FIU bands include the Courtside Players, Marching Band, Symphonic Band, and Wind Ensemble. All of our ensembles are open to non-music majors and have opportunities for once-in-a-lifetime travel experiences!

The string chamber music experience at FIU is designed to help students further their skills on their instrument, develop awareness of musicality, and experience a variety of chamber music repertoire under the leadership of FIU’s Ensemble-in-Residence the Amernet String Quartet and soloist Robert Davidovici. Following auditions, students are placed together in small ensembles, such as string quartets, trios, and quintets. Other chamber music ensembles include University Brass Choir, Flute Choir, Saxophone Ensemble, Tuba/Euphonium Ensemble, and University Brass Choir.

There is a place for everyone to sing at FIU, regardless of your major, experience, or ability level! Choral Ensembles include the Concert Choir, Master Chorale, and Women’s Chorus. Click here to learn more about each ensemble and for information on how to join.

The Collegium Musicum is an ensemble that provides a forum for FIU students and members of the FIU community to study and publicly perform solo and ensemble music composed prior to 1800 and dances from before 1900. Some of the collegium’s instruments include a Carl Fudge transposing Flemish double harpsichord made possible in part through a generous grant from the Lady Suzanna P. Tweed and Carleton Tweed Charitable Foundation, an archlute, a sackbutt, crumhorns, and a complete set of bows for baroque orchestra built by the English maker David Van Edwards.

The FIU Miami Guitar Orchestra (FIUMGO), directed by guitarist/composer Mesut Özgen, aims to present new ensemble works for guitar, in addition to transcriptions and arrangements of the traditional repertoire. The orchestra meets twice a week and presents regular public concerts both on and off campus throughout the year. In addition to classical guitarists, other instrumentalists, such as mandolin, banjo, ukulele, bass guitar, double bass, flute, violin, voice, and others, are also welcome to join the orchestra.

Jazz ensembles include Latin Jazz Ensemble, Jazz Big Band,  Jazz Combos, Jazz Guitar Ensemble, and  Jazz Vocal Ensemble. They perform on-campus concerts and events, as well as jazz festivals and clubs. Guest artists such as Adam Nussbaum, Ingrid Jensen, Jim Snidero, Paquito D’Rivera, Johnathan Blake, Marco Marcinco, John Fedchock, Randy Brecker, and others are often featured in concerts, as well as workshops and clinics.

Our new music ensembles include FLEA Ensemble and the New Music Ensemble.  FLEA (FIU Laptop & Electro-Acoustic) Ensemble, is FIU’s newest musical group. The group performs exciting new work and reinterprets classics of the avant-garde by combining hi-fi and lo-fi technologies. The FIU New Music Ensemble specializes in the performance of contemporary chamber, experimental and electronic music with an emphasis in the music of the last 50 years.

Ensembles include the FIU Opera Theater and the Musical Theatre Ensemble. The FIU Opera Theater was founded in 1997 by Prof. Robert B. Dundas. It is the premier vocal performance ensemble of the Division of Vocal Studies. Its mission is two-fold: to promote professional training and practical performing experience for student singers, conductors, and pianists, and to serve as a cultural service of the School of Music, the students and faculty of Florida International University, and the greater south Florida community.

The FIU Symphony Orchestra and String Orchestra is led by Maestro Grzegorz Nowak, Permanent Associate Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London. Here, students learn the variety of orchestral repertoire and are guided to become excellent orchestra musicians. The orchestra performs at FIU’s own concert hall with excellent acoustics, The Wertheim as well as in the greater Miami community. This orchestra was originally created by Carlos Piantini, the former first violinist with the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein, who later became a celebrated conductor of major orchestra in Europe and Americas.