Cellist Matt Haimovitz hosted a master class with FSU College of Music cello students. Following the class, students watched Haimovitz perform one of his acclaimed “pop-up” concerts at the William Johnston Building. The world-renowned cellist also performed two other pop-up shows during his trip to Tallahassee at the Florida Historic Capitol Museum and Happy Motoring. […]

Makana is not only a passionate performer but a committed educator, activist, and advocate. He is dedicated to making the world a better place for both current and future generations. During his four-day stay in Tallahassee, Makana visited five elementary schools in Leon, Gadsden, Wakulla and Jefferson Counties, teaching more than 1,000 students about Hawaiian […]

Julian Bliss hosted a master class with FSU College of Music clarinet students, sharing the breadth and depth of his artistry in a playful and welcoming atmosphere. The concert hall was filled with musicians from a variety of different majors, as Bliss touched on stage presents and how to lace a performance with elements of […]

A mix of local artists and puppeteers, STEM and stagecraft students from TCC, and FSU art majors participated in an exclusive workshop with award-winning puppeteer, Joseph Cashore, as part of Opening Nights in Class programming.  Mr. Cashore led the hands-on workshop, sponsored by Tallahassee Community College, through the process of bringing a marionette to life. […]

The Soweto Gospel Choir took over the auditorium at Godby High School the morning after their evening show, performing an abridged version of Songs of the Free. In Partnership with the Florida Center for Reading Research, Opening Nights was able to create customized programs to give students deeper insight into Nelson Mandela’s story and the […]

When Mandy Harvey walked onto the stage at Opperman Music Hall, most of the elementary and middle school students clapped to welcome her. But some students raised their hands, spread their fingers and shook their hands back and forth — the American Sign Language symbol for applause. The musician, who is deaf, performed for about 50 […]

As a graduate of the China Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and Young Concert Artist, Hanzhi Wang’s career has already taken her around the globe with performances in Europe, America and Asia. Opening Nights partnered with the FSU Center for Global Engagement to host Hanzhi Wang as part of the center’s Engage Your World Series: Intercultural Dialogue […]

Mimi Herman, a Kennedy Center Teaching Artist and the 2017 North Carolina Piedmont Laureate, spent a week in 4th and 5th grade classrooms at Apalachee Tapestry Magnet School of the Arts in the Fall of 2017 to teach students and teachers to fall in love with writing, especially their own. Fourth grade students in Ms. Laing’s […]

Glenis Redmond, an award-winning performance poet, praise poet, educator, and writer from North Carolina, focuses on providing teachers techniques to help improve student’s writing and speaking skills through poetry. During June 2017, teachers studied ways to involve students memorizing and performing their poems to further communicate the written word with appropriate voice projection, physical stance […]

Opening Nights and Leon County Schools teamed up to offer about 40 elementary and middle school teachers a creative new tool to teach math, in partnership with the John F. Kennedy Center’s Partners in Education program. Stacy Weaver, a performing arts teacher who leads the dance program at Raa Middle School in Tallahassee, said she […]