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UCF Alumna Bright As Broadway

November 17, 2016  Three weeks after earning her degree a semester early in December 2014, Abby Jaros sat on her bed alongside her parents in a packed up apartment. All at once, Jaros realized the leap she was about to take in moving to New York City to pursue a career in theater....

Jazz legend Ira Sullivan to join Flying Horse Big Band in concert

November 02, 2016  UCF’s Flying Horse Big Band will perform with five-time Grammy nominee Ira Sullivan on Friday, November 4. The premier ensemble of the university’s jazz studies program, the Flying Horse Big Band is under the direction of Pegasus Professor Jeff Rupert, director of Jazz Studies. Ira Sullivan is a world-renowned multi-instrumentalist,...

García performs at International Flute Convention near Paris

October 31, 2016  Associate professor Nora Lee García recently performed at the 5th International Flute Convention hosted by the Maurice-Ravel Conservatory in Levallois, France. García was the only U.S.-born artist invited to play at the prestigious event. She performed Claude Bolling’s “Picnic Suite” with acclaimed guitarist Rene Izquierdo, professor at the University of...

Cloud 9 is a thought-provoking spectacle

October 28, 2016  Theatre UCF opens Caryl Churchill’s time shifting comedy Cloud 9 on Thursday, November 10, in UCF’s Black Box theater. The play, a parody of the Victorian Empire’s sexual rigidity, runs through November 20. Cloud 9 takes place in Colonial Africa in the first act, and later moves to a modern...

UCF Percussionist Performs Soundtrack based on SunRail Travels

October 20, 2016  In October, UCF Music faculty and percussionist Dr. Thad Anderson will give two free performances of Northbound, a travel soundtrack he composed based on a light rail trip. The performances will take place on Thursday, October 27 on the UCF campus and Sunday, October 30, at the Timucua Arts White...

Feinstein at UCF School of Performing Arts

October 18, 2016  Award-winning performer Michael Feinstein takes his seat behind the Steinway Piano and accompanies Kyle Laing, a student in UCF’s musical theatre program, on Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Love Look Away,” while an audience of Laing’s peers and professors listens intently. The performance, part of a larger master class session led by...

Be Boyd Honored as Woman of Distinction

September 23, 2016  Theatre Associate Professor Be Boyd has been honored by the UCF Center for Success of Women Faculty as a 2016 UCF Women of Distinction. Three awards were granted to women faculty members this year for “Excellence in Innovation,” which the Center defines as the adaptation of one’s expertise to a...

Monstrously Fun Young Frankenstein Also Provides Learning Opportunities

September 23, 2016  Just in time for the Halloween season, the Theatre UCF comes alive with The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein,running October 20 through 30 on the UCF Main Stage. Based on the beloved 1974 film of the same name featuring the late Gene Wilder, Young Frankenstein tells the story of...

UCF Music to Host All-State Preparation Clinic for Middle, High Schoolers

August 22, 2016  The University of Central Florida will offer a day-long All-State Preparation Clinic to middle and high school students on Saturday, August 27. The clinic is free, but advance registration is required. UCF Music faculty and guest instrumentalists will offer clinics on the Florida Bandmasters Association and Florida Orchestra Association’s All-State...

Dr. Steven Chicurel-Stein Takes the Helm at the School of Performing Arts

August 12, 2016  As director of the UCF School of the Performing Arts, Dr. Steven Chicurel-Stein is focused on enhancing the school’s strengths and showcasing those attributes to the community. Previously an associate director of the School, Chicurel-Stein was appointed as interim director following director Jeffrey Moore’s recent promotion to the position of...

Julia Listengarten is New Artistic Director for Theatre UCF

August 05, 2016  Theatre professor Dr. Julia Listengarten has been appointed the Artistic Director for Theatre UCF. The artistic director is typically responsible for conceiving, developing, and implementing the artistic vision of a theatre company. Listengarten envisions her role as working with the Theatre faculty to re-imagine artistic goals of the department and...

Welcome SPA Faculty Member: Si-Yan Darren Li

June 30, 2016  The UCF School of Performing Arts is pleased to welcome Assistant Professor Si-Yan Darren Li to the Music faculty. Li will be leading the cello studio at the university. Li started studying cello at age five and now holds prizes from numerous prestigious competitions around the world, such as the Tchaikovsky...

Theatre grads from UCF's early days hold reunion

June 23, 2016  On June 10, dozens of actors, directors, costume designers and other denizens of the theater descended onto a small party venue in Winter Springs to reunite with one another. Despite the vivid experiences they shared long ago, many of them hadn’t seen each other in more than 40 years. The...

UCF's Voicebox Reaches International A Cappella Finals

June 21, 2016  Voicebox a cappella group from UCF has sung its way to the finals of this weekend’s International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella in New York. The 13-member group, which formed in the fall of 2014, beat out another UCF group – Gemini Boulevard – in the southern regionals to advance....

Fringe Festival keeps Orlando theater weird

June 21, 2016  Veterans of The Orlando Fringe Festival describe it as a celebration of art in all its forms. The festival, now in its 25th year, has something of a raunchy reputation — at Fringe, anything goes, whether that’s musical revues featuring all-nude casts, R-rated comedy performances or drag queen battle royales....

UCF alumnus cast on Broadway, again

June 21, 2016  Quentin Earl Darrington, a recent graduate of UCF’s master’s program in acting, will hit the New York City stage next month for his second Broadway show. Darrington, 37, will play Old Deuteronomy in the revival production of Cats and has the opportunity to work alongside Tony Award-winning director Trevor Nunn....

Tremon Kizer Will Oversee UCF Athletic Bands

June 16, 2016  As the University of Central Florida’s new Associate Director of Bands and Director of Athletic Bands, Tremon Kizer will oversee all aspects of the athletic band program and teach courses in music education. Kizer is well-versed in university band programs. Previously, he oversaw the University of Dayton Marching Band, as...

Welcome SPA Faculty Member: Shawn Boyle

June 13, 2016  The UCF School of Performing Arts is pleased to introduce assistant professor Shawn Boyle. Boyle will be part of the Theatre faculty, teaching lighting design and working on Theatre UCF’s productions starting in August. He’s excited to become part of the community at the University of Central Florida, which was...

UCF's The World Goes 'Round is a Song-and-Dance Extravaganza

June 09, 2016  The UCF School of Performing Arts opens The World Goes ‘Round, a musical revue of songs by songwriting team John Kander and Fred Ebb. The production runs June 23 through July 2 on the Theatre UCF Main Stage. Conceived by Scott Ellis, Susan Stroman and David Thompson, Kander and Ebb’s...

Music Professor Rupert Honored by UCF Board of Trustees

June 02, 2016  Music Professor Jeffrey Rupert has been honored as a “foremost scholar” by the UCF Board of Trustees and has been granted one of eight “Trustee Chair” awards. Designed to both retain and attract exceptional faculty, the five-year Trustee Chair appointments offer an annual stipend of $50,000. In order to be...