Miami Beach Classical Musical Festival Returns With Immersive Concerts, Operas, and Classical Wonders

Up-and-coming musicians, part of a rigorous eight-week intensive program, return to perform in the Miami Beach Classical Music Festival (MMF) with a series of immersive performances, operas, and live concerts.

The intensive allows aspiring classical performers to work with professional mentors and gain live performance experience. The community benefits from free public concerts featuring top talent, according to Michael Rossi, the festival founder and artistic director.

This year's program, which runs through Sunday, July 28, features Richard Wagner's Die Walküre (Act 3), Space Symphony, Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Magic Flute, an Independence Day concert, along with chamber music and symphony concerts.

Events include full opera productions, symphonic concerts, student and faculty recitals, chamber music, Zarzuela, musical theater concerts, and master classes.

"In ten short seasons, the festival has expanded to present over 70 public events each year," says Rossi, adding that 200 classical musicians are involved in the program this year and performing "repertoire rarely heard in South Florida."

Rossi says that MMF is also focused on exposing classical music to Miami's underserved neighborhoods through outreach, community partnerships, and by providing accessible events.

One of the festival's highlights is immersive performances integrating classical music with cutting-edge technologies.

"The idea of an immersive performance is to get the audience to be inside of the theatrical experience," explains Rossi. "In our indoor theater settings, audiences sit in the center of a room with a continuous 360-degree graphic display wrapped around it, coming to life as the projections interact with performers and other production elements. We want our audience to feel, even in their peripheral vision, that they're inside the set."

Rossi says he was inspired to create the setting during a trip to Walt Disney World 12 years ago when he saw projection mapping on the theme park's iconic Cinderella Castle.
It dawned on him that the idea could work at one of MMF's performance spaces, Faena Forum.

"We started off using only a single screen and a more traditional method of projection. The dream to go immersive came after seeing the Faena Forum space and thinking how amazing it would be to put the audience inside of the shell. That is what led us to create immersive type works and find the technology to be able to do it."

Three featured events embody this immersive experience: Space Symphony, Die Walküre, and The Magic Flute.

A traditional opera, The Magic Flute needed to be adapted to the immersive format, which posed a few challenges, says opera director Marc Callahan. "The core difference is the audience's engagement and spatial relationship with the performers as they move throughout the performance space and interact with the environment."

Callahan says the immersive format creates a deeper experience for the audience and "breathes new life into Mozart's timeless opera."

The immersive The Magic Flute Opera is at Temple Emanu-El Ballroom on Saturday, July 6, and Sunday, July 7.

Opera stage director David Carl Toulson describes Dead Man Walking as a traditional opera that confronts personal values regarding the death penalty and forgiveness based on individual belief systems.

"It is easy to set these thoughts aside in everyday life unless challenged to consider them. This opera rightfully opens us up to uncomfortable conversations," says Toulson.

The opera, adapted from Sister Helen Prejean's 1993 book of the same name, explores moral dilemmas surrounding the admission of guilt and the state's use of capital punishment. As a work based on real events and people, directing the opera required not only depth but precautions.

"Because these characters come across as very real, for me, taking the proper time with the cast to understand their character's dramatic and emotional arcs is the first crucial step in the process," says Toulson. "Once the singers understand and become comfortable with their characters, the staging of the show reveals itself."
By presenting this emotionally charged work, Toulson hopes the opera makes those who see it ponder the subject matter. "When tough issues lack a face, they are easy to disregard or push aside. My hope is that people who see this show will consider this issue of capital punishment with a little more humanity."

Dead Man Walking will be performed at Temple Emanu-El Ballroom on Saturday, July 13, and Sunday, July 14.

For Wagner's Die Walküre (Act 3),  which will be performed on Saturday, July 20 at Faena Forum, Italian-American dramatic soprano Joanna Parisi will sing Brünnhilde. Brünnhilde is one of the most complex and significant figures in the opera, representing themes of love, loyalty, heroism, and redemption.

"Brünnhilde's unique vocal demands require immense power and stamina. Musically, she is characterized by powerful high notes ascending from a lower vocal range, demanding a rich, resonant sound that can pierce through a massive Wagnerian orchestra," explains Parisi. "Singing Brünnhilde is an honor and a reward, a culmination of hard work and passion for opera."

Its third immersive work, Space Symphony, returns after MMF's premiere last year on Thursday, July 18, and Friday, July 19, at Faena Forum.

"During the symphony, audiences were treated to a thrilling visual show, a musical concert, and an educational experience all in one performance," says Rossi. The festival artistic director designed the show to be both fun and educational for his son, who is fascinated with space, he says.

The show returns this year with the intention of bringing together both traditional and non-traditional classical music audiences.

"The Space Symphony can appeal to anybody, whether they're a classical music fan or it's their first time going to a symphony. It's both a visual and audio performance experience," explains Rossi.
Its tradition of presenting summer promenade concerts at Lummus Park will be held every Sunday at 6 p.m. throughout July. Featured concerts include "Arias at Sunset" (July 7 and 14), "Bridges to Panama" featuring Sound Impact (July 21), and "Youth Program Spectacular" (July 28).

The Miami Beach Classical Music Festival will be the focus of the annual Independence Day Fireworks and Patriotic Concert at Lummus Park on Thursday, July 4.

Launched in collaboration with the Ocean Drive Association, Rossi says that the event was one of the first concerts for MMF in Miami Beach. "We were invited to perform about six years ago, and it was a big undertaking as the mayor and thousands of people attended," says the festival founder.

This year's program includes a Fourth of July staple, Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture," accompanied by fireworks and a salute to the armed forces to honor those who served and are currently serving in the military.

"We also include a few different Broadway selections that are fun for our participants and well-known. We play a lot of [Leonard] Bernstein," says Rossi. "We're the summer orchestra, and it's a great opportunity for us to showcase our talented musicians and perform under the fireworks."

– Jonel Juste, ArtburstMiami.com

Miami Beach Classical Music Festival. Through Saturday, July 28, at various locations, Miami Beach; miamimusicfestival.com. Ticket prices vary.