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Cultural Council names six new board members
LAKE WORTH — Six new members have joined the board of directors for the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, with global finance expert Nathan Slack appointed as chair.
William Parmelee will serve as vice chair and Jean Sharf will serve as secretary. Other board members include Phil DiComo, Gail Horvath, Michele Jacobs, Daryn Kirchfeld, Caroline Villanueva and Gil Walsh.
Debra Robinson, a member of the School Board of Palm Beach County, and John Tolbert, president and managing director of the Boca Raton Resort and Club, have joined as ex-officio members of the board.
“We are delighted to welcome our new directors to the board,” said Rena Blades, president and CEO of the Cultural Council. “We are pleased that these accomplished business leaders have chosen to share their time and expertise with the Cultural Council.”
Slack is a financial services professional, who began his career at J.P. Morgan nearly 18 years ago and has since served in a variety of roles around the world, most recently as managing director and market manager at J.P. Morgan Private Bank in Palm Beach.
DiComo practices at the law firm Haile Shaw & Pfaffenberger, where he specializes in corporate law, emerging companies, entertainment and licensing, mergers and acquisitions, employment law, and not-for-profit law. Horvath is senior vice president and managing director of the PNC Wealth Management Florida East region, where she oversees the client team of wealth management professionals providing trust, financial planning and private banking services.
Jacobs is corporate director of marketing and operations over The Forbes Company shopping centers in Florida — The Gardens Mall in Palm Beach Gardens, The Mall at Millenia in Orlando and Waterside Shops in Naples.
Kirchfeld is senior vice president and managing director of Northern Trust’s North Palm Beach office.
Villanueva is South Florida external affairs manager for Florida Crystals Corp. where she is responsible for projects pertaining to policy, economic development and community relations in Palm Beach County. Walsh is principal and owner of Gil Walsh Interiors LLC of West Palm Beach, New York and Martha’s Vineyard.
Mini-choral festival to accompany ‘Sound of Music’
WEST PALM BEACH — The national touring version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music will serve as the backdrop of a mini-choral festival of student choirs this month at the Kravis Center.
Eight different student choirs from Palm Beach County schools will in the lobby of the Kravis before performances of the classic 1959 musical, which will be performed from May 9 to 14.
The Choral Music Festival, the first such event at the Kravis Center, celebrates the history of the Salzburg Festival, an Austrian music festival that dates to 1920, and which in 1936 featured the Von Trapp Family Singers, whose story is told in the musical.
“We wanted to call attention to the art form in a deliberate way to connect with the themes and content of our Kravis On Broadway production of ‘The Sound of Music,’” said Kravis Center Education Director Tracy Butler. “In the musical, the local folk festival is a pivotal scene where the Von Trapp family uses the distraction of the stage performances to make their escape. By performing this way themselves, the students will make that connection to the story being told by the musical.”
The students, representing the Kravis Center Young Singers Afterschool Connection, CCA Fine Arts, Plumosa School of the Arts K-2 Chorus, Egret Lake Elementary School Chorus, Loxahatchee Groves Elementary School Chorus, the Kravis Center’s Broadway Reach program, Lake Worth High School Trojan Pride Chorus and Children’s Musical Theater, will take to the grand staircase of the Dreyfoos Hall lobby to perform before five evening shows and three matinees of The Sound of Music.
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Dancer wins competition, advances to final
BOCA RATON — Sophie Miklosovic, 17, of Pompano Beach and a ballet student at The Art of Classical Ballet, won first place in a classical ballet competition sponsored by the National Society of Arts and Letters, Florida East Coast Chapter.
The local En Pointe competition took place March 11 at The Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton. Miklosovic won $2,000 for first place.
As the first-place winner in the NSAL local competition, Miklosovic will face off against contestants from around the country for a chance to win a $12,000 grand prize in the NSAL national competition, which is set for June 2 at the University Theatre on the campus of Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.
This national competition comes to Palm Beach County as part of NSAL’s total cultural immersion week. The NSAL is holding its annual meeting in and around Palm Beach County from May 29 to June 3.
“It was a great experience and I feel accomplished,” Miklosovic said of her first place win. “I love ballet. This is what I want to do with my life. So this is another step in that direction of moving forward.”
Taking second place in the local ballet competition was Tabe Hidetora, 16, a campus resident and ballet student at Harid. Third place went to Bela Erlandson, 17, also a campus resident and ballet student at Harid.
NSAL works to discover talented young people at the beginning of their careers and award grants and scholarships through competitions in art, drama, literature, music and musical theater. For more information, visit www.nsalfloridaeast.org.
Ballet Palm Beach sets anniversary bash
PALM BEACH GARDENS —Ballet Palm Beach will mark the beginning of its 25th year and the end of its current season with a special celebration May 19 at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre.
Proceeds will be used towards Ballet Palm Beach’s upcoming season, which includes a new version of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker at the Kravis Center on Dec. 1-3.
“Who would have thought that the little ballet school — which at one point was housed in a room above my garage — would have blossomed into the professional ballet company of Palm Beach County?” said Colleen Smith, director and founder of the troupe.
The May 19 event is two-fold — a party and a performance. The show is at 7:30 p.m. and features professional company dancers of Ballet Palm Beach, alumni of the Ballet Palm Beach Academy, and current students. The performance is followed by a party for the remainder of the evening that includes appetizers, desserts, raffles and mingling with the dancers and artistic staff of Ballet Palm Beach.
Tickets are $50 for adults and $25 for children and students under 21. Tickets reservations are available at 561-630-8235 or by purchasing online at balletpalmbeach.ticketleap.com.