The Department of Fine Arts and the University Artist Series sponsor a wide variety of performances that are open to the public, usually free or at a minimal charge. Those held in the downtown Performing Arts Center venues are typically ticketed, Box Office: 843-661-4444 between 12:00 and 5:00 pm. Other than University Theatre performances, events held in venues on the main campus are typically general admission with no advance reservation system.
Pickle Mafia Power Trio
FMU Artist Series
Blackbox Theatre, Performing Arts Center/Downtown Florence
7:30 p.m. Wednesday, 25 September 2024
The Pickle Mafia is a dynamic piano/bass/drums jazz trio from New York, garnering nationwide attention through their groundbreaking, unique brand of Arena Jazz Fusion. The visual appeal the band brings to audiences across the globe is an important element that adds to their musical artistry.
This act has racked up 10,000+ viewing hours on YouTube and has developed an extremely loyal fan base that continues to grow with each performance. The Pickle Mafia has a fresh approach, seamlessly blending elements of jazz with hip hop, Latin and pop sensibilities, bringing their sound of Arena Jazz Fusion to life.
Tickets are available to FMU students, faculty, and staff at no charge upon showing an FMU ID. Tickets to the general public are $10, as space allows. The FMU PAC Ticket Office at 201 South Dargan Street is open Monday through Friday, 12:00pm – 5:00pm, or by calling 843-661-4444.
Mixed Bag with a Twist
Francis Marion University Theatre
Director: Prof. D. Keith Best
Musical Direction: Dr. Brandon Goff
Blackbox Theatre, Performing Arts Center/Downtown Florence
7:30 pm Friday-Saturday, October 11-12, 2024
The University Theatre and Music Industry programs combine to provide a cabaret-style evening of traditional song, dance, and theatre – with some unexpected detours
Tickets are available to FMU students, faculty, and staff at no charge upon showing an FMU ID. Tickets to the general public are $10, as space allows. The FMU PAC Ticket Office at 201 South Dargan Street is open Monday through Friday, 12:00pm – 5:00pm, or by calling 843-661-4444.
FMU Concert Band
Dr. Terry Roberts, conductor
FMU Department of Fine Arts
Mainstage Theatre, Performing Arts Center/Downtown Florence
7:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 22, 2024
The Francis Marion University Concert Band will be performing its fall concert at the FMU Performing Arts Center in downtown Florence.
The Francis Marion University Concert Band is composed of FMU students as well as community members from the Pee Dee region. Community members include professional area music educators, band directors, choir directors, ministers of music, and FMU music faculty members. Membership is open to all FMU students and area residents who are experienced concert band instrumentalists. Performances include traditional concert band music as well as popular and show music. The program began as a way to give students of FMU a chance to perform music, earn academic credit for performance in the ensemble, and to become involved with other students in campus life.
Beginning in the spring of 2002, the FMU Concert Band rehearsals were scheduled on Tuesday evenings and adult musicians from the region were invited to participate. The band continues to rehearse every Tuesday evening.
We are always seeking additional participants; if you play a band instrument or know someone looking for a place to play, please contact us. Information can be found at Music – Instrumental Program or email Dr. Terry Roberts at troberts@fmarion.edu
Tickets are available to FMU students, faculty, and staff at no charge upon showing an FMU ID. Tickets to the general public are $10, as space allows. The FMU PAC Ticket Office at 201 South Dargan Street is open Monday through Friday, 12:00pm – 5:00pm, or by calling 843-661-4444.
FMU String Ensemble
Dr. Terry Roberts, director
FMU Department of Fine Arts
Blackbox Theatre, Performing Arts Center/Downtown Florence
7:30 p.m. Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Open to all university students and faculty interested in learning and performing chamber music, the University String Ensemble members meet for weekly rehearsals during Fall and Spring academic semesters, giving public recitals and accompanying other campus ensembles.
Tickets are available to FMU students, faculty, and staff at no charge upon showing an FMU ID. Tickets to the general public are $10, as space allows. The FMU PAC Ticket Office at 201 South Dargan Street is open Monday through Friday, 12:00pm – 5:00pm, or by calling 843-661-4444.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet
The Warehouse Theatre
FMU Artist Series
Performing Arts Center/Downtown Florence
7:30 p.m. Wednesday, November 6, 2024
Corruption, Revenge, and Madness
Follow Prince Hamlet as he grapples with grief, betrayal, and the ghost of his murdered father. Will he avenge his death? Can he escape the cycle of violence?
This new production featuring a small cast playing multiple roles utilizes The Warehouse Theatre’s highly theatrical and accessible approach to Shakespeare’s texts to bring the story to life for audiences in exciting and unexpected ways.
Tickets are available to FMU students, faculty, and staff at no charge upon showing an FMU ID. Tickets to the general public are $10, as space allows. The FMU PAC Ticket Office at 201 South Dargan Street is open Monday through Friday, 12:00pm – 5:00pm, or by calling 843-661-4444.
FMU Music Industry Ensemble
Dr. Brandon Goff, director
FMU Department of Fine Arts
Chapman Auditorium, McNair Science Building
7:30 p.m. Thursday, November 7, 2024
The Music Industry Ensemble is a chamber ensemble devoted to the development of individual performance and improvisation skills through the staging of music for small groups representing a variety of classic and modern jazz, pop, rock and soul styles. The M.I.E. provides a workshop in which students also learn arranging, microphone technique and scheduling, sound reinforcement and lighting design.
Please contact Dr. Brandon Goff bgoff@fmarion.edu for additional information about participating in the M.I. Ensemble.
Thanks to the Music Industry program, there is no charge for this performance. General admission, no advance reservations needed.
Dana & Kyle, Irish Fiddle & Guitar
FMU Artist Series
Blackbox Theatre, Performing Arts Center/Downtown Florence
7:30 p.m. Wednesday, November 13, 2024
Hailed as “first-rate, versatile musicians” by The New Yorker and “a top-notch fiddle-and-guitar duo” by The New York Times, Dana Lyn and Kyle Sanna connect the dots between their experience as composers and improvisers in New York City’s rich musical community and their deep admiration for traditional Irish music. Rooted in this tradition, the branches of Lyn and Sanna’s collaboration extend to include projected animations, augmented reality, dance, video, and orchestral compositions. The duo has collaborated with some of the greatest interpreters of Irish music, including Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill, Cillian Vallely, Kevin Burke, and Mick McAuley, and with choreographers Darrah Carr Byrne and Seán Curran. They have received commissions from New York’s Irish Arts Center and from Palaver Strings. Their projects “The Great Arc”, “The Coral Suite”, and “Under the Sea-Wind” are focused on themes of environmental fragility.
Tickets are available to FMU students, faculty, and staff at no charge upon showing an FMU ID. Tickets to the general public are $10, as space allows. The FMU PAC Ticket Office at 201 South Dargan Street is open Monday through Friday, 12:00pm – 5:00pm, or by calling 843-661-4444.
TREKKING — Khasma Piano Duo
with Chris Craychee
FMU Artist Series
Blackbox Theatre, Performing Arts Center/Downtown Florence
7:30 p.m. Monday, November 18, 2024
The Khasma Piano Duo was formed in 2012 by Ashlee Mack and Katherine Palumbo. They have been playing together since meeting at Bucknell University in 2000. Because of their shared enthusiasm for contemporary music, the duo has dedicated themselves to the performance and recording of works from the 20th and 21st centuries. They have given world-premiere performances of music by notable living composers including Chris Catone, Hong-Da Chin, Kyong Mee Choi, Matthew Heap, Jeff Herriott, Amelia Kaplan, Robert Morris, Lawrence Moss, James Romig, and David Vayo.
Khasma’s current tour, Trekking, is inspired by people and nature moving through space and time. It is a celebration of the duo’s 10th anniversary and features selections from seven new works commissioned by Khasma, accompanied by the video art of Chris Craychee.
Their albums Switchback and Time Seems To Pass are available at Amazon, iTunes, and Bandcamp. Additional recordings can be heard on Innova and Navona Records.
Tickets are available to FMU students, faculty, and staff at no charge upon showing an FMU ID. Tickets to the general public are $10, as space allows. The FMU PAC Ticket Office at 201 South Dargan Street is open Monday through Friday, 12:00pm – 5:00pm, or by calling 843-661-4444.
Student Directed One-Act Plays
Francis Marion University Directing II Classes
Fine Arts Theatre, Hyman Fine Arts Center
7:30 pm, November 20-21, 2024
Student directed one-act plays by Fall 2024 Directing II class.
RESERVATIONS: This performance is free and open to the public. No reservations, general admission.
FMU Jazz Combo
Dr. Paolo André Gualdi, director
FMU Department of Fine Arts
Blackbox Theatre, Performing Arts Center/Downtown Florence
7:30 pm Tuesday, November 19, 2024
The FMU Jazz Combo allows students in a small group setting to learn and hone improvisational skills within the the jazz idiom. Works have been selected from music by Corea, Glasper, Shorter, and more.
Tickets are available to FMU students, faculty, and staff at no charge upon showing an FMU ID. Tickets to the general public are $10, as space allows. The FMU PAC Ticket Office at 201 South Dargan Street is open Monday through Friday, 12:00pm – 5:00pm, or by calling 843-661-4444.
FMU Percussion Ensemble
Dr. Brian Jones, director
FMU Department of Fine Arts
Blackbox Theatre, Performing Arts Center/Downtown Florence
7:30 pm Wednesday, November 20, 2024
The Francis Marion University Percussion Ensemble is a contemporary chamber ensemble that explores the world of percussion from an improvisation-based approach. We model our performance methodology and musical ideology on the performance practice of drummer/composer Max Roach’s percussion ensemble M’Boom, especially in their focus on jazz and non-Western musical cultures as a touchstone for aesthetic inspiration. We employ improvisation as a key mode of praxis—both in terms of theory and practice—and special focus is given to compositions invented during collective improvisation exercises. Additionally, we explore “minimalism,” “game,” and “open score” notation/compositional systems, while also examining the ways in which poetry and literature can be interpreted in a musical setting.
Tickets are available to FMU students, faculty, and staff at no charge upon showing an FMU ID. Tickets to the general public are $10, as space allows. The FMU PAC Ticket Office at 201 South Dargan Street is open Monday through Friday, 12:00pm – 5:00pm, or by calling 843-661-4444.
FMU Concert Choir and Voice Collective
Dr. Fran Coleman
FMU Department of Fine Arts
Performing Arts Center/Downtown Florence
7:30 p.m. Monday, November 25, 2024
Open to all university students, the University Concert Choir has an average enrollment of between 35 and 45 students. This group has sung in numerous area churches and has also performed with the Florence Symphony Orchestra. They have performed such major choral works as the “Polovetzian Dance and Chorus” of Alexander Borodin, the “Schicksalslied” of Johannes Brahms, and the Ninth Symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven. Recently their concerts have included selections accompanied by the newly formed Francis Marion string ensemble.
Francis Marion’s Voice Collective is a small, audition-only vocal group. This group performs throughout the region for schools and service organizations. They have also performed in Orlando, Florida, in Baltimore, Maryland, in Washington, D.C., in Vienna, Austria, and on a performance cruise to the Bahamas.
Tickets are available to FMU students, faculty, and staff at no charge upon showing an FMU ID. Tickets to the general public are $10, as space allows. The FMU PAC Ticket Office at 201 South Dargan Street is open Monday through Friday, 12:00pm – 5:00pm, or by calling 843-661-4444.
Studio Voice Recital – Students of Dr. Fran Coleman
FMU Department of Fine Arts
Adele Kassab Recital Hall, Hyman Fine Arts Center
7:30 pm Monday, December 2, 2024
Come celebrate the accomplishments of voice students in Dr. Coleman’s studio as they perform classical as well as contemporary songs.
RESERVATIONS: This performance is free and open to the public. No reservations, general admission.
Quentin Baxter Jazz Trio: Music of Abdullah Ibrahim
Demetrius Doctor, piano
Vaughny Green, bass
Quentin E. Baxter, drums
FMU Artist Series
Blackbox Theatre, Performing Arts Center/Downtown Florence
7:30 p.m. Monday, January 22, 2025
Abdullah Ibrahim (b. 1934), is a South African pianist and composer. His music reflects many of the musical influences of his childhood in the multicultural port areas of Cape Town, ranging from traditional African songs to the gospel of the AME Church and Ragas, to more modern jazz and other Western styles. Within jazz, his music particularly reflects the influence of Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington.
Quentin E. Baxter, a native of Charleston, SC, comes from a family of drummers with his mother leading the troupe. “I’m unable to recall a moment in my youth void of having drums either at home or church.” Baxter’s unique skillsets have garnered a GRAMMY Award as producer/performer, in total 4 GRAMMY Nominations as producer/performer, the 2017 South Carolina Governor’s Award for the Arts, a City of Charleston Proclamation “Quentin E. Baxter Day” – April 25, 2017, the 2017 College of Charleston Alumnus of the Year Award, the 2017 Eddie Ganaway Distinquished Alumni Award, and a 2017 Inductee to the Savannah Coastal Jazz Hall of Fame.
Tickets are available to FMU students, faculty, and staff at no charge upon showing an FMU ID. Tickets to the general public are $10, as space allows. The FMU PAC Ticket Office at 201 South Dargan Street is open Monday through Friday, 12:00pm – 5:00pm, or by calling 843-661-4444.
Sister Robert Anne’s Cabaret Class
Francis Marion University Theatre
Director: Prof. A. Glen Gourley
Blackbox Theatre, Performing Arts Center/Downtown Florence
7:30 pm Wednesday-Saturday, February 12-15, 2025
A one-woman show filled with delightful Nunsense humor and audience participation segments, Sister Robert Anne’s Cabaret Class requires only a blackboard, a desk and a piano. Sister Robert Anne and her musical accompanist “teach” her “class” how to put together a cabaret act. Interspersed are some of the best and most memorable Nunsense musical numbers.
Sister Robert Anne’s Cabaret Class presents highlights from all seven Nunsense shows: Nunsense, Nunsense II, Nunsense Jamboree, Nuncrackers, Meshuggah-Nuns!, Nunsensations! and Nunset Boulevard.
Tickets are available to FMU students, faculty, and staff at no charge upon showing an FMU ID. Tickets to the general public are $10, as space allows. The FMU PAC Ticket Office at 201 South Dargan Street is open Monday through Friday, 12:00pm – 5:00pm, or by calling 843-661-4444.
S.C. Chamber Music Festival
South Carolina Chamber Music Festival
Paolo André Gualdi, artistic director
FMU Department of Fine Arts, Artist Series and REAL Grant Program
Blackbox Theatre, Performing Arts Center/Downtown Florence
7:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, February 25-28, 2025
February 25
Heidi Lucas, horn; Paolo Gualdi, piano
February 26-27
VeMaDeAn Duo recording session, master class and concert
Anastasia Petrunina, violin; Denis Petrunin, percussion
February 28
Eurasia Trio and Friends
Qiao Solomon, violin; Martin Gueorguiev, cello; Bryan Hall, violin; David Johnson, viola
Tickets are available to FMU students, faculty, and staff at no charge upon showing an FMU ID. Tickets to the general public are $10, as space allows. The FMU PAC Ticket Office at 201 South Dargan Street is open Monday through Friday, 12:00pm – 5:00pm, or by calling 843-661-4444.
Petronel Malan, piano
FMU Artist Series
Blackbox Theatre, Performing Arts Center/Downtown Florence
7:30 p.m. Monday, March 3, 2025
Petronel maintains a full performance schedule as recitalist, orchestral soloist and chamber musician in major venues throughout the world. After her European debut in Rome, further highlights have included Carnegie Recital Hall, Théâtre du Châtelet & Salle Cortot (Paris), Mozarteum (Salzburg), Liszt Museum (Budapest), Orchestra Hall (Chicago), Alte Handelsbörse (Leipzig), Bass Hall (Fort Worth), as well as the Ravinia, Gilmore & Music in the Mountain Festivals. Petronel has appeared with orchestras such as the St. Petersburg State (Russia), Martinú (Czech Republic), Bucaramanga (Colombia), Batumi (Republic of Georgia), Sicilian Chamber (Italy), and several others in the US and South Africa, under the batons of Vasily Petrenko, Bernhard Gueller, Karina Canellakis, Dmitry Manilov, Yoshimi Takeda, James Brooks, Robert Hanson, and Fuzao Kajima.
Tickets are available to FMU students, faculty, and staff at no charge upon showing an FMU ID. Tickets to the general public are $10, as space allows. The FMU PAC Ticket Office at 201 South Dargan Street is open Monday through Friday, 12:00pm – 5:00pm, or by calling 843-661-4444.
FMU Concert Band
Dr. Terry Roberts, conductor
FMU Department of Fine Arts
Mainstage Theatre, Performing Arts Center/Downtown Florence
7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 4, 2025
The Francis Marion University Concert Band will be performing its fall concert at the FMU Performing Arts Center in downtown Florence.
The Francis Marion University Concert Band is composed of FMU students as well as community members from the Pee Dee region. Community members include professional area music educators, band directors, choir directors, ministers of music, and FMU music faculty members. Membership is open to all FMU students and area residents who are experienced concert band instrumentalists. Performances include traditional concert band music as well as popular and show music. The program began as a way to give students of FMU a chance to perform music, earn academic credit for performance in the ensemble, and to become involved with other students in campus life.
Beginning in the spring of 2002, the FMU Concert Band rehearsals were scheduled on Tuesday evenings and adult musicians from the region were invited to participate. The band continues to rehearse every Tuesday evening.
We are always seeking additional participants; if you play a band instrument or know someone looking for a place to play, please contact us. Information can be found at Music – Instrumental Program or email Dr. Terry Roberts at troberts@fmarion.edu
Tickets are available to FMU students, faculty, and staff at no charge upon showing an FMU ID. Tickets to the general public are $10, as space allows. The FMU PAC Ticket Office at 201 South Dargan Street is open Monday through Friday, 12:00pm – 5:00pm, or by calling 843-661-4444.
FMU String Ensemble
Dr. Terry Roberts, director
FMU Department of Fine Arts
Blackbox Theatre, Performing Arts Center/Downtown Florence
7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 19, 2025
Open to all university students and faculty interested in learning and performing chamber music, the University String Ensemble members meet for weekly rehearsals during Fall and Spring academic semesters, giving public recitals and accompanying other campus ensembles.
Tickets are available to FMU students, faculty, and staff at no charge upon showing an FMU ID. Tickets to the general public are $10, as space allows. The FMU PAC Ticket Office at 201 South Dargan Street is open Monday through Friday, 12:00pm – 5:00pm, or by calling 843-661-4444.
Eduardo Monteiro, piano
FMU Artist Series
Blackbox Theatre, Performing Arts Center/Downtown Florence
7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 1, 2025
FMU Jazz Combo
Dr. Paolo André Gualdi, director
FMU Department of Fine Arts
Blackbox Theatre, Performing Arts Center/Downtown Florence
7:30 pm Tuesday, April 8, 2025
The FMU Jazz Combo allows students in a small group setting to learn and hone improvisational skills within the the jazz idiom. Works have been selected from music by Corea, Glasper, Shorter, and more.
Tickets are available to FMU students, faculty, and staff at no charge upon showing an FMU ID. Tickets to the general public are $10, as space allows. The FMU PAC Ticket Office at 201 South Dargan Street is open Monday through Friday, 12:00pm – 5:00pm, or by calling 843-661-4444.
FMU Percussion Ensemble
Dr. Brian Jones, director
FMU Department of Fine Arts
Blackbox Theatre, Performing Arts Center/Downtown Florence
7:30 pm Wednesday, April 9, 2025
The Francis Marion University Percussion Ensemble is a contemporary chamber ensemble that explores the world of percussion from an improvisation-based approach. We model our performance methodology and musical ideology on the performance practice of drummer/composer Max Roach’s percussion ensemble M’Boom, especially in their focus on jazz and non-Western musical cultures as a touchstone for aesthetic inspiration. We employ improvisation as a key mode of praxis—both in terms of theory and practice—and special focus is given to compositions invented during collective improvisation exercises. Additionally, we explore “minimalism,” “game,” and “open score” notation/compositional systems, while also examining the ways in which poetry and literature can be interpreted in a musical setting.
Tickets are available to FMU students, faculty, and staff at no charge upon showing an FMU ID. Tickets to the general public are $10, as space allows. The FMU PAC Ticket Office at 201 South Dargan Street is open Monday through Friday, 12:00pm – 5:00pm, or by calling 843-661-4444.
Theatre Production TBA
Francis Marion University Theatre
Director: Dr. D. Keith Best
Fine Arts Theatre, Hyman Fine Arts Center
7:30 pm, April 10-12, 2025
Theatre Production TBA.
RESERVATIONS: This performance is free and open to the public. No reservations, general admission.
FMU Concert Choir and Voice Collective
Featuring Keith Hanlon, flute
Dr. Fran Coleman
FMU Department of Fine Arts
Performing Arts Center/Downtown Florence
7:30 p.m. Monday, April 14, 2025
Open to all university students, the University Concert Choir has an average enrollment of between 35 and 45 students. This group has sung in numerous area churches and has also performed with the Florence Symphony Orchestra. They have performed such major choral works as the “Polovetzian Dance and Chorus” of Alexander Borodin, the “Schicksalslied” of Johannes Brahms, and the Ninth Symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven. Recently their concerts have included selections accompanied by the newly formed Francis Marion string ensemble.
Francis Marion’s Voice Collective is a small, audition-only vocal group. This group performs throughout the region for schools and service organizations. They have also performed in Orlando, Florida, in Baltimore, Maryland, in Washington, D.C., in Vienna, Austria, and on a performance cruise to the Bahamas.
Tickets are available to FMU students, faculty, and staff at no charge upon showing an FMU ID. Tickets to the general public are $10, as space allows. The FMU PAC Ticket Office at 201 South Dargan Street is open Monday through Friday, 12:00pm – 5:00pm, or by calling 843-661-4444.
Keith Hanlon, flute
FMU Artist Series
Kassab Recital Hall, Hyman Fine Arts Center
7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 15, 2025
FMU Music Industry Ensemble
Dr. Brandon Goff, director
FMU Department of Fine Arts
Performing Arts Center/Downtown Florence
7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 16, 2025
The Music Industry Ensemble is a chamber ensemble devoted to the development of individual performance and improvisation skills through the staging of music for small groups representing a variety of classic and modern jazz, pop, rock and soul styles. The M.I.E. provides a workshop in which students also learn arranging, microphone technique and scheduling, sound reinforcement and lighting design.
Please contact Dr. Brandon Goff bgoff@fmarion.edu for additional information about participating in the M.I. Ensemble.
Tickets are available to FMU students, faculty, and staff at no charge upon showing an FMU ID. Tickets to the general public are $10, as space allows. The FMU PAC Ticket Office at 201 South Dargan Street is open Monday through Friday, 12:00pm – 5:00pm, or by calling 843-661-4444.
Studio Voice Recital – Students of Dr. Fran Coleman
FMU Department of Fine Arts
Adele Kassab Recital Hall, Hyman Fine Arts Center
7:30 pm Monday, April 21, 2025
Come celebrate the accomplishments of voice students in Dr. Coleman’s studio as they perform classical as well as contemporary songs.
RESERVATIONS: This performance is free and open to the public. No reservations, general admission.