Suncoast Culture Club

On Thursday, October 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the SCF Neel Performing Arts Center, join the SCF Music Program  for our collaborative concert "New Beginnings," celebrating the return of a live audience and the feeling that this year is truly a "new beginning."  This performance will feature the SCF Symphonic Band, Big Band, Jazz Combo, Concert Choir, Chamber Choir, and Guitar Ensemble.
Listen to four SCF Music majors talk a...

The Sixth Season
Five Concerts
Four Premiers of commissioned works
Two dynamic leaders
TONS of guest performers
Three options for concert viewings

Take a listen to percussionist George Nickson and violinist Samantha Bennett tell us their story of the amazing chamber music series of new music they have envisioned for Ensemble New SRQ's sixth season and then RUN to your nearest device to purchase your season ticket of in person or stre...

For the third year in a row, the SCF Music Program is performing a concert to help the SCF Hispanic Latino Heritage Club celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month on the State College of Florida campus.
This year, Dr. Pete Carney and SCF Jazz present "Cuban Passport: The Rhythms from Havana to New Orleans," a concert that explores how Latin rhythms and instruments made their way to the States. Listen to Dr. Carney, SCF Music Cuban ...

Alfonso Lopez and Michelle Tabor both hail from Caracas, Venezuela. Alfonso is the concert master for the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra and Michelle lives in Tallahassee since she completed her doctorate in music theory at Florida State.
Together, they prepare programs, rehearse, and tour twice a year presenting violin and piano recitals with music ranging from traditional Western European composers, American offerings, and those of ...

After spending 20 years as the principal pianist with the United State Army Band, Dr. Joe Holt decided it was time retire to a place that met three criteria:  by the water,  warmer weather and less politics than Washington D.C., and cultural arts opportunities. He found all of that in Sarasota, Florida.
In 2008, he  became the conductor and artistic director of Choral Artists of Sarasota,  our region's premier professional vocal...

After 18 months of thought provoking time and pent-up creative energy , Urbanite Theatre is back with "Radiance." Committed to creating visceral, shared experiences by fearlessly lifting up the boldest new voices in theatre, Urbanite Theatre believes in inclusive, artist-first storytelling, daring honesty, and the powerful connectivity of an intimate space...and this season has all of that.
They begin their 8th season with a...

He taught music in the public schools of West Virginia for 38 years before finding the cultural scene of the Suncoast too good to pass up. Since moving here in 2015, he has become the piano accompanist at Sunnyside Village Retirement Community, the Sarasota Jewish Chorale, director of music ministry at St. Andrew United Church of Christ in Sarasota, performs with the Players Center for Performing Arts, is on the board of the Saraso...

Dingbat Theatre Project's Luke McFatrich and Amanda Heisey tell us all about their upcoming production of the groundbreaking show Hedwig and the Angry Inch being performed August 27 through September 11 at the Bazaar on Apricot and Lime.

This Obie and Tony-winning Off-Broadway smash tells the story of "internationally ignored song stylist" Hedwig Schmidt, a fourth-wall smashing East German rock 'n' roll goddess. ...

He is a homegrown talent whose path to musical theatre began at Braden River High School, continued at the State College of Florida, ventured to the University of South Florida, and landed him as the choir director and department chair at the Visual and Performing Arts program at Booker High School
Now, Alex Zickafoose continues his creative expression outside of Booker VPA by being the musical director at Spotlight Theatre Producti...

He knew from the tender age of five that he was going to be an entertainer and when the opportunity presented itself for Jason Cohen to play Jerry Lee Lewis in the national tour of the Million Dollar Quartet, his life was changed forever.
His co-creation of the spin-off Great Balls of Fire has landed him on the Suncoast for an 11-week run at Florida Studio Theatre, and now you get to hear the story of his path to Broadway, his love...

Many may know them as the heart of dance instruction at the Manatee School for the Arts for the past several decades, but now Pat Ross and Kelly Burnette are teaming up to produce Kelly Burnette's one-woman show, Kelly and Friends Stepping Through Time, to be performed on Sunday, August 8 at 4:00 p.m. at the Music Compound at 1751 Cattlemen Rd in Sarasota.
Once co-workers and now "director and actor," this team has hit a...

Many may not know that Louise Harrison, George Harrison's sister, lives in Sarasota and the leader and "George Harrison" of the Beatles tribute band in Branson, Missouri, the Liverpool Legends, befriended Louise many years ago. Marty Scott joins the club today to talk about his life as a tribute band rock star, his close personal relationship with Louise Harrison, hanging out on a couch and talking with Paul McCartney, ...

From California to Spain to Florida's Suncoast, from swimmer to skier to flute player, from community music school director to instructor of flute at SCF to principal flutist in the Pops Orchestra, Dr. Jane Hoffman has done it all and even some things in between!
Hear her unconventional journey to the world of flute playing and how she uses all her connections and experiences to enrich the musical lives of so many, including obt...

She may have gotten her start as a founding member of Florida Studio Theatre's Improv Troupe, but that led to Christine Alexander starting her own company called Laugh to Feel Good, through which, using comedy and improvisational skills and games,  she runs corporate team building and hosts comedy wellness programs for Parkinson's and cancer patients.
After 20 years on the Suncoast, Christine uses her podcast episode to bid ...

He is the recipient of the 2019 Arts Leadership Award for Artistic Achievement for Sarasota County, freelance writer and music critic, author of a new vocal pedagogy text, mountain climber, and conductor and artistic director of Sarasota's symphonic chorus, Key Chorale.

Joseph Caulkins didn't get his start as a singer or choral conductor, but his jazz saxophone major in college wasn't quite working out for him. Hear how...

A fifth generation Sarasotan was working at the Packinghouse Cafe and Leroy Selmon's Restaurant when she noticed that area musicians needed a place to interact, engage, and learn from each other. After several years of research, a business plan was hatched and Jenny Townsend is now in her sixth year of running the Music Compound, a performance-based music school that caters to all ages, any level, and any interest.
Hear her stor...

He walked into Music Theory class at Juilliard on day 1, sat next to the prettiest girl in the room, and they have been making beautiful music together for the past 53 years.

In Part II of the Romm Family series, Ronnie Romm, founding and former trumpet player of the Canadian Brass, and wife Avis Romm, collaborative pianist extraordinaire,  tell us their stories, share their experiences, brag on their talented sons, and share their ...

When Rex Willis' son Ryan joined some friends for a "Dumpster Diving" excursion a decade ago, Rex never knew it would lead to him composing his second musical. During the last ten years, Rex's extensive research on homelessness in our area, the real people who experience this plight, and the stories that got them in that situation led him to write a rock opera entitled "Worthy People."

Take a listen to this ...

Well, if your dad was one of the founding trumpet players in the Canadian Brass and your mother is one of the foremost collaborative pianists on the planet, your destiny maybe laid out for you. Oh, while you're at it, why don't you marry this brilliant violin player you went to doctoral school with at the University of Illinois and move to the Suncoast to make beautiful music together all the rest of your days?
Want to hear...