BOCA RATON – Broadway star Audra McDonald and an appearance by Miami Beach’s New World Symphony are among the concerts scheduled for the seventh incarnation of the Festival of the Arts Boca, officials said today.
The festival, which marries the worlds of literature and music each year at venues in and around Mizner Park, is set for March 7-16. A partial schedule of writers was released today; more names will be added in the coming weeks.
The festival, which in the past has featured opera’s Renee Fleming, popera sensation Jackie Evancho and movies such as The Battleship Potemkin with live orchestral accompaniment, this year is focusing on young, edgy talents and some added theatrical presentations.
The festival opens March 7 with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band of New Orleans, one of the most familiar of all touring jazz ensembles. The Boca Raton Symphonia, the house band at last year’s festival, returns under conductor Constantine Kitsopoulos for concerts with two of the most talked-about classical performers working today: The Korean-American violinist Amadeus Leopold (formerly known as Hahn-Bin) on March 9, and organist Cameron Carpenter on March 14.
The New World, the Miami Beach-based orchestral academy, arrives March 15 to perform with pianist Valentina Lisitsa and conductor Peter Oundjian, director of the Toronto Symphony. Lisitsa will perform the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini of Rachmaninov, and the orchestra will play two fine 20th-century symphonies: the No. 1 of Samuel Barber, and the No. 4 of England’s Ralph Vaughan Williams.
McDonald, a five-time Tony winner and two-time Grammy honoree whose most recent Tony, earlier this year, was for her work as Bess in George Gershwin’s opera Porgy and Bess, closes the festival March 16.
Also on the lineup this year are the Kodo troupe of Japanese taiko drummers, on March 8, and the Peking Acrobats on March 10, both high-energy shows.
Two writers have been scheduled for the Authors and Ideas part of the festival: Patricia Engel, whose debut novel Vida won numerous honors (March 10), and Harvard professor Michael Sandel, who will discuss his book Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do on March 13.
Concerts and events will take place at the Mizner Park Amphitheater, the Mizner Park Cultural Arts Center, and 590 Plaza Real, all at Mizner Park in downtown Boca Raton. Tickets will range from $15 to $100, and will be sold to previous ticket holders starting Nov. 15, and to the general public on Dec. 3. They can be bought at festivaloftheartsboca.org, or by calling 866-571-2787 (ARTS).