Weekend arts picks: April 16-23

Music: The Italian composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi died of tuberculosis at the age of only 26 in 1736, but one of his last completed works, a Stabat Mater, is perhaps his greatest. The fine Miami chamber choir Seraphic Fire performs this beautiful work this afternoon at the Harriet Himmel Theater in CityPlace in the first of four concerts it will give over the weekend. Also on the program, called Portrait of a Mother, are pieces by Bach and Vivaldi, as well as a world premiere: Sedebat Mater, by the Anglo-American composer Paul Crabtree (b. 1960). 1 pm Thursday, Harriet Himmel Theater, CityPlace, West Palm Beach; 7:30 pm Friday, First United Methodist Church, Coral Gables; 8 pm Saturday, All Saints Episcopal Church, Fort Lauderdale; 4 pm Sunday, Miami Beach Community Church, Miami Beach. Tickets: $30. At the door, call 866-739-0010, or visit www.seraphicfire.org. — G. Stepanich

The Boca Symphonia under guest conductor Laura Jackson features a bold programming stroke in the scheduling of the Violin Concerto of Jonathan Leshnoff, a young (35) American composer. It’ll be played by violinist Charles Wetherbee on a concert that also includes the Three Botticelli Pictures of Ottorino Respighi, and the Fifth Symphony (in C minor, Op. 67) of Beethoven. The Symphonia plays at 2:30 pm Sunday at the Roberts Theater on the campus of St. Andrew’s School in Boca Raton. Tickets: $42-$53. Call 376-3848, 888-426-5577, or visit www.bocasymphonia.org. — G. Stepanich

Half an hour after that concert stats, the Chameleon chamber musicians group in Fort Lauderdale closes its season with plenty of interesting rarities, including the Piano Trio in C of the Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, the D major Piano Trio (Op. 49) of Mendelssohn, and a passacaglia for violin and cello by the Norwegian composer Johan Halvorsen. Also, Iris van Eck has planned two pieces by the short-lived Lili Boulanger, sister of Nadia, the formidable pedagogue who taught many well-known composers including Aaron Copland. Lili, who died at only 24, is represented by arrangements of D’un soir triste and D’un matin de printemps. Cellist Van Eck is joined Sunday by pianist Kemal Gekic and violinist Dmitri Pogorelov. 3 pm at the Leiser Center, 221 SW 3rd Ave., Fort Lauderdale. Tickets: $30. Call 954-781-3435 or visit www.chameleonmusicians.org. –– G. Stepanich

And on Saturday, the Empire Brass quintet joins the Lynn Philharmonia for a free outdoor concert of music from the movies, including Star Wars, Rocky, Superman and the James Bond franchise. Jon Robertson conducts the conservatory orchestra beginning at 7:30 pm in Boca Raton’s Mizner Park. For more information, call 237-9000. — G. Stepanich

Pop music, too: The impressive blues guitarist Joanna Connor, Brooklyn-born but a fixture for 25 years on the Chicago scene, brings her band to Boca Raton’s home of the blues, the Back Room Blues Bar and Grill, on Friday night. The music starts at 9:30 pm, and there’s a $10 cover. You can find John Yurt’s club at 7200 N. Dixie Highway in Boca. Call 988-8929 for more information. — G. Stepanich

Theater/comedy: Mike Daisey, a monologuist extraordinaire with a lot to say about the arts, money and everything else, is booked at the Kravis tonight and Friday for a show called Monopoly! Tesla, Edison, Microsoft, Wal-Mart and the War for Tomorrow. 7:30 pm today and Friday at the Rinker Playhouse, Kravis Center, West Palm Beach. Tickets: $32. Call 832-7469 or visit www.kravis.org. — G. Stepanich

The Caldwell Theatre ends its subscription season with the musical Something’s Afoot, a winking spoof of Agatha Christie mysteries, featuring this year’s Carbonell Award-winning actress Beth Dimon as a Miss Marple-ish sleuth. Michael Hall directs, perhaps for the final time, but certainly the final time as the theater’s artistic director, for he has announced he will retire next month. Hopefully, he will go out on a high, audience-friendly, note. Opens Friday, April 17. Call (561) 241-7432 or (877) 245-7432. –– H. Erstein

Film: Remember the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek who was featured in the film appreciation lecture on celluloid, Pervert’s Guide to the Cinema, a couple of months ago? Well, he’s back, with a handful of other deep thinkers in a low-budget independent flick called Examined Life, which tosses around some heady topics in a surprisingly lively, visually interesting way. It appears this week only at — where else? — Emerging Cinemas in Lake Worth. Call (561) 296-9382 for the lowdown. –– H. Erstein

Art: Uncommon Objects is the theme of the first invitational group art exhibit at the new LK Mix Gallery in West Palm Beach. It starts next week, but it deserves an early heads-up.

The gallery actually is within LK Mix Funky Fun Furnishings, a store that features unusual artful furniture and home furnishings, some custom designed, others retro. The new gallery is under the direction of Betty Wilson, a clay and glass artist who also owns The Craft Gallery in West Palm Beach. More than 20 artists, including ceramicists Lisa Kraemer and Tracy Rosof-Petersen, painters Judy Flescher and Esther Gordon, photographers Durga Garcia, Carol Roberts and Elle Schorr, will be participating in the exhibit, which runs through May 16.

The opening reception will be from 5 pm to 8 pm Thursday, April 23. LK Mix Gallery is located at 5616 S. Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach. For more information, call 585-7744. — K. Deits