Audiences in the Midst of the Music at Miami Beach Classical Music Festival
By Douglas Markowitz | Artburst Miami
July 2, 2025 at 3:12 PM EDT
At a historic synagogue in Miami Beach, a festival organizer is creating a visual experience to accompany symphonic music and opera, hoping it will bring in a whole new group of concertgoers.
The Miami Beach Classical Music Festival is presenting a series of “immersive” performances, one of which sold out last season. This year, it is utilizing a new, permanently installed projection mapping system housed in the ballroom at Temple Emanu-El, the landmark 1948 synagogue located on the intersection of 17th Street and Washington Avenue in Miami Beach.
With the Fillmore Miami Beach concert hall and the New World Center just steps away, the new addition gives the area yet another musical venue, albeit one that’s rooted in new technology. Projection mapping involves using specialized software to create a digital model of any irregular surface – the facade of a building, for instance – in order to cleanly display an image onto it with a video projector.
“We put the entire audience inside of the set with projections” says Michael Rossi, director of the festival. “Last year, we did a ‘space symphony,’ consisting of Gustav Holst’s ‘The Planets.’ It was basically like a Disney ride where the audience was flying from one planet to the other and the whole room was moving with those projections. And that was so popular that we ran for over seven weeks.”
Rossi first encountered the technology at Walt Disney World, where it was used to illuminate the Cinderella Castle at the Magic Kingdom theme park. He then researched its use in elaborate holiday lighting displays, including on his own home in Miami Beach. The lights displays attracted interest from local businesses such as the Betsy Hotel, a sponsor of the festival, and Rossi eventually applied to the City of Miami Beach for funding from the $439 million General Obligation Bond passed in 2018.
“They saw my work, they liked it, and they gave us a million and a half dollars to buy the equipment,” he says.
The projection mapping infrastructure has been warmly welcomed by the temple as well. Ricardo Gil, general manager of Emanu-El Luxury Venue, the company that books and runs private events at the temple, says the technology has already attracted clients beyond the festival. Upcoming bar mitzvah planners at the temple have requested use of the projection mapping, and the venue is currently in talks with a handful of corporate clients. MMF also plans on hosting performances there beyond its festival season.
“Not a lot of people know about our venue,” says Gil. “So it gave us a lot of exposure, and we just felt like it was a really good way to not only service the community by having MMF do these performances there, basically year round. Because before they were able to come in for a certain period of time, set up, and then the projectors would be taken down. But now they’re just going to be permanently installed.”
Founded in 2013, the festival has served as a crucial training ground for young musicians, many of whom move on to more prestigious orchestras; some have been accepted into the Fellows program at New World Symphony, according to Rossi.
The “Immersive Space Symphony” will return in July and August, with performances on Saturday, July 26, Sunday, July 27, and Thursday, July 31 and every Saturday and Sunday in August. Music includes selections from Hans Zimmer’s movie soundtracks such as “Man of Steel” and James Zimmer’s “Apollo 13,” along with other works that create the immersive environment.
Additionally, the festival is also hosting immersive performances of operas at the temple throughout July: Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” on Saturday, July 12 and Sunday, July 13, Dvořák’s “Rusalka” on Friday, July 18 and Saturday, July 19, and John Corigliano’s “The Ghosts of Versailles” on Friday, July 25 and Sunday, July 27. Notably, the festival is making the opera performances free and only charging for preferred seating closer to the stage, which is available for $35 per seat.
WHAT: Miami Beach Classical Music Festival: “Immersive Space Symphony”
WHERE: Temple Emanu-El Ballroom, 1701 Washington Ave., Miami Beach
WHEN: 5 and 7 p.m. Saturday, July 26; 7 p.m. Sunday, July 27; 5 and 7 p.m. Thursday, August 31; 5 and 7 p.m. Friday, August 1; 5 and 7 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday in August.
COST: $35, $55, $65, and $100, along with special pricing for seniors, military and group pricing.
INFORMATION: miamimusicfestival.com
ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit news partner of WLRN, providing news on theater, dance, visual arts, music and the performing arts.
The Miami Beach Classical Music Festival is presenting a series of “immersive” performances, one of which sold out last season. This year, it is utilizing a new, permanently installed projection mapping system housed in the ballroom at Temple Emanu-El, the landmark 1948 synagogue located on the intersection of 17th Street and Washington Avenue in Miami Beach.
With the Fillmore Miami Beach concert hall and the New World Center just steps away, the new addition gives the area yet another musical venue, albeit one that’s rooted in new technology. Projection mapping involves using specialized software to create a digital model of any irregular surface – the facade of a building, for instance – in order to cleanly display an image onto it with a video projector.
“We put the entire audience inside of the set with projections” says Michael Rossi, director of the festival. “Last year, we did a ‘space symphony,’ consisting of Gustav Holst’s ‘The Planets.’ It was basically like a Disney ride where the audience was flying from one planet to the other and the whole room was moving with those projections. And that was so popular that we ran for over seven weeks.”
Rossi first encountered the technology at Walt Disney World, where it was used to illuminate the Cinderella Castle at the Magic Kingdom theme park. He then researched its use in elaborate holiday lighting displays, including on his own home in Miami Beach. The lights displays attracted interest from local businesses such as the Betsy Hotel, a sponsor of the festival, and Rossi eventually applied to the City of Miami Beach for funding from the $439 million General Obligation Bond passed in 2018.
“They saw my work, they liked it, and they gave us a million and a half dollars to buy the equipment,” he says.
The projection mapping infrastructure has been warmly welcomed by the temple as well. Ricardo Gil, general manager of Emanu-El Luxury Venue, the company that books and runs private events at the temple, says the technology has already attracted clients beyond the festival. Upcoming bar mitzvah planners at the temple have requested use of the projection mapping, and the venue is currently in talks with a handful of corporate clients. MMF also plans on hosting performances there beyond its festival season.
“Not a lot of people know about our venue,” says Gil. “So it gave us a lot of exposure, and we just felt like it was a really good way to not only service the community by having MMF do these performances there, basically year round. Because before they were able to come in for a certain period of time, set up, and then the projectors would be taken down. But now they’re just going to be permanently installed.”
Founded in 2013, the festival has served as a crucial training ground for young musicians, many of whom move on to more prestigious orchestras; some have been accepted into the Fellows program at New World Symphony, according to Rossi.
The “Immersive Space Symphony” will return in July and August, with performances on Saturday, July 26, Sunday, July 27, and Thursday, July 31 and every Saturday and Sunday in August. Music includes selections from Hans Zimmer’s movie soundtracks such as “Man of Steel” and James Zimmer’s “Apollo 13,” along with other works that create the immersive environment.
Additionally, the festival is also hosting immersive performances of operas at the temple throughout July: Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” on Saturday, July 12 and Sunday, July 13, Dvořák’s “Rusalka” on Friday, July 18 and Saturday, July 19, and John Corigliano’s “The Ghosts of Versailles” on Friday, July 25 and Sunday, July 27. Notably, the festival is making the opera performances free and only charging for preferred seating closer to the stage, which is available for $35 per seat.
WHAT: Miami Beach Classical Music Festival: “Immersive Space Symphony”
WHERE: Temple Emanu-El Ballroom, 1701 Washington Ave., Miami Beach
WHEN: 5 and 7 p.m. Saturday, July 26; 7 p.m. Sunday, July 27; 5 and 7 p.m. Thursday, August 31; 5 and 7 p.m. Friday, August 1; 5 and 7 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday in August.
COST: $35, $55, $65, and $100, along with special pricing for seniors, military and group pricing.
INFORMATION: miamimusicfestival.com
ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit news partner of WLRN, providing news on theater, dance, visual arts, music and the performing arts.