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CELEBRATING 40 YEARS
CONCERT SEASON
throughout the 2025 - 2026
Admission $20 for members, $25 for guests, students are free.
Special Performances are $30 for members, $35 for guests, students are free.
Click on each concert for complete details - all performances are subject to change.
WE ARE TAKING A SUMMER BREAK - CONCERTS WILL RESUME IN SEPTEMBER 2025.
SCROLL DOWN to see who is performing!
The 2025 - 2026 Concert Season kicks off with the JEFF RUPERT QUARTET...
Jeff Rupert has been a featured soloist on dozens of recordings with artists including Sam Rivers, Mel Tormé, Diane Schuur, Benny Carter, and Maynard Ferguson. His recording "The Ripple" with legendary saxophonist George Garzone was released in September 2019. He played on Benny Carter's Harlem Renaissance which won a Grammy. He has also performed with Kevin Mahogany, Ernestine Anderson, Joe Farnsworth, Ray Drummond, Harry Allen, pianist Benny Green, Kenny Drew Jr, trumpeter Michael Philip Mossman, and pianist and singer Judy Carmichael.
Rupert has several releases under his own name including "Lets Sail Away" with Veronica Swift, "Imagination" and "R&D" with pianist Richard Drexler. Rupert is the leader of The Jazz Professors, a sextet that had top JazzWeek charting hit albums in 2012-2015. "The Jazz Professors: Live at the UCF-Orlando Jazz Festival" peaked at #19 during its seventeen weeks on the JazzWeek charts. His third album, "From Memphis to Mobile" was with Kenny Drew, Jr.
Rupert joined Sam Rivers' band in 1996 and appeared in four recordings with the group. He has performed in hundreds of concerts with Rivers, including performances at Lincoln for Ed Bradley's Jazz from Lincoln Center (broadcast on NPR), the Vision Festival NYC and Columbia University.
He has been a member of the Jaguar International Jazz Series alongside Joe LaBarbera, Tom Wharington, Larry Koonse, and John Fedchock. He also performed with Michael Philip Mossman and John Riley at the Taipei National Concert Hall, Taiwan.
Rupert has played at jazz festivals around the world, with dates in Europe, Scandinavia, Japan, Taiwan, Israel, South America, Australia, and New Zealand.
Rupert also leads The "Flying Horse Big Band," one of the premiere performing ensembles of the UCF Music Department. They have appeared at the Montreux, Switzerland, and the North Sea Jazz Festivals, as well as numerous festival and concert appearances domestically. The band has featured Randy Brecker, Bob Berg, Michael Mossman, James Moody, Nick Brignola, Harry Allen, Steve Turre, Rodney Holmes, Terry Gibbs, Marvin Stamm, Mulgrew Miller, John Swana, Kevin Mahogany, Lou Donaldson and Eric Alexander with the band. In 2005, the "Flying Horse Big Band" premiered Sam Rivers’ work for double big band, with Rivers’ RIVBEA orchestra. The group has had six recordings on the national jazz charts. Recordings include "Jazz Town", "The Blues is Alright", "Into the Mystic", "Big Man on Campus", "The Bat Swings!", and "Florida Rays". The last two albums climbed to #1 on the national (professional) jazz charts.
GENERAL ADMISSION IS PAID AT THE DOOR. $30 for members of the Jazz Society and Veterans Memorial Center, $35 for guests and students are free. Bring your own food and drink. Tables, chairs, live jazz and a beautiful view of the river are provided.
JOE BREIDENSTINE QUINTET
Trumpeter Joe Breidenstine has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, South America, Japan, and the Middle East. In addition, Joe has studied privately with some of the greatest trumpet teachers in the world. Among them, the great Carmine Caruso, William Fielder at Rutgers University, Bill Adam at Indiana University, and Roger Ingram, who currently plays lead trumpet with the Harry Connick Jr. big band.
When Joe lived in New York City, he had the opportunity to perform with some of the greats in music. Some of Joe’s most memorable performances have been with Lou Rawls, Tito Puente, Jon Faddis, George Benson, Joe Williams, Stanley Turrentine, David “fathead” Newman, Benny Golsen, Eric Alexander, Ralph Bowen, Charles Fambrough, Ray Vega, and many others.
Joe began playing piano at age 8 and took up trumpet at age 10. After graduating from Mainland Regional High School in Linwood, New Jersey, Joe attended the jazz studies program at William Paterson University of New Jersey under the direction of Rufus Reid.
After college, Joe landed a 6 month stint at the Imperial Plaza Hotel in Osaka, Japan, where he performed 6 nights a week with the David Cedeno Orchestra. Once returning to the states, Joe was offered and accepted a chair in the Glenn Miller Orchestra on the recommendation of the great trumpeter Joe Magnarelli, and toured the United States.
Joe also teaches privately, has taught trumpet at the Grand Opera House School of Music in Wilmington, Delaware, and was an adjunct trumpet instructor at the University of Pennsylvania in 2004. Currently, Joe is an adjunct trumpet instructor at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, in Pomona, New Jersey.
General Admission is paid at the door. $30 for members of the Jazz Society and Veterans Memorial Center, $35 for guests and students are free.
Bring your own food and drink. Tables, chairs, live jazz and a beautiful view of the river are provided.
The JOHN DEPAOLA QUINTET
John DePaola has been a full-time freelance trumpeter for over 30 years. He lives in Orlando, FL, where he has been a musician at Walt Disney World and a Rosie O’Grady’s Goodtime Jazz Band member. John has performed with entertainers such as Ray Charles, Sammy Davis Jr., Bob Hope, Johnny Mathis, Kenny Rogers, Frank Sinatra Jr., The Moody Blues, and many others. John has also played for nationally touring Broadway shows like West Side Story, Hello Dolly, A Chorus Line, 42nd Street, The Producers, and Chicago.
John is also a regular performer at jazz festivals across the U.S. with different groups and has also led his group, performing for Jazz clubs and societies in Florida. In his 3rd season as a member of the Dr. Phillips Center Jazz Orchestra under Rodney Whitaker’s direction, as a symphony musician, John has played principal trumpet with The Villages Philharmonic since 2003 and also served as principal trumpet with the Imperial Symphony in Lakeland, FL. He also performs with The Brevard Symphony and Orlando Philharmonic when called upon.
His CD, Take Two, is a soulful collection of jazz standards, popular songs from the 60’s, and original compositions featuring the John DePaola Quartet with Jeff Phillips on piano and organ, Paul Parker on drums and percussion, and Charlie Silva on upright and electric bass.
General Admission is paid at the door. $20 for members of the Jazz Society and Veterans Memorial Center, $25 for guests and students are free.
Bring your own food and drink. Tables, chairs, live jazz and a beautiful view of the river are provided.
Jazz vocalist MICHELLE MAILHOT & FRIENDS...
For over 25 years Michelle Mailhot has been one of the most sought-after Jazz singers around. During her celebrated career, she has shared the stage with such jazz greats as Mel Torme, Max Roach, Sheila Jordan, Billy Stritch, Sandy Patti, Liza Minnelli, Dr. Billy Taylor, and more. In 2004 she won a Drama Desk Award for her work in the Off-Broadway show Toxic Audio: Loudmouth.
Locally in Central Florida, she appears regularly at premier jazz venues, has sung with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, the Dr. Phillips Jazz Orchestra, and is the regular featured singer with the Blue Bamboo Big Band.
Michelle is also a highly-regarded session singer for radio and television commercials…and…you have likely heard her singing the backing vocals on the Shy Baldwin songs in season 3 & 4 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
Her acclaimed solo CD “Happy Madness” is available on iTunes and most major music streaming services.
In addition to her extraordinary performance career as a jazz vocalist, Michelle Mailhot is a distinguished music educator. With both a bachelor’s and master’s degree, Michelle has been a professor of music at both Valencia and Rollins colleges for the better part of a decade. There she has taught music theory, sight-singing, ear training, private vocal instruction and directs a jazz choir.
Michelle is also one of the top teachers on the website Jazzvoice.com, where she runs a tremendously popular class in Scat-singing.
Her work as a clinician and adjudicator with All-State choir competitions, and choral festivals such as Showstoppers, America Sings and Orlando Fest has taken her across the country, to Singapore and Japan. As well as being a clinician at the Disney Sings workshops, Michelle also got to teach side-by-side with her mentors at the Phil Mattson Choral Workshop and the Steve Zegree Vocal Jazz Camps.
General Admission is paid at the door. $20 for members of the Jazz Society and Veterans Memorial Center, $25 for guests and students are free.
Bring your own food and drink. Tables, chairs, live jazz and a beautiful view of the river are provided.
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