Save the date! Fort Lauderdale concerts showcase LGBTQ+ talent

August 24, 2023 Queer Forty Staff 4 min read

Four live concerts in 2024 in Fort Lauderdale will feature artists drawn from the LGBTQ+ community.

ArtsUnited, the largest LGBTQ+ visual and performing arts nonprofit organization in Florida, will present a four-part concert series in 2024. Each concert will feature its own unique blend of artists from the LGBTQ+ community.

Tickets for the first three concerts are available on Eventbrite beginning September 2, 2023.

Those performances will be on January 27, February 23 and March 16 and are hosted by the Sunshine Cathedral Center for the Performing Arts, 1480 SW 9th Ave. in Fort Lauderdale. The fourth performance on April 19 will be outdoors at Mickel Park, 2675 NW 7th Ave, in Wilton Manors, and admission is free to the public.

“This is a true celebration of diversity with some of the most talented performers in South Florida as well as Tony Award-winner Levi Kreis,” said Chuck Williams, president of ArtsUnited. “We are thrilled to produce this series that the entire community can enjoy. The four-part series will feature LGBTQ+ musicians and vocalists with diverse ethnic and sexual identities.”

The concert series begins on Saturday, January 27, 2024 with “Alexander and the Birds of Paradise”. Alexander Zenoz, a first-generation Cuban American born and raised in Miami, a city deeply rooted in art and music, leads this talented ensemble. For more than 10 years, Zenoz has worked professionally as an artist throughout Florida, New York and California. He has been a solo performer with the Symphony of the Americas at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, starred as the opening act for Deborah Cox at the SAVE Organization’s annual fundraising gala at the New World Center and been featured in local film and television. With this new concert in a greatest showman-like experience, Zenoz brings together singers and musicians in celebration of the diversity of life. “Alexander and the Birds of Paradise” will bring new thought-provoking entertainment that stands apart from the rest.

On Friday, February 23, 2024, ArtsUnited presents “R&B meets Pop, then Opera” when a select group of local artists will perform on the same stage, each in their favorite genre. The cast includes R&B/pop recording artist Jon Davis, pop singer and spoken word artist Alexandria Thomas, classical pianist Sam Fray, and Haitian-born opera singer Jean Valliant. Each a great talent on their own, this ensemble will be a night to remember.

“An Evening with Levi Kreis” is set for 8 PM on Saturday, March 16, 2024 at the Sunshine Cathedral Center for the Performing Arts. Singer songwriter Levi Kreis won a Tony Award for his role as Jerry Lee Lewis in the hit Broadway musical Million Dollar Quartet. He performed live at the Tony Awards that year. Known for breathtaking vocals and talent on the piano, Kreis takes classic songs from the musicals and adds his own interpretations that are uniquely his with jazz, gospel, country and rock. He balances his music with storytelling and comedy. This is an evening not to be missed!

On Friday, April 19, ArtsUnited and the City of Wilton Manors present “Jazz Under the Stars” with Karina Iglesias at Mickel Park, 2675 NW 7th Ave, in Wilton Manors. Bring your lawn chair to this outdoor concert, which is free and open to the public. Born and raised in Miami, Florida to Honduran parents, Iglesias’ sound mirrors the diverse musical and cultural influences that have shaped her character and forged her individuality as an artist. With a style equally informed by rhythm & blues, boleros, gospel and hip-hop Iglesias delivers her performances with the intimacy of a deep soul crooner and the conviction and drive of a dauntless female singer/songwriter. In 2013, Karina was a contestant on NBC’s #1 Hit TV Show, The Voice. She made it to the Top 16 on the Live Shows. With her highly focused artistic vision, rich cultural background and proclivity for harnessing a wide range of production techniques, Iglesias brings forth a strong element of innovation and heralds a much-needed return to the authenticity of pure soul music.

This concert series is made possible with the support of Funding Arts Broward, Inc., the Broward County Cultural Division, the Community Foundation of Broward: William A. Krueger Charitable Fund, Sheldon and Bobbe Schlesinger Fund, The Frederick A. DeLuca Foundation Broward Community Fund, BBX Capital Fund for the Arts of the Community Foundation of Broward, Pierson Grant Public Relations, Sunshine Cathedral Center for the Performing Arts and the City of Wilton Manors.

For more information, visit https://artsunitedflorida.com, call Chuck Williams at 954-326-8219 or email artsunited1@aol.com. ArtsUnited is located at 1350 East Sunrise Blvd #117 in Fort Lauderdale.