The St. Petersburg Celebration of the Arts highlights the creative ambiance of this city, renowned for its numerous splendid cultural organizations. This annual city-wide February festival in our “City of the Arts” involves all of our major musical and theatrical groups and museums united around the exploration of a singular theme. The inaugural season throughout February of 2019 centers around William Shakespeare.
In addition to our online exhibition For the Love of Shakespeare, other local museum February offerings include:
- Speak Low Gallery Guide: Romantic Shakespearean quotes paired with studio glass artist couplings. Imagine Museum, 1901 Central Avenue, St. Petersburg 33713.
- Matching sonnets by William Shakespeare to works currently on view, featuring Hendrick de Clerk’s Venus and Mars Surprised by Vulcan. Museum of Fine Arts 255 Beach Drive NorthEast, St. Petersburg 33701.
- Shakespeare in the Park in St. Petersburg exhibition. Saint Petersburg Museum of History, 335 2nd Avenue NE, St. Petersburg 33701.
- Shakespeare Goes West! Explore the American West through Shakespeare’s eyes. Stroll through the galleries to find Shakespeare quotes paired with art, and writing prompts to spark your imagination. The James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art, 150 Central Avenue St. Petersburg 33701.
The month-long Celebration also features:
- Friday, February 1, 10- 11:15 pm
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Aren’t Dead. Spitfire Theater Improv Production, 14 18th Street South, St. Petersburg 33712. - Saturday, February 2, 2pm
St. Petersburg Opera’s winter musical Cole Porter’s Kiss Me Kate (1948). The Palladium Theater, 253 5th Avenue North, St. Petersburg 33701. - Sunday, February 3, 2pm
St. Petersburg Opera’s winter musical Cole Porter’s Kiss Me Kate (1948). The Palladium Theater, 253 5th Avenue North, St. Petersburg 33701. - Tuesday, February 5, 7:30pm
St. Petersburg Opera’s winter musical Cole Porter’s Kiss Me Kate (1948). The Palladium Theater, 253 5th Avenue North, St. Petersburg 33701. - Thursday, February 7, 5:30pm
21st Century Funk and Fancy exhibition and lecture: “I as rich in having such a jewel” from The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Florida CraftArt, 501 Central Avenue, St. Petersburg 33701. - Friday, February 8, 7:30pm
St. Petersburg Opera’s winter musical Cole Porter’s Kiss Me Kate (1948). The Palladium Theater, 253 5th Avenue North, St. Petersburg 33701. - Friday, February 8, 10- 11:15pm
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Aren’t Dead. Spitfire Theater Improv Production, 14 18th Street South, St. Petersburg 33712. - Saturday, February 9, 10am-5pm
St. Petersburg Shakespeare Festival under Veronica Matthews working rehearsal of Hamlett, Snell, and Ella J. Auditorium of The James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art, 150 Central Avenue, St. Petersburg 33701. - Saturday, February 9, 7pm
St. Petersburg Shakespeare Festival under Veronica Matthews performance of Hamlett, Snell, and Ella J. Saint Petersburg Museum of History, 335 2nd Avenue NE, St. Petersburg 33701. - Sunday, February 10, 2pm
St. Petersburg Opera’s winter musical Cole Porter’s Kiss Me Kate (1948). The Palladium Theater, 253 5th Avenue North, St. Petersburg 33701. - Monday, February 11, 7pm
Classical Revolution: featuring Daniel Black, assistant conductor at The Florida Orchestra, and his Suite from “The Winter’s Tale” (2011) for flute, bassoon, and string quartet (2 violins, viola, cello) along with Beethoven’s String Quartet in F Major, Opus 18, No.1 2nd movement inspired by Romeo and Juliet tomb scene. Iberian Rooster, 475 Central Avenue, St. Petersburg 33701. - Wednesday, February 13, 8pm
The Palladium Chamber Players as a special presentation by the Palladium Theatre featuring Amy Schwartz Moretti, violin, and Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s trio on Much Ado About Nothing Suite as well as Beethoven’s The Tempest Piano Sonata No. 17 in D Minor, Opus 31, No. 2 and something from his unrealized opera Hamlet. The Palladium Theater, 253 5th Avenue North, St. Petersburg 33701. - Friday, February 15, 10-11:15pm
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Aren’t Dead. Spitfire Theater Improv Production, 14 18th Street South, St. Petersburg 33712. - Sunday, February 17, 7pm
Shakespeare’s Lovers. The American Stage Theatre Company, 163 3rd Street North, St. Petersburg 33701. - Monday, February 18, 7pm
Shakespeare is a Drag: Scenes and Monologues with Matthew McGee and Roxanne Fay. freeFall Theatre, 6099 Central Avenue, St. Petersburg 33710. - Tuesday, February 19, 8pm
Tampa Bay Symphony: Brush Up Your Shakespeare with Mark Sforzini conducting and featuring Jeffrey Smick, violin, and Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture (1869, revised 1870 and 1880) and Edward MacDowell’s (1860 – 1908) Hamlet and Ophelia Opus 22 — The Palladium Theater. 253 5th Avenue North, St. Petersburg 33701. - Thursday, February 21, 7:30pm
Inside The Music (an event without charge): Michael Francis, the Music Director of The Florida Orchestra, discusses and then conducts the orchestra in a performance of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 27 (on the same program as Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream presented on February 24th). The Palladium Theater, 253 5th Avenue North, St. Petersburg 33701. - Friday, February 22, 7pm
Screening of Midsummer in Newtown produced by Tom Yellin and directed by Lloyd Kramer to be followed by a Panel Discussion with director Michael Unger of Newtown, Connecticut’s student production of A ROCKIN’ Midsummer Night’s Dream after the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, psychiatrist Stephen Groff, and Admiral Farragut Academy educator Tracy Reilly. Saint Petersburg Museum of History, 335 2nd Avenue NE, St. Petersburg 33701. - Friday, February 22, 10-11:15pm
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Aren’t Dead. Spitfire Theater Improv Production, 14 18th Street South, St. Petersburg 33712. - Saturday, February 23, 1- 3pm
KEEP ST. PETE LIT writing class inspired by Shakespeare for ages 18 and up. The Morean Arts Center, 719 Central Avenue, St. Petersburg 33701. - Saturday, February 23, 8pm
The Florida Orchestra Masterworks Concert with Michael Francis conducting Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1826 concert overture Opus 21 and later in 1842 incidental music Opus 61), a rare performance of the full work, featuring the Lumina Youth Choir in Residence at the University of South Florida School of Music, soloists, a narrator and more. The Palladium Theater, 253 5th Avenue North, St. Petersburg 33701. - Sunday, February 24, 2pm
Professor Sara Munson Deats, Why The Merchant of Venice is not an Antisemitic Play sponsored by the St. Petersburg Chapter of Hadassah, with selections from the forthcoming exhibition of Arthur Szyk’s graphics illustrating The Last Days of Shylock written by Ludwig Lewisohn and published by Harper & Brothers in 1931 to be viewed during the reception. The Florida Holocaust Museum, 55 5th Street South, St. Petersburg 33701. - Thursday, February 28, 11am
The Florida Orchestra Coffee Concert: Symphonic Shakespeare with Stuart Malina conducting Cole Porter’s Brush Up Your Shakespeare, Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream selections, Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet selections. The Mahaffey Theater, 400 1st Street South, St. Petersburg 33701.