Now that the new year is underway, come celebrate the turn of the decade with Florida Southern College’s Festival of Fine Arts events. This season showcases performances that are sure to immerse audiences in both timeless pieces and creative innovations in a variety of artistic fields. The following presentations will take place through the end of February:
VISUAL ARTS
Janet Siegel Rogers: The Mystery of Color
Through Feb. 21
Inspired by naturally occurring interactions between light and environment, Janet Siegel Rogers’ paintings translate the fluidity of our daily experiences in nature. Rogers reproduces her personal experiences in nature from visits to locations such as Hong Kong, the Philippines, Singapore, and South Florida, employing layers of oil paint mixed with beeswax to create an illusion of movement and color shift throughout her works. This exhibition is in the Melvin & Burks Art Galleries and is free to the public.
THEATRE ARTS
Cabaret
Feb. 13-16; 20-23, 7:30 p.m. (Sundays at 2:30 p.m.)
In a Berlin nightclub in the 1920s, the Emcee welcomes audience members and assures them that they will forget their troubles at the cabaret. The show subsequently explores the dark lives of Berlin natives as Germany yields to the Third Reich. Musical pieces include songs such as “Willkommen,” “Cabaret,” “Don’t Tell Mama,” and “Maybe This Time.” Performances will be in the Loca Lee Buckner Theatre, and tickets will cost $18 for adults and $9 for students.
MUSIC
Jazz Faculty Highlights, Volume 1
Feb. 10, 7:30 p.m.
Join Jeff Benatar, FSC’s Director of Jazz Studies and Coordinator of Music Management, in our Faculty Artist Series as he displays his talents on the piano along with other jazz enthusiasts who comprise the Jazz Faculty Ensemble. The group will perform an array of jazz charts, with a particular emphasis on the music of Hank Jones. This evening of jazz will be held in the Anne MacGregor Jenkins Recital Hall and is free to the public.
From Vienna To Vegas – and Places In-Between
Feb. 24, 7:30 p.m.
In another edition of the Faculty Artist Series, professor Mark Thomsen, tenor, together with Maestro James Caraher on piano, will present a collection of songs that describe life’s most difficult emotions through both music and words. The performance explores complex feelings through the works of a variety of composers, including Robert Schumann, Jules Massenet, Harold Arlen, and Yip Harburg. The event will take place in the Anne MacGregor Jenkins Recital Hall and is free to the public.
SPECIAL EVENTS
The Russian National Ballet: Sergei Prokofiev’s Cinderella
Feb. 26, 7:30 p.m.
The Russian National Ballet is set to return to FSC to present Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev’s edition of the classic children’s fairy tale, Cinderella. In a full-length, three-act performance with grand scenery, elegant dancers in beautiful costumes will tell the story of the famous glass slipper. This production of the wondrous tale will be presented in Branscomb Auditorium. Tickets cost $25 for adults and $12 for children under the age of 12. For more information or to purchase tickets in advance for Festival of Fine Arts events, please visit www.flsouthern.edu/ffa, call 863-680-4296, or visit the Branscomb Auditorium Box Office from 2 to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.
About Florida Southern College
Founded in 1883, Florida Southern College is the oldest private college in Florida. The College maintains its commitment to academic excellence through 70+ undergraduate programs and distinctive graduate programs in business administration, education, nursing, and physical therapy. Florida Southern has a 14:1 student-to-faculty ratio; is an award-winning national leader in engaged learning; and boasts 30 NCAA Division II national championships. It is ranked among the top 10 Regional Universities in the South by U.S. News and World Report; and is included in The Princeton Review’s 385 Best Colleges, The Fiske Guide to Colleges 2020, and Forbes magazine’s America’s Top Colleges Guide. The College is committed to the development of the whole student through vibrant student life programs that prepare graduates to make a positive, consequential impact on society. FSC is conveniently located within an hour’s drive of both Orlando and Tampa. FSC is home to the world’s largest single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2012. Named the “Most Beautiful Campus in the Nation” for two consecutive years by The Princeton Review and one of the nation’s “Ten College Campuses with the Best Architecture” by Architectural Digest, Florida Southern is an internationally-recognized place of beauty and academic excellence.