A prizewinning crime novelist calls for peace, our history museum celebrates women leaders, and the Symphonia mounts a Beethoven masterpiece. Plus, a delicious Morikami fundraiser and more in your week ahead.
TUESDAY
What: Walter Mosley
When: 7 p.m.
Where: Mizner Park Amphitheater, 590 Plaza Real, Boca Raton
Cost: $35-$50
Contact: 561/757-4762, festivalboca.org
Walter Mosley knows a thing or two about conflict. The prizewinning novelist from Los Angeles has dissected crime—its temptations and its destructive aftermath—in more than 60 acclaimed books, including 17 mysteries in his Easy Rawlins series centered on a Black private investigator in Watts before and during the civil rights movement. But in this presentation, sure to be a highlight of Festival of the Arts Boca, Mosley will jettison the hard-boiled side of his creativity in favor of a paean to global harmony. Arguing that, in his lecture’s subtitle, “The Only True Race is the Human Race,” Mosley will explore the commonalities that unite us in what can seem like a hopelessly divided world. For more with Mosley, check out our interview with him from the February issue of Boca magazine; and for the complete Festival of the Arts schedule, which wraps up Sunday, visit festivalboca.org.
WEDNESDAY
What: “The Voices of Boca”
When: 6:30 p.m.
Where: Schmidt Boca Raton History Museum, 71 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton
Cost: $10 (free for BRHS members)
Contact: 561/395-6766, bocahistory.org
The Boca Raton Historical Society is celebrating Women’s History Month by shining a spotlight on three of the city’s top female leaders. This panel discussion, subtitled “Women Making an Impact,” features top local voices in health care, law enforcement and transportation: Maureen Mann, vice president of the Lynn Cancer Institute and Lynn Women’s Health & Wellness Institute; Michele Miuccio, Boca Raton Police Chief; and Clara Bennett, executive director of the Boca Raton Airport Authority. Boca magazine’s editor-in-chief, Christiana Lilly, will moderate the discussion, which will explore the speakers’ philosophies on leadership and their histories of delivering positive change and impact in their favorite city. The discussion will then open to an audience Q&A.
SATURDAY
What: “A Taste of Asia”
When: 6:30 p.m.
Where: Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens, 4000 Morikami Park Road, Delray Beach
Cost: $300
Contact: 561/495-0233, morikami.org/taste-of-asia
Returning for its third year, this Morikami fundraiser has partnered with some of South Florida’s top Asian purveyors for a culinary journey across the continent. The lineup includes gourmet food stations from Stage, Nobu Miami, Kapow!, Kaminari Ramen, Hawkers, Kasumi and more. The selections will be paired with a curated array of wines, sakes and artisan cocktails from Winebow Spirits and Niigata Sake Selections. Beyond the food and drink, “A Taste of Asia” offers a full night of entertainment. Kimata Yasunori, a visiting artist from Japan, will create work live throughout the evening. Fushu Daiko, one of the state’s preeminent taiko drum collectives, will perform thunderous arrangements of percussive music, and 8 Bit Wave, an ace jazz band in the swing tradition that specializes in reimagined themes from Japanese video games and anime, will perform a rousing set. Attendees can also participate in a live auction for jewelry, art and experiences, knowing their bids will help support the Morikami’s work in education, programming and more.
What: Opening night of “Dear Jack, Dear Louise”
When: 7:30 p.m.
Where: Levis JCC Sandler Center, 21050 95th Ave. S., Boca Raton
Cost: $35-$45
Contact: 561/558-2520, levisjcc.org
Playwright Ken Ludwig’s sprawling resume is a reflection of both his eclecticism and his acumen for crowd-pleasers. His debut play, “Lend Me a Tenor,” is the quintessential modern farce, and he’s also penned popular musicals (“Crazy For You”) and mystery adaptations (“Murder on the Orient Express”). They’re all escapist fun, but no Ludwig work is more personal than “Dear Jack, Dear Louise,” which is inspired by his parents’ epistolary relationship during World War II. In the award-winning play from 2020, Army Captain Jack Ludwig, a military doctor stationed in Oregon, meets Louise Rabiner, an ingénue actress-dancer in New York City; as they fall in love during wartime, the circumstances of the U.S. military’s involvement in the conflict threaten to derail their courtship before they even meet. West Boca Theatre Company’s production at the Levis JCC Sandler Center runs through March 22.
SUNDAY
What: The Symphonia: “Beethoven’s Emperor”
When: 3 p.m.
Where: St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church, 100 N.E. Mizner Blvd., Boca Raton
Cost: $58-$95
Contact: 561/376-3848, thesymphonia.org
Beethoven never referred to his Piano Concerto No. 5 by its now-familiar sobriquet, the “Emperor Concerto,” because the great composer was no fan of his era’s emperor du jour, the warring Napoleon Bonaparte. But the military themes and heroic nature of this 40-minute masterwork have helped ensure its lasting appeal across more than two centuries. The three-movement piece broke with conventions of classical music—from its solo piano opening, sans orchestral accompaniment, to its imposing length and difficulty. In 1860, Beethoven’s biographer called the “Emperor” “the summit of all concerto music ever written.” And in the words of a contemporary YouTube commenter, “I want to die to this music.” As of 2021, the piece held the record the most-performed concerto at Carnegie Hall (215 times). At this performance, guest soloist Lindsay Garritson, a foremost interpreter of Beethoven’s trios, will lead from the piano, under the baton of Grammy-nominated conductor Alastair Willis.
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