🎭 NEW! Orlando Theatre Newsletter

The Chicago Philharmonic will make its highly anticipated Florida debut on Saturday, February 28, with An Evening with Sleeping At Last at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts’ Walt Disney Theater.

🎭 NEW! Orlando Theatre Newsletter

This landmark performance reunites Ryan O’Neal (Sleeping At Last) with the Philharmonic following their acclaimed, sold-out 2024 World Premiere concerts, which drew 5,500 audience members from 44 states and 28 countries. Together with Maestro Thiago Tiberio, they bring O’Neal’s deeply poetic and empathetic songs, including Saturn, You Are Enough, and Turning Page, to life through sweeping orchestral arrangements that transform his intimate artistry into a cinematic, symphonic experience.

This Orlando debut marks the next major stop in a rapidly expanding concert series that has already sold out Carnegie Hall, sold out Chicago’s Harris Theater for Music and Dance, and filled The Auditorium with thousands of fans. What began as a single idea between O’Neal and Chicago Philharmonic Executive Director Terell Johnson after O’Neal was inspired by a 2023 Philharmonic performance has grown into one of the orchestra’s most in‑demand collaborations nationwide.

“It’s an honor for the Chicago Philharmonic to make our Florida debut with An Evening with Sleeping At Last,” said Terell Johnson, Executive Director of Chicago Philharmonic. “This collaboration has sparked extraordinary enthusiasm from audiences, and bringing this magical concert to Orlando is another opportunity to share great music with our ever-growing community.”

About The Chicago Philharmonic

The Chicago Philharmonic is re-imagining the orchestra concert experience through culturally diverse, genre-bending programs breaking barriers of exclusion in orchestral music. With nearly 200 musician members, diverse and trailblazing leadership, and a deeply collaborative artistic model, we are one of the most versatile, innovative, and ambitious orchestras in the country.

The Chicago Philharmonic presents 30+ concerts annually and year-round, featuring diverse musicians and drawing new-to-the-symphony audiences. Our 2025-2026 partners include Artist in Residence Njioma Chinyere Grevious, Disney Concerts, Chicago composers Damien Geter and Stacy Garrop, Marta Aznavoorian, Sleeping At Last, Cedille Records, The Joffrey Ballet, The Auditorium, Harris Theater for Music and Dance, and Ravinia Festival.

The Chicago Philharmonic Society was created by Lyric Opera principal musicians in 1989. Today, we are a crucial part of Chicago’s music ecosystem and an incubator of talent, creating thousands of jobs for 425 musicians annually and making Chicago a viable home for talented freelance musicians. As Executive Director, Crain’s Business 40 Under 40 awardee and APAP “Spark of Change” winner Terell Johnson has led the orchestra as a force for inclusion with a series of increasingly high-profile events, including the 2024 Lollapalooza debut as the first professional orchestra to perform at the festival to a global audience of 100,000+ live and on Hulu. Our audiences are 200,000+ strong, and our community engagement programs reach 6,000 students and participants annually. The Chicago Philharmonic proudly collaborates with the greatest artists of our time, in every genre. Past collaborations have included English National Ballet, Laufey, Nas, Lindsey Stirling, Justin Hurwitz, Kishi Bashi, Lady Gaga, Tony Bennett, Joshua Bell, Tank and the Bangas, William Basinski, the American Ballet Theatre, Lollapalooza Festival, Ryan Speedo Green, and more. Learn more at www.chicagophil.org.

About Sleeping At Last

Sleeping At Last is the moniker of singer-songwriter, producer, and composer, Ryan O’Neal. With more than 5 billion streams, his music has been featured on more than 100 movies, shows and adverts including The Voice, So You Think You Can Dance, Criminal Minds, Ralph Lauren, Mercedes-Benz and the Super Bowl.

Ryan began writing, recording and performing in 1999 as the lead singer of Sleeping At Last, initially an indie rock band. After being discovered by Billy Corgan (of The Smashing Pumpkins) and signed by Interscope Records, the band released their major label debut and embarked on a national tour.

After two more albums, drummer Chad O’Neal and bassist Dan Perdue decided to pursue other interests. Ryan continued to create music as Sleeping At Last, honing his Signature Sound of atmospheric textures and melodic vocals.

In 2011, he wrote Turning Page for the blockbuster The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1 and network shows—such as Bones, Private Practice and Grey’s Anatomy— began to feature his music.

Over the past decade, Ryan has been creating several long-form concept projects. Atlas is his series of music released in multiple chapters: Atlas: I features songs about the origins of the universe; Atlas: II explores involuntary human development; and the final chapter, currently underway, Atlas: III considers voluntary human development. Other current projects include: Astronomy, inspired by celestial events and discoveries; and Atoms, short pieces celebrating moments of wonder around us.

Today, Ryan is a sought-after composer and performer with commissions and collaborations ranging from Ryan Reynolds to Andrew Lloyd Webber. Through Sleeping At Last he has released more than 20 albums and EPs, garnering one platinum and three gold RIAA-certified singles.

About Thiago Tiberio

A sensitive, precise, energetic talent with a budding international career, maestro Thiago Tiberio is often praised by his peers for mature musicianship, clarity of expression, and accurate technique.

A multifaceted musician, his classical, operatic, and film music career includes work with orchestras in the United States, Canada, Italy, Germany, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Turkey, Australia, South Korea, Japan, Brazil, and Argentina, to name a few. Working extensively in live-to-picture synchronization concerts, Mr. Tiberio has premiered Star Wars in Concert in France, Portugal, Brazil, and Argentina; Coco in Concert in the United States; The Sound of Magic and Fantasia in Italy; Beauty and the Beast in Georgia; Lion King and Toy Story in Qatar; Cinema Paradiso in Switzerland and Taiwan; and La La Land in Turkey and China. He has also conducted concert world premières of his own adaptations of Paddington (England), How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Grease (United States), Call Me By Your Name (Korea), and Cinema Paradiso and Love Actually (Japan). And as arranger and orchestrator, he assisted in the world premières of Get Out and Coraline (United States), Hunger Games (Switzerland), and The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (Scotland).