BOCA RATON — The 6th Annual Festival of the Arts BOCA, set
for March 7th – 18th, is presented by the Schmidt Family Centre for
the Arts at the Mizner Park Amphitheater & Mizner Park Cultural Arts
Center in Boca Raton.
The event includes a sensational line-up including internationally
acclaimed José Carreras; Cuban-born jazz pianist Alfredo
Rodríquez and his trio; a special presentation of film
classic “Casablanca” with live orchestral accompaniment conducted
by Constantine Kitsopoulos, and the Boca Raton Symphonia; an
Opera “Night at the Movies” with Metropolitan Opera stars Angela
Meade, James Valenti, Jennifer Johnson Cano, and the Boca Raton
Symphonia and Time for Three, the groundbreaking, category-
shattering trio that transcends traditional classification, with elements
of classical, country western, gypsy and jazz idioms forming a blend
all its own.
Acclaimed pianist and YouTube sensation Valentina Lisitsa will
join the Lynn University Philharmonia, conducted by Jon Robertson,
for the ever-popular Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and
Berlioz’s seminal work, Symphonie Fantastique; Larry Rosen’s
Jazz Roots Series will team up once more to present An Evening
of Gershwin featuring Patti Austin and Tony DeSare and Poncho
Sanchez, known for his straight-ahead jazz, gritty soul music
and infectious melodies promises a high-energy and memorable
performance.
The festival music finale, Saturday, March 17th, will be a St. Patrick’s
Day Extravaganza with an afternoon filled with folk dancers,
acclaimed fiddlers and Celtic bands.
This year’s program of Authors & Ideas once again welcomes
Distinguished Writer in Residence Doris Kearns Goodwin and Kevin
Bleyer, multiple Emmy Award-winning writer for “The Daily Show with
Jon Stewart” and best-selling author.
Joining this year’s line-up of authors is Mika Brzezinski, co-host
of MSNBC’s Morning Joe and author of Knowing Your Value:
Women, Money & Getting What You’re Worth; Andrew Ross Sorkin,
co-host of CNBC’s Squawk Box and best-selling author of Too
Big To Fail; Barbara McDonald Stewart, daughter of the first U.S.
Ambassador to Israel, James G. McDonald, who will discuss her
experiences with her father in Israel and the newly founded embassy
in Tel Aviv; and P. Scott Cunningham, co-founder and director of the
O, Miami Poetry Festival and the author of Chapbook of Poems for
Morton Feldman.
New this year will be a University President’s Panel moderated by Dr.
Susan Resneck Pierce, President Emerita of the University of Puget
Sound and author of On Being Presidential: A Guide for College and
University Leaders with Florida Atlantic President MJ Saunders and
Lynn University President Kevin Ross.
Individual tickets range from $20 to $100 per person.
For more information call 561-368-8445 or
visit www.festivaloftheartsboca.org.