Think of it as literal house music. Throughout the year, the Casa Feliz Historic Home Museum in Winter Park has presented regular live-music programs to call attention to the architectural beauty of the home—an Andalusian-style masonry farmhouse designed by legendary architect Gamble Rogers II—and to promote the cause of historic preservation.
Music at the Casa’s season will wind up with three more of those al fresco courtyard performances, each offering an aural soundscape that will, in its own way, complement the storied surroundings.
Thursday, September 18, will bring an evening with the Tanner Johnson Trio, which is led by Johnson, a violinist whose playing fuses classical finesse with modern flair. Friday, October 24, will see the return of vocalist Alma Skye and guitarist Bobby Koelble, who kicked off the concert series last January with their eclectic blend of jazz, soul and Latin sounds.
The final concert of the year—on Thursday, November 20—will be Spain Infinitus, a tribute to Latin jazz icons Michel Camilo and Tomatito performed by flamenco guitarist Don Soledad and pianist Pablo Arencibia. All concerts begin at 6:30 p.m. Advance ticket purchases are suggested, as courtyard space is limited. Offerings from food and beverage vendors further enhance the listening experience.
Executive Director Betsy Rogers Owens—granddaughter of the home’s architect—says the music series is a deliberate throwback to the 1930s. In those days, Casa Feliz (“Happy House”) was known as “Winter Park’s parlor” because its owners—industrialist Robert Bruce Barbour and his wife, Harriet Howell Barbour—hosted so many concerts, poetry readings and other community events there.
Community members rallied around the house in 2000, when the property faced demolition, and raised more than $1.2 million to move the house across Interlachen Avenue to its present location on the Winter Park Golf Course, where it was faithfully renovated and opened to the public as a combined museum and event venue.
Events such as the concert series, says Owens, are meant to encourage the public to appreciate “these beautiful little houses that get demolished all too often.” And if you’ve ever chafed at living in a community that tends to consider anything pre-Disney to be positively ancient, that has to be music to your ears.
Casa Feliz is located at 656 Park Avenue North, Winter Park. For more information, call or visit the website.
