The performance, part of a larger master class session led by Feinstein and part of thelaunch on September 16, showcased just one of the many talented performers who hone their skills on our campus every day. Their gifts are varied — actors, dancers, musicians and singers — but they have one thing in common. Their talents outshine the facilities in which they rehearse and perform.

Laing finishes singing in the unassuming 150-seat Rehearsal Hall tucked away behind the bookstore on campus, and Feinstein offers a vocal suggestion: “Start small,” he says, “so you have a place to go.”

It’s a piece of advice UCF’s acclaimed school of Performing Arts seems to have followed, too. It started small and has grown in stature and reputation despite its limited student performance facilities.

Currently, disparate spaces spread across campus and around the Central Florida community serve UCF’s performing arts students. A proposed multi-use, state-of-the-art UCF Performing Arts Center, though, will enable theatre, music and dance students to develop and present their skills in venues similar to those they will encounter in their careers, and give them a competitive edge in the job market.

“The training that I’ve received here [at UCF] has definitely prepared me for where I am right now,” Laing says. “The professors are constantly there to help you and push you to be the best you can be.”

An on-campus Performing Arts Center will serve as a model of excellence and innovation for 21st-century performing arts education. Merging the components of traditional training with new innovations in technology, teaching, research and performance will provide UCF students with the best performing arts education in Florida.

Learn more about the proposed Performing Arts Center at the .

A multi-platinum-selling performer, Feinstein is nicknamed “The Ambassador of the Great American Songbook.” He is one of today’s top interpreters of American standards with more than 200 performances a year celebrating and preserving American popular song – particularly with tributes to Frank Sinatra.

Under the instruction of Feinstein at The Songbook Academy in 2014, Drivas attained invaluable lessons as he visualized the goal to expose the golden age of American popular music of the 1920s-60s to younger audiences.

A national finalist in The Great American Songbook Academy and Competition that year, he received the opportunity of week-long master classes with Feinstein and to perform in his “Sinatra Centennial” tour.

“Michael has given me incredible advice,”said Drivas. “He is very kind, very gracious and being such a prominent artist he is I take every word of guidance very seriously. It has been incredible working with him.

With a stop in Orlando for his “Sinatra Centennial” tour, Feinstein invited Drivas to join him on stage. Drivas will sing “I Have Dreamed” at the concert.

The 18-year-old had experience in numerous theatrical productions as a high school student at the Manatee School for the Arts in Palmetto.

Drivas chose UCF to pursue his studies in musical theatre because “it just felt like it was where I should be.” In his first semester at UCF, he was chosen as the understudy for the lead role of Claude in the musical Hair.

“Having one of our students selected for this event reinforces the quality of our training program and the level of talent our students in the BFA musical theatre program possess,” said Earl D. Weaver, coordinator of musical theatre and artistic director for Theatre UCF. “Nick is a new student in our program, and he has proven himself to be a wonderful addition to our department. We are very happy he has been selected for this once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

“Michael Feinstein: A Sinatra Centennial” will be at the Dr. Phillips Center on Jan. 29 at 8 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at .