a performance of the opera Cendrillon. Stage management and design & technology students worked alongside union professionals at Dr. Phillips Center, gaining valuable workforce training. And the cherry on top was learning that our 2024 festival was nominated for Orlando’s Golden Brick Award.
Our faculty contributed to more than 50 scholarly works and gave 512 performances locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. The UCF choirs traveled to New York, where they performed Mozart’s Requiem at Carnegie Hall. UCF choirs also presented a holiday concert in Steinmetz Hall at Dr. Phillips Center, and the bands premiered a new composition in the same venue.
Students continued to excel, earning placements in professional roles and top graduate and doctoral programs. They participated in 20 theatre productions and more than 50 ensemble performances in opera, choir, jazz, band and percussion. The New Music Ensemble continued to explore digital music for gaming, film and other media. The jazz program’s recordings once again topped the charts throughout the year.
UCF bands commissioned new works and welcomed guest artists from around the world. The trumpet studio toured Puerto Rico, the jazz program (under the temporary guidance of one of our alumni) hosted the UCF-Orlando Jazz Festival, and the UCF Symphony Orchestra performed as part of the St. Luke’s Music Series and “under the stars” on campus. Graduate string players in the OPUS Scholars program continued their residency with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, an impactful partnership that allows our students to spend two years as resident artists with the professional orchestra.
The School of Performing Arts received another Pabst Steinmetz Foundation Arts and Wellness Innovation Award, led by Julia Listengarten. The funding supported Daring to Dream, a production featured in the 2024 Pegasus PlayLab, along with two world premiere readings and a full production of a new play. Ayako Yonetani was honored with a 2025 Pabst Steinmetz Foundation Award and will be conducting research on music therapy’s impact on Alzheimer’s Disease.
Thanks to a grant from Bruce and Jeffrey Gould (honoring their mother’s loves of nursing and theatre), theatre studies students partnered with the College of Nursing to bring live theatre to children at Nemours Children’s Health.
The themed experience program, led by Peter Weishar, continues to grow. Enrollment is competitive for the programs: three MFA and three M.S. cohorts are in full capacity, with graduating students securing jobs at Disney, Universal and other major companies.
Throughout the year, theatre students pushed artistic boundaries and built a creative community grounded in courage, collaboration and innovation. It was a season defined by bold storytelling and meaningful connection between performers and audiences.
Theatre UCF’s season included The Clean House by Sara Ruhl; the sold-out musical Rent; Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros, an iconic example of absurdist theatre that challenged our students with its difficult language and style; Imogen Says Nothing, another challenging piece by Aditi Kapil; and an enchanting production of Naomi Iizuka’s The Last Firefly, which toured for young audiences, including 600 school-aged children at the Pugh Theater during UCF Celebrates the Arts. The season concluded with the timeless classic Fiddler on the Roof, showcasing student and faculty talent in a powerful production at the Walt Disney Theater in Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.
Pegasus PlayLab continued to serve as a creative incubator for new work, welcoming playwrights to campus to develop original plays in collaboration with our students. These experiences gave students the chance to develop new skills, engage with professional artists, and contribute to the creation of fresh theatrical work.
The School of Performing Arts celebrates the dedication of our students, alums, faculty and staff, who continue to shape the future of the arts and inspire the next generation of performers, creators and educators.
