Yonetani Performs at Japanese Embassy in Panama
March 27, 2012 Ayako Yonetani recently performed in Panama at an event commemorating the one-year anniversary of Japan’s Tsunami/Earthquake. Yonetani played the famous Bach Chaconne from Solo Partita No. 2. The Japanese Embassy hosted the event on March 9, 2011 at the Museo del Canal. Guests included the Vice President of Panama, the...
Koelble’s Relentless Curiosity About Music
March 20, 2012 As you take the steps down into the belly of Tanqueray’s, an underground bar in Downtown Orlando, you come across a smoky jazz haven adorned with Christmas lights and a wall of mirrors that makes the cramped venue appear twice as big. Cast in a shroud of blue and red...
Theatre UCF Brings Home National Honors
March 05, 2012 Two Theatre UCF actors have been recognized by the National Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival (KC/ACTF) for performances given in 2011. Kevia Goins, a junior in the BFA Acting program at UCF, was awarded “Distinguished Performance by an Actress” for her role as Black Mary in Gem of the Ocean....
Potter to Sing with Sarasota Opera
February 23, 2012 Voice faculty Thomas Potter will sing the role of the Old Doctor in Samuel Barber’s dramatic opera VANESSA with Sarasota Opera. With a libretto written by Gian Carlo Menotti, the performances [March 10, 13, 15, 18, 21, and 24] will be sung in English with English supertitles. Tickets for the...
Nora Lee García joins world-class musicians for idyllic workshops
February 10, 2012 Internationally renowned flutists Deirdre Manning and Nora Lee García-Velázquez are collaborating on two unique workshops. This summer, they are offering weeklong experiences in the foothills of the French Pyrenees and in the quaint lobstering village of Winter Harbor. Participants will spend a week of intensive study with classically trained flutists...
UCF Flute Student Wins 3rd Prize at Annual State Competition
February 03, 2012 UCF flute player Kate Nichols recently won third prize at the Florida Flute Association’s annual College Young Artist Competition. She performed Pierre Sancan’s Sonatine for Flute and Piano on Friday, January 27, 2012 at the association’s annual convention. Kate is a junior in the UCF Flute Studio, pursuing a degree...
UCF Theatre Faculty Members Publish Book on Practical Theatre Theory
January 30, 2012 UCF Theatre faculty members Julia Listengarten and Vandy Wood (publishing under M. Van Duyn Wood), along with former faculty member Megan Altruz have published a compilation of essays, "Playing with Theory in Theatre Practice." The process took six years and includes twenty-two contributors including Chair/Artistic Director of the Theatre Department...
Opera singer Louis Roney to be inducted into Florida Artists Hall of Fame
January 11, 2012 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...
Rupert to perform at Midwest Clinic
November 22, 2011 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...
Students take behind-the-scenes lead in Pajama Game
October 28, 2011 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...
Percussion students join NYC music festival
October 28, 2011 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...
Theatre UCF Alumnus Michael Marinaccio Appointed Producer of Orlando Fringe Festival
October 28, 2011 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...
Donny Allen featured by UCF Today
August 31, 2011 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%...
Music faculty join 9-11 memorial concert
August 15, 2011 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...
UCF Music grad organizes Accidental Music Festival
July 27, 2011 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...
Reedy and Potter in Orlando Arts Magazine
July 08, 2011 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,...
UCF Theatre grad joins The Second City
June 30, 2011 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...
Hunting the Basilisk a Success for John Shafer
June 14, 2011 John Shafer’s play Hunting the Basilisk is currently being performed by the Looking for Lilith Theatre Company at The Rudyard Kipling in Louisville, KY. The play was first introduced at UCF as part of Women’s History Month. The UCF Women’s Studies and Theatre departments were sponsors and UCF students originated...
Knight Winds and García-Velázquez to perform at National Flute Association convention
May 04, 2011 The Knight Winds ensemble and Nora Lee García-Velázquez have been invited to perform at The National Flute Association Annual Convention in Charlotte, NC. The Knight Winds will perform in the evening on Saturday, August 13, while García-Velázquez will perform the following afternoon. Find out more about the Flute Studio at...
Ayako Yonetani to be Featured Soloist in Slovakia
April 27, 2011 Ayako Yonetani will be a featured soloist for the Beethoven concerto in two concerts during the Kosice Spring Music Festival in May in Slovakia. Yonetani has a concert in Spisska Nova Ves on May 17th, and Humenne on May 18th. This will be the orchestra’s 50 year anniversary season. For...