Sebrina María Alfonso
Conductor
Founder and music director who has led the South Florida Symphony Orchestra for over two decades.
In short
Sebrina María Alfonso is the founder and music director of the South Florida Symphony Orchestra, conducting its full season across Fort Lauderdale, Miami Beach, and Key West. She leads a wide range of programs, from Beethoven symphonies and Handel's Messiah to concertos by Bottesini and Florence Price, making her a constant presence for audiences across the region's concert calendar.
On the podium
Alfonso's upcoming programs span large, familiar canon works alongside more unusual pairings. Listeners can expect Beethoven's Fifth and Ninth Symphonies, the latter with full chorus and soloists for its "Ode to Joy" finale, alongside Tchaikovsky's dramatic Piano Concerto No. 1 and Shostakovich's Twelfth Symphony, a work built around driving rhythms depicting revolutionary events. She also programs less common repertoire, such as Bottesini's Double Bass Concerto, a rare showcase for the instrument's singing upper register, and Florence Price's Violin Concerto No. 1, which blends late-Romantic lyricism with melodic ideas rooted in African American musical traditions. Holiday and pops concerts, a Messiah performance, and an opera arias program round out a season built for variety, suggesting a conductor comfortable moving between core symphonic repertoire and audience-friendly special events.
Written by OrchestraFinder, reviewed September 2026.