Event
So Much Drama:
Midsummer
with Gulfshore Playhouse and the Naples Philharmonic
A concert and stage performance for high school students
Gulfshore Playhouse
Naples Philharmonic
Radu Paponiu, conductor
The Naples Philharmonic and Gulfshore Playhouse present Midsummer, a 50-minute retelling of Shakespeare’s magical A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Featuring talented actors and musicians, this production is a fanciful tale of love, magic and fairies.
Homeschoolers and families are welcome at the 9:45am performance. For school groups, there are both 9:45am and 11:45am performance times. Please visit the School Programs page for ticketing information on both performance times.

Naples Philharmonic
Naples Philharmonic
Founded in 1982, the Naples Philharmonic normally performs over 140 orchestral and chamber concerts, as well as opera and ballet, education, community and special event concerts from September through June each year.
Meet the Musicians
Alexander Shelley
Artistic and Music Director Designate Meet Alexander
Jack Everly
Principal Pops Conductor Meet Jack
James Ehnes
Artistic Partner Meet James
Radu Paponiu
Associate Conductor Meet Radu
Alvin Ho
Assistant Conductor Meet Alvin
Radu Paponiu
Radu Paponiu
Radu Paponiu is the associate conductor of the Naples Philharmonic and director of the Naples Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. Since 2017, Radu has conducted the Naples Philharmonic in more than 100 different classical, education and pops programs. Radu was also recently appointed artistic and music director of the Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra. As a guest conductor, Radu has appeared with the Transylvania State Philharmonic Orchestra and Banatul Philharmonic of Timişoara in Romania, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, California Young Artists Symphony and National Repertory Orchestra. Radu has collaborated with notable soloists such as Yefim Bronfman, Midori, Vladimir Feltsman, Robert Levin, Nancy Zhou, Stella Chen and the Ébène Quartet. Radu has served as cover conductor with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Konzerthausorchester Berlin, and he has assisted conductors including Andrey Boreyko, Iván Fischer, Fabio Luisi, Stéphane Denève, Hans Graf, Donald Runnicles, Cristian Măcelaru, Bernard Labadie and Ludovic Morlot. Radu has served on the conducting faculty of the Juilliard Pre-College as well as conductor for the Summer Performing Arts with Juilliard in Shanghai, China, and at the Southeast Asia Music Festival in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Radu completed his Master of Music in orchestral conducting at the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Hugh Wolff. While in Boston, Radu was also conductor apprentice with the Handel and Haydn Society. In the summer of 2017, Radu was appointed assistant conductor of the National Repertory Orchestra in Colorado, as well as conducting fellow for the Cabrillo Festival Workshop in California. Radu participated in the prestigious American Academy of Conducting at the Aspen Music Festival and School as the recipient of both the Albert Tipton Aspen Fellowship and the David A. Karetsky Memorial Fellowship. In Aspen, Radu furthered his studies under the guidance of Robert Spano, Larry Rachleff, Leonard Slatkin, Patrick Summers and Federico Cortese.
Meet Radu
Program
Program Information
View this month's program book to get general information about Artis—Naples and to read articles about this month’s activities.
Program Book