A Feast of Music and a Film Festival

The Culture Edit, January 12th-25th

Author

Susan Bannon
January 11, 2026

January is always a busy month for our cultural calendar, but this week’s newsletter has so much music, I could hardly fit it all in! The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, classical composer John Adams, and jazz royalty Diana Krall are all in town for special performances.

Cinephiles can take in the Miami Jewish Film Festival, opening Wednesday for fifteen days of new and awarded film screenings (including 20 world premieres), plus two short film retrospectives - a compilation of award-winning shorts from the Sundance Film Festival at O Cinema and the annual ScreenDance Miami Festival at locations around town.

In nightlife news, I was so excited to hear that Terras, the cozy Little Havana rooftop that managed to combine gorgeous city views with a relaxed un-sceney vibe, has reopened. A perfect spot to toast the new year!

Let’s get planning…

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Music

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Award-winning conductor Vasily Petrenko leads the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for a one-night-only concert at the Arsht Center, tackling Sibelius’ luminous Symphony No. 2 and Tchaikovsky’s challenging Violin Concerto, with the help of violin virtuoso Ray Chen.

Sunday, January 18th, 7:30pm, Knight Concert Hall at the Arsht Center, $48-$206

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Nearby Eats: Yamashiro, Bunbury, Maple & Ash | Drinks: Eight Bar, ViceVersa

Cleveland Orchestra Verdi’s Requiem

Award-winning soprano Asmik Gregorian joins the The Cleveland Orchestra for Verdi’s “Requiem.”

The Cleveland Orchestra, considered by many to be America’s best, opens its annual Miami winter residency with this blockbuster performance of Verdi’s powerful Requiem, featuring a host of elite guest vocalists, including opera singer Asmik Gregorian, and the full Cleveland Orchestra Chorus. With this much vocal power, the iconic “Dies Irae” movement might blow the roof off of Knight Concert Hall.

January 23rd-24th, Knight Concert Hall at Arsht Center, $41-$221

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Nearby Eats: Eight Bar, Bunbury, Mignonette | Drinks: Yamashiro, ViceVersa

More Upcoming Music Events:

  • Thursday, January 15th: UM’s Frost School of Music presents a free jazz concert at McBride Plaza in downtown Coral Gables by the award-winning Leah Rutherford Quartet, 5:30-7:30pm.

  • Friday, January 16th: Seraphic Fire presents an exuberant evening of gospel music under the direction of internationally celebrated conductor Jason Max Ferdinand, at Church of the Little Flower at 8pm.

  • January 17th-18th: Stéphane Denève and the New World Symphony welcome legendary composer and conductor John Adams for a retrospective concert of his works, at New World Center. The Saturday concert will be projected for a free WALLCAST in Soundscape Park.

  • Saturday, January 17th: Grammy-winning rapper Lupe Fiasco joins the Nu Deco Ensemble for a concert celebrating the poetry of hip hop, plus a new original Nu Deco work and Shostakovich’s sweeping Symphony No. 5, at the Miami Beach Bandshell at 8pm.

  • Thursday, January 22nd: South Florida Symphony Orchestra welcomes pianist Svetlana Smolina for a performance of Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major and Vaughan Williams’ haunting Fantasia, at New World Center at 7:30pm.

  • Thursday, January 22nd: Touring since 1956, the world-famous Glen Miller Orchestra lands at the Moss Center for an evening of Big Band classics, at 7pm.

  • Saturday, January 24th: Sanctuary of the Arts welcomes category-defying pianist Mike Gerber whose style combines classical works with jazz improvisation, at 7pm.

  • Sunday, January 25th: Claire Chase, internationally-known flutist, joins the New World Fellows for a chamber performance of works from her groundbreaking commissioning project Density 2036, at New World Center at 2pm.

  • Sunday, January 25th: Chart-topping Grammy-winner Diana Krall brings her smoky jazz vocals to the Arsht Center as part of her This Dream of You tour, at 7pm.

Indie Cinema

Disposable Humanity: Screening with Director Q&A

Day Two of the Miami Jewish Film Festival brings us this southeast U.S. premiere screening of Disposable Humanity, with an introduction and post-screening talk by director Cameron S. Mitchell. A documentary two decades in the making, Disposable Humanity explores the little-known history of Germany’s pre-war Aktion T4 program, which murdered more than 300,000 disabled people between 1939 and 1941. Sponsored by the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach, this screening is free of charge.

Friday, January 15th, 6pm, O Cinema South Beach, Free

Neighborhood: South Beach

Pure Luck: Screening with Director Q&A

The final night of the Miami Jewish Film Festival features Pure Luck, a riotous new comedy by acclaimed Israeli filmmakers and "Kings of Israeli Comedy" Hanan Savyon and Guy Amir (Netflix’s Bros). The plot follows two hapless TV repairmen in their search for a lucky break that spirals into a wild misadventure of murder, mobsters, and spectacular misfortune. Savyon and Amir will be on hand to introduce this southeast U.S. premiere screening, and will host a post-film talk.

Saturday, January 24th, 8pm, Michael-Ann Russell JCC, $15-$16

Neighborhood: North Miami Beach / Aventura

Nearby Eats: Xino Chinese (inside Reunion Ktchn), Barra Callao, Korean Kitchen | Drinks: Original Sin, Reunion Ktchn Bar

More Indie Cinema:

Art Events

Miami Beach A Million Years Ago

As part of its free “Third Thursdays” series, The Bass Museum welcomes local historian Malcolm Laredo for an immersive outdoor walking lecture on Miami’s geological and cultural past, featuring interactive wall projections and a “research tent” back inside the museum. *We Met in Miami, a group that helps foster new connections with friends or more, will be participating in this event.

Thursday, January 15th, 6-9pm, Bass Museum of Art, Free with RSVP

Neighborhood: Miami Beach

75th Annual Beaux Arts Festival of Art

A Miami tradition for 75 years, the Beaux Arts Festival of Art is a two-day juried art festival that features over 200 selected art exhibitors, plus live music, kids’ activities, a beer & wine garden, plenty of festival food, a marketplace for local vendors, and free admission to UM’s Lowe Art Museum. Each year, thousands of visitors come out to enjoy the art and the typically beautiful weather on UM’s gorgeous campus.

January 17th-18th, 10am-5pm, University of Miami campus, Free

Neighborhood: UM / Coral Gables

Nearby Eats: Vice City Pizza, Mamey, Daniel’s | Drinks: Fox’s Lounge, Titanic (of course!)

More Art Events:

  • Thursday, January 15th: Bakehouse Art Complex and Villa Albertine present an artist talk with photographer Cédrine Scheidig, at Bakehouse at 6pm.

  • Saturday, January 17th: KDR Gallery presents The Voyage, a solo show of work by Miami-born multimedia artist Mark Thomas Gibson, with a reception from 6-8pm.

  • Saturday, January 17th: Mindy Solomon Gallery opens three solo shows for artists Ornella Pocetti, Zoe Schweiger, and Lanise Howard, with a reception from 6-8:30pm.

  • Saturday, January 17th: Voloshyn Gallery opens Who’s there, old question, who’s here, a group exhibition curated by Harold Mendez, with a reception from 6-8:30pm.

Theater

The Inheritance, Part 1

Zoetic Stage presents The Inheritance, Part 1, the most honored American play in a generation (it won basically all of the “Best Play” awards in London and New York, including Tony, Olivier, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle). The play reimagines E. M. Forster’s Howards End as a contemporary portrait of New York’s gay community, with gay men from different generations standing in for Forster’s clash of social classes. *Note: this show contains mature themes and content, including depictions of nudity and explicit material as part of the story.

January 8th-25th, Carnival Studios Theater at the Arsht Center, $67-$73

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Sotto Voce

Gablestage presents Sotto Voce, a lyrical meditation on memory, longing, and the legacy of the Holocaust, written and directed by Pulitzer Prize winner Nilo Cruz (Anna in the Tropics). The plot follows a young Jewish-Cuban researcher obsessed with the MS St. Louis, leading him to an 80-year-old novelist who is still haunted by the love she lost aboard the doomed voyage.

January 23rd-February 15th, 7:30pm evenings, 2pm matinees, Gablestage at the Biltmore, $40-$60

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

Dance

Monica Bill Barnes & Co: Many Happy Returns

“Many Happy Returns” debuted recently at New York’s Playwrights Horizons. Photo credit: Paula Lobo

The Moss Center presents Many Happy Returns, an intimate dance theater work by Monica Bill Barnes & Company that was a New York Times Critic’s Pick for 2025. (Gia Kourlas loved it, so we should go.) In the partly improvised show, narrator Robbie Saenz de Viteri co-creates the main character with choreographer and dancer Monica Bill Barnes, who dances her way through memories and past iterations of herself.

January 24th-25th, Lab Theater at the Moss Center, $45

Neighborhood: Cutler Bay

Nearby Eats: Not much! Grab dinner at Platea or Golden Rule Seafood on your way down there and have some rooftop cocktails at Ivy Rooftop or martinis at Fox’s on your way back.

More Dance Events:

  • Sunday, January 18th: Flamenco Sephardit returns to the Miami Beach Bandshell, featuring a cast of international opera stars, Flamenco masters, dancers and classical musicians, at 7pm.

  • Wednesday, January 21st: For opening night of the annual ScreenDance Miami Festival, Miami Light Project presents one short and one feature-length dance film at the Miami Beach Bandshell, at 7:30pm.

  • Friday, January 23rd: Continuing the annual ScreenDance Miami Festival, Miami Light Project presents Films You Gotta See BIG!, a double feature of dance films by Jennifer Lin, projected on the side of New World Center in Soundscape Park, from 7-9pm.

Opera

Die Fledermaus

Florida Grand Opera presents Johann Strauss II’s glittering comedic operetta Die Fledermaus, bringing 19th century Vienna to life with sumptuous period sets and costumes, and featuring one of opera’s most challenging notes - the high D in Adele’s “laughing song." The plot follows an elaborate prank at a high-society costume ball that goes sideways and lands everyone in jail. (Typical Friday night.)

January 24th-27th, Ziff Ballet Opera House at the Arsht Center, $32-$357

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Nearby Eats: Brasserie Laurel, Casadonna, Klaw | Drinks: Klaw rooftop, ViceVersa

Book Talks

New Literary Series Launch at The Betsy

Books & Books is launching a new literary series with The Betsy Hotel, providing month-long mini-residencies to nationally recognized authors, plus monthly book talks. The inaugural talk will feature literary super-agent Alia Hanna Habib, discussing her new book, Take It From Me: An Agent’s Guide to Building a Nonfiction Writing Career from Scratch.

Sunday, January 25th, 4pm, The Betsy Hotel, Free

Neighborhood: South Beach

Nearby Eats: La Leggenda Pizzeria, Tropezón, The Drexel | Drinks: The Piano Bar at The Betsy, Bamboo Room

Performance Coach Susan Chu at Books & Books

Books & Books welcomes author Susan Chu and entrepreneur Ana Chaud to discuss Chu’s new book, Own Your Next Move. In the book, Chu offers a practical and reflective guide for navigating career transitions, leadership growth, and personal reinvention with clarity and intention. Sounds like a great way to kick off 2026!

Wednesday, January 21st, 7pm, Books & Books Coral Gables, Free

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

Nearby Eats: Dojo Izakaya, Salumeria 104, Sra. Martinez | Drinks: Books & Books Café, Cebada Rooftop

Planning Ahead

Miami's most anticipated events sell out and those new restaurants you want to try book up. Here are a couple of upcoming events to get on your calendar now…

Wednesday, January 28th

Itzhak Perlman with the Cleveland Symphony

World-renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman celebrates his 80th birthday season with Cinema Serenade, an unforgettable concert with the Cleveland Orchestra celebrating iconic film scores. With his legendary technique and rich sound, Perlman brings to life John Williams' stirring theme from Schindler's List and Ennio Morricone’s beloved Cinema Paradiso, among others.

8pm, Knight Concert Hall at the Arsht Center, $69-$291

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Nearby Eats: Eight Bar, Bunbury, Mignonette | Drinks: Yamashiro, ViceVersa

January 29th-February 22nd

Miami New Drama: English Only

Following the success of last year’s Dangerous Days, journalist and author Nicholas Griffin returns with another brand new work for Miami New Drama, English Only. Set in Miami in 1980, English Only unfolds in the wake of the Mariel Boatlift, when 125,000 new arrivals to South Florida ignited a fierce grassroots campaign to make English the county’s sole language - sparking a showdown with activists determined to keep Miami-Dade bilingual.

Miami New Drama at the Colony Theatre, $40-$85

Neighborhood: Lincoln Road

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