CeCe Teneal performed at Judson’s Live in March 2024. ©Dr. Phillips Center For The Performing Arts
Dr. Phillips Center
It’s one we all know and love. Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts is not only home to the city’s largest concerts, Broadway musicals and kids’ shows, but is renowned for its beauty and acoustics—Steinmetz Hall is considered one of the best acoustic spaces in the world. The two-block downtown venue contains multiple theaters, concert halls and a school of the arts.
Dr. Phillips’ 2024-25 series are as follows:
• The Great Orchestra Series, with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (November 18), the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (January 18, 2025) and the London Symphony Orchestra (February 26, 2025), in Steinmetz Hall.
• AdventHealth Broadway Series, which kicks off with Girl From the North Country (September 24-29) and concludes with Shucked (June 24-29, 2025) in the Walt Disney Theater. There are 11 shows in all.
• Jazz Series, featuring Herbie Hancock in Walt Disney Theater (September 14) and Michael Feinstein in Steinmetz Hall (February 2, 2025).
• Lifting Voices Series, with Emmanuel (October 18), Ana Barbara (November 10) and Black Violin (November 18), all in Walt Disney Theater.
Additional series with fewer or recurring shows include Nashville Night in Orlando, Family at Dr. Phillips Center, Community at Dr. Phillips Center and Judson’s Live Brunch Series. In addition, the Orlando Ballet, the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra and Opera Orlando all stage their performances in Dr. Phillips’ Steinmetz Hall.
New shows are added frequently, visit drphillipscenter.org for an updated schedule.
Music Director Eric Jacobsen conducts the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. ©Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra
Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra
Culture makes a comeback in early autumn with the return of the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra’s Classics Series to the acoustically acclaimed Steinmetz Hall at the Dr. Phillips Center.
Its 32nd season, under the helm of new executive director Karina Bharne (the first woman to serve in the role) and longtime music director Eric Jacobsen, kicks off Oct. 12-13 with Grammy-winning folk singer/songwriter Aoife O’Donovan performing her timely “America, Come,” inspired by the Women’s Suffrage Movement.
“An Evening with Jaime Bernstein” follows Nov. 9-10, featuring selections from the author/narrator/filmmaker’s legendary composer father Leonard’s “Candide,” “West Side Story” and “On the Town.”
The series continues Jan. 11-12 with Strauss’ “A Hero’s Life,” (aka “Ein Heldenleben”), along with a world premier concerto by Anthony McGill, the New York Philharmonic’s principal clarinetist; Rimma Plays Devoràk, spotlighting visiting conductor Alejandro Gómez Guillén and orchestra concertmaster Rimma Bergeron-Langlois, Mar. 8-9; “Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3,” guest-conducted by Laura Jackson of the Reno Philharmonic, May 10-11; and violinist Grace Park rounding out the 2024-2025 season with “Tchaikovsky’s Fifth,” May 31-June 1.
Highlights from the Phil’s popular Pops Series include Pittsburg Symphony conductor Byron Stripling’s jazzy “Holiday Swing” on Nov. 30, a live performance of conductor John Williams’ “Jurassic Park” score on Feb. 2 (while the film rolls in HD), the career-spanning “The Music of John Williams” April 19 and “A Dream Is a Wish,” a Broadway salute by Orlando’s own award-winning breakout Michael James Scott (“Aladdin”), May 17. But wait…there’s more! Check out the orchestra’s website for its full seasonal lineup, orlandophil.org.
—Doug Brantley
Opera Orlando is known for its stunning original productions and incredible singers. ©Opera Orlando
Opera Orlando
Soaring arias, bawdy comedy, bits of ballet, a little ragtime: Opera Orlando offers something for just about everyone with its 2024-2025 season.
Giuseppe Verdi’s “Macbeth,” based on the Shakespearian tragedy about the unbridled quest for political power, Oct. 25 & 27, sets the tone for this year’s “Destiny + Desire” theme. The new production, performed in the work’s original Italian (with English and Spanish subtitles) features nationally acclaimed baritone Norman Barrett and marks the debut of Opera Orlando’s new stage director Matt Haney and conductor Mark Sforzini.
Something a little less dark and dour? Jules Massenet’s “Cendrillon,” Feb. 7 & 9, takes its cue from the 1689 French version of the timeless Cinderella story, with accompaniment from the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. As with each of the season’s productions, both evening and matinee performances are offered.
Hector Berloiz’s “Beatrice + Benedict,” April 25 & 27, nods to the Bard’s “Much Ado About Nothing.” Opera artistic director Grant Preisser couples the comedic classic with Pietro Mascagni’s “Cavalleria Rusticana,” considered the first verismo (i.e., contemporary, post-Romantic) opera, setting both in the same Sicilian town square. The dual production features the Opera Orlando Chorus and Youth Company, as well as members of the Orlando Ballet.
“King of Ragtime” Scott Joplin’s long-overlooked, uplifting opus, “Treemonisha,” completes the season May 16 & 18. Written in 1910 and set during the Reconstruction era, the composition was largely forgotten until the 1970s, when it earned Joplin a posthumous Pulitzer. The lively score mixes traditional opera with ragtime and vaudeville influences. operaorlando.org
Exterior ©Orlando Museum Of Art
Orlando Museum of Art
It’s a milestone year for the Orlando Museum of Art (OMA). In addition to celebrating its centennial year, 2024 saw the 10th anniversary of the “Florida Prize in Contemporary Art,” in which, for the first time in its history, saw two Orlando artists join the esteemed line-up, Boy Kong and People’s Choice award winner Njeri Kinuthia.
Four new exciting exhibits begin this month. “Golden Legacy” (September 6-December 1) looks through 80 years of original art from Little Golden Books, an integral part of many childhoods. Then, on the opposite end of the spectrum, there’s “Torn Apart: Punk + New Wave Graphics, Fashion and Culture, 1976-86.” More integral memories from those who grew up in that time.
In “Push,” OMA looks at the art of photographing skateboarders. And in “Front Row Center,” viewers get up-close and personal to iconic photography from some of the most popular acts in music history.
The latter three exhibits are open from September 21-January 5, 2025. omart.org
Orlando Shakes
Founded in 1989, Orlando Shakes has earned its reputation as one of the region’s most acclaimed regional theaters thanks to its ambitious, high-caliber productions.
Orlando Shakes’ vision is to “achieve national prominence through bold, life-changing theater and educational programming.” You’ll certainly find that in the 36th Signature Series Season, with performances of What the Constitution Means to Me (October 2-13) and Bare Bard: Henry VI Part 2—She Wolf of France (January 8-19).
In addition, the Concert Series features four different concerts held in three different theaters. Attending has become a community tradition, as audiences love hearing its live music in intimate and varied settings. Coming up are “Sleigh—It’s Christmas Actually!” (December 13-15, and 20-22), “Mandi Jo John: Broadway My Way” (January 23-26, 2025), “Chase Padgett: How to Play Guitar (Poorly)” (February 20-23, 2025) and “CeCe Teneal: Portrait of Aretha” (April 5-6, 2025). orlandoshakes.org
Beautiful gardens and travel advances during the reign of Queen Victoria are illustrated in the “Fascinating Clutter” exhibit. ©Charles Hosmer Morse Museum Of American Art
The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art
Designed around a central park and its main street, Park Avenue, Winter Park was born as a “wintering” destination for wealthy Northerners was the first planned community in Florida. A museophile’s paradise, the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art anchors the north end of Park Avenue. It is home to the most comprehensive collection of works by American designer and artist Louis Comfort Tiffany.
Originally trained as a painter, Tiffany developed a new method of glassmaking after studying the chemistry and the techniques of glassmaking when he was just 24 years old. In 1881, he patented his method of creating an opalescent window glass, then considered a radical new treatment. Today, his designs are among art’s most iconic.
The Morse Museum’s impressive collection includes Tiffany’s jewelry, pottery, paintings, art glass, leaded-glass lamps and windows, his chapel interior from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago and architectural objects from his Long Island estate, Laurelton Hall.
You could spend the whole day viewing the engaging exhibits at the Morse Museum. Additional musts are the collection of iridescent objects, neoclassical windows and items that can only be described as (and are) “Fascinating Clutter.” morsemuseum.org
One Orlando historic treasure isn’t a building or a place: it’s the swans that have been a symbol of City Beautiful for more than a century. And when we trace the history of that link, we come especially to one big, bad bird: Billy the Swan. ©Orange County Regional History Center & Historical Society of Central Florida.
Orange County Regional History Center
Maybe you’ve heard stories about Billy, the swan with a swagger.
As a distinguished occupant of Lake Eola, brought to Central Florida in the early 1900s by an immigrating Brit, he presided over a retinue of female swans in the lake and took offense at any biped who ventured too close to its shores, chasing interlopers away while delivering a nip or two for good measure— exactly where most often, we’d blush to say.
When he died in 1933, he was mounted and warehoused in a storage case at the Orange County Regional History Center. Since then, he’s been occasionally brought out for exhibits—though with some hesitancy, said former director Sara Van Arsdale, not because of his temperament but because “It was pretty smelly from years of confining the bad old boy.”
Billy now returns with a principal part to play in “Orlando Collected,” opening at the history center in 2025 in honor of Orlando’s 150th anniversary and featuring “curated memories, photographs and artifacts” meant to “weave the intricate tapestry of our city’s past.” More specifically that would be, in honor of the occasion, exactly 150 curated memories, photographs and artifacts. Surely it will represent the first Central Florida exhibit outside of a zoo to feature a cygnus anatidae as the honorary master of ceremonies.
In the meantime, check out the history center’s many ongoing exhibits. Some of our favorites are:
Cattle and Citrus, a look at two industries that, historically, have been crucial to Central Florida’s economy.
Destination Florida, which chronicles 100 years of tourism from the Dixie Highway to the Wigwam Motel.
First Contact, following the influence of the Spanish, the first Europeans to land in Florida, and how they interacted with Native Americans to shape the state.
The Theme-Park Era, how Orlando transitioned from a mostly agricultural community to a tourist-centric economy after the opening of Walt Disney World in 1971.
For more information, visit thehistorycenter.org.
—Michael McLeod
Orlando Ballet opens the season with Romeo & Juliet. The Orlando Phil performs Sergei Prokofiev’s score. ©Zavesco Photography
Orlando Ballet
Last season, Orlando Ballet celebrated its 50th birthday with classical tributes to Paul Taylor and George Balanchine. This season, the freshly restructured company heads into its next half century on the strength of successful fundraising and the rapid evolution of one of the country’s better ballet schools in a “long-range charge” led by ballet benefactors Krista and Jonathan Ledden, president of the ballet’s board of directors.
The company, which opens its season as one of the Top 20 largest ballet organizations in the country, will do so in romantic fashion with
Romeo & Juliet as envisioned in a collaborative effort with choreographer James Sofranko, artistic director at Grand Rapids Ballet, accompanied by the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra performing Sergei Prokofiev’s score.
The story behind the ballet is as stormy as any tempestuous romance, in part because Prokofiev, who must have been quite the softie, defied seven centuries of tradition by inventing a happy ending for the timeless tragedy.
Other highlights on the ballet’s schedule include Jorden Morris’ new and highly acclaimed family favorite The Nutcracker in December, followed in February by his Peter Pan.
The season also includes a three-part series of George Balanchine’s Divertimento No. 15, Martha Graham’s Maple Leaf Rag and Alysa Pires’ Skyward in March. The season ends with Gieselle in May. orlandoballet.org
—Michael McLeod