Art: Tomorrow, the Society of the Four Arts opens a new exhibit that takes its art viewers into the world of the Old West. Recapturing the Real West: The Collections of William I. Koch includes about 500 items, most of which have not been seen but have been loaned to the society by Koch, the industrialist, sailing champion and founder of Oxbow Energy Group.
The collection includes the only known image of Billy the Kid, paintings by Charles Russell and Frederic Remington, a daguerreotype of Annie Oakley, plus sculpture, clothing and other artifacts from the American West. The exhibit, divided into historical sections, also will feature about 150 historic guns from the period. Tickets are $5; gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays. Call 655-7226 or visit www.fourarts.org.
Film: Having just gone through the political overload of the Florida presidential primary, it is worth being reminded that we are not the only country in the world whose election process is messy. Consider the similar squabbling in France, as depicted in The Conquest, the slightly fictionalized for legalities’ sake tale of the rise to power of diminutive Nicolas Sarkozy. It watches as he assumes the presidency against considerable odds, losing his wife and his top aide along the way. Veteran French actor Denis Podalydes is very persuasive as Sarkozy — at least from our distant vantage point — guided by the workmanlike direction of co-screenwriter Xavier Durringer. Ultimately, the film does not really take sides about the man, but it comes down hard against the political system around which he maneuvered. Opening today at Mos’Art Theatre in Lake Park.
Theater: This Tuesday evening, Lou Tyrrell of the late, lamented Florida Stage unveils his new stage venture, The Theatre at Arts Garage in Delray Beach, which hopes to continue his focus on new American plays. For openers, Tyrrell is launching a Master Playwright Series. Yes, it sounds like a program that Palm Beach Dramaworks has, but the difference is Tyrrell has the clout and connections to bring the playwrights here to participate. On Tuesday, Israel Horovitz oversee a reading of his 1974 play Line, an absurdist one-act play that has become the longest-running stage piece in New York history. The cast includes Ken Kay, Kim Cozort, John Felix, Todd Allen Durkin and Ryan Didato, with the stage directions read by Horovitz.
On subsequent Tuesdays in February, the series will host John Pielmeier, William Mastrosimone and John Guare. Tickets are $15-$20 in advance, or $48-$64 for the four-reading series. For reservations, call (561) 450-6357.
Music: Elmar Oliveira is the only American violinist ever to win the gold medal at Russia’s Tchaikovsky Competition, and he was the first recipient (in 1983) of an Avery Fisher Career Grant. His recent recordings include concertos by Bach, Benjamin Lees and Ernst Bloch, and he’s also busy as a teacher at Lynn University.
This weekend, he appears in recital with the pianist Tao Lin in a program that includes the Violin Sonata of the sadly short-lived Belgian composer Guillaume Lekeu, who died in 1894 of typhoid fever, one day after his 24th birthday. Also on the program is the bubbly Sonata No. 8 (in G, Op. 30) of Beethoven, and Ravel’s Gypsy showpiece, Tzigane.
The recital will take place at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Wold Performing Arts Center on the Lynn campus. Tickets range from $20 to $35. Call 237-9000 or visit www.lynn.edu/tickets.
Greek-born violinist Areta Zhulla is now a resident of Indianapolis, where her husband plays bassoon in the symphony, but she’s steadily making her mark in New York, where she’s been a protégé of Itzhak Perlman for the past 10 years.
Zhulla, now 25, will appear with the Boca Raton Symphonia on Saturday and Sunday in the Violin Concerto (Op. 14) of Samuel Barber, one of the classics of American symphonic writing no less than a staple of the world repertory. Two conductors will handle the orchestra: Duilio Dobrin on Saturday night, and Ramon Tebar on Sunday afternoon. The program also includes the first of Haydn’s symphonies (No. 1 in D, Hob: I:1), and the second of Beethoven’s (No. 2, in D, Op. 36).
Saturday’s concert is set for 8 p.m. at the Pine Crest School in Boca Raton, and Sunday’s for 3 p.m. at the Roberts Theater on the campus of St. Andrew’s School in Boca. Tickets range fromn $35-$62. Call 376-3848 or visit www.bocasymphonia.org.