Pianist Leonard Gilbert.
Music: Earlier this year, the Chopin Foundation of Miami held its quinquennial competition, which was won by the American pianist Claire Huangci. But that February event wasn’t the last in the foundation’s series of concerts, and this weekend, the young Canadian pianist Leonard Gilbert offers an all-Chopin program in performances in Fort Lauderdale and Coral Gables. Gilbert, who’s all of 19, plans two big works in B minor – the Scherzo No. 1 (Op. 20) and the Sonata No. 3 (Op. 58) – along with the Ballade No. 4 (in F minor, Op. 52), the Polonaise in A-flat (Op. 53), a nocturne (in D-flat, Op. 27, No. 2) and two etudes (Nos. 5 in E minor and 11 in A minor from the Op. 25 set). Free admission; at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Broward County Main Library in downtown Fort Lauderdale and 3 p.m. Sunday at the Granada Presbyterian Church in Coral Gables. For more information, call 305-868-0624 or visit www.chopin.org.
Antonin Dvořák (1841-1904).On Sunday, pianist Fedora Horowitz is featured in two major Romantic piano quintets at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Delray Beach. Joined by violinists Dina Kostic and Tina Raimondi, violist Scott O’Donnell and cellist Christopher Glansdorp, Horowitz will play the Quintet in E-flat, Op. 44, by Schumann and the Quintet in A, Op. 81, of Antonin Dvořák. These are among the most beloved of works in this format, and these veteran musicians should be able to pull them off with style and passion. 4 p.m. Sunday, at St. Paul’s on Swinton Avenue just south of downtown. Tickets: $15-$18. For more information, call 278-6003 or visit www.stpaulsdelray.org.
And if that weren’t enough chamber music, on Tuesday, Palm Beach Atlantic University’s Stringendo summer music program offers the first in four weekly concerts of this genre. Musicians from the Cleveland and Atlanta orchestras will be on hand for two of the later concerts, and Tuesday night the series gets under way with guests from the Naples Philharmonic. On the program are the Violin Sonata in B minor (BWV 1014) of J.S. Bach, played by David Mastrangelo, and the Brahms Violin Sonata No. 3 (in D minor, Op. 108), played by Glenn Basham; pianist Liera Antropova accompanies both men. The concert closes with the String Quartet No. 4 ( in E minor, Op. 44, No. 2) of Felix Mendelssohn, in which Mastrangelo and Basham are joined by violist Renata Guitart and cellist Claudio Jaffé. 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Persson Recital Hall on the PBAU campus in West Palm Beach. Tickets: $15. Call 803-2970 or visit www.pba.edu. – G. Stepanich
Samuel L. Jackson and Naomi Watts in Mother and Child.Film: Human-scale dramas without special effects or car chases have become increasingly rare at any time, let alone in the blockbuster-fueled summertime. But writer-director Rodrigo Garcia (the son of Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez) bucks that trend impressively with Mother and Child, a well-crafted tale of three women, each of whom is somehow connected to the emotional journey of adoption. Annette Bening is a relationship-phobic physical therapist who gave up her baby when she was 14, Naomi Watts is a cool, controlling attorney, an adoptee who never knew her mother, and Kerry Washington is a young married woman who is desperate to adopt after failing to have a baby of her own. Yes, it will all get tied up a little too tidily, but until then it is a compelling, exquisitely acted film that deserves to be seen amid the crowded field of superheroes. Opening locally this weekend. – H. Erstein
Angie Radosh and Beth Dixon in Three Tall Women.Theater: Continuing through June 13 is a textbook example of what Palm Beach Dramaworks does best, select a challenging play like Edward Albee’s semi-autobiographical Pulitzer Prize winner, Three Tall Women, cast it with strong performers of the caliber of Beth Dixon and Angie Radosh and apply the laser-sharp direction of a J. Barry Lewis. The result is a production of this enduring drama of aging, regret and assessing one’s life that shimmers with remarkable clarity, in contrast to the national tour of the play that came through the area a decade ago. For tickets, call (561) 514-4042. – H. Erstein
The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory (1952-4), by Salvador Dalí.After an incredibly busy season in the Palm Beaches, one of my favorite places to escape is just a four-hour drive west to Florida’s Gulf Coast and an old and artful town, St. Petersburg. We stay on the beach and make daily pilgrimages into the downtown area, visiting the art districts and museums, including The Dalí Museum, where a docent named Kay Chiesa gave us an extraordinary insight into the life and mind of genius Salvador Dalí.
It’s interesting to see how Dalí’s work evolved from a youthful fascination with impressionism to surrealism and onto Classical imagery, most of which had mysterious reticent images and recurring symbols. If you visit, make sure to catch a docent tour, as it will make your tour much more meaningful. Early next year, a new and grander Dalí Museum will open to display the entire collection of Reynolds and Eleanor Morse, who spent their lives collecting his work.
The Dalí Museum is located at 1000 Third Street South in St. Petersburg. Hours are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday: 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m.; Thursday: 10 a.m.–8 p.m.; and Sunday: noon–5:30 p.m. Admission is $17 for adults, $14.50 for seniors and $12 for students.
There is much more to share about the art scene on the West Coast, such as the Florida Craftsmen, the Museum of Fine Arts, and the Morean Arts Center, and I will be posting more about it soon. – K. Deits