Beethoven meets Beyoncé in Miami, photos capture George Harrison in Deerfield Beach, and Theatre Lab at FAU opens its season. Plus, new art at Morikami and more in your week ahead.
FRIDAY
What: “Kind of Blue: Celebrating the Music of Miles Davis”
When: 8 p.m.
Where: Arsht Center, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami
Cost: $52.65-$152.50
Contact: 305/949-6722, arshtcenter.org
Miles Davis’ contribution to American music cannot be overstated. Over the course of 65 years and more than 60 studio albums, the innovative trumpeter had a transformative hand in hard-bop jazz, third stream (jazz merged with classical music) and jazz-rock fusion. In this concert honoring the centenary of Davis’ birth, two giants of contemporary jazz—Grammy-winning trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, whose father John launched his career in Davis’ band before ascending to his own stratospheric heights—will perform highlights from Davis’ illustrious career, joined by vocalist Veronica Swift and backed by the University of Miami’s Henry Mancini Orchestra.
What: “Beethoven x Beyoncé”
When: 9 p.m.
Where: New World Center, 500 17th St., Miami Beach
Cost: $50
Contact: 305/673-3330, nws.edu
Ludwig van Beethoven and Beyoncé Knowles were born 211 years apart, but we’d like to imagine them as kindred spirits. After all, they’re both single-named creators whose music is both popular and conceptual, pushing the boundaries of their genres’ forebears. Steve Hackman would certainly agree. No stranger to hybridizing classical and pop music, this polymath conductor, composer, songwriter and pianist previously synthesized music from Brahms and Radiohead, and Tchaikovsky and Drake, into ways that approached each artist anew. In this entry in New World Symphony’s immersive Late Night series, Hackman will continue this tradition by conducting Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 7” with portions of 15 Beyoncé songs woven into the masterpiece.
FRIDAY AND SATURDAY
What: “George Was Here: The Best Kept Secret in Deerfield Beach”
When: 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, 1 to 8 p.m. Saturday
Where: Johnny L. Tigner Community Center, 435 S.W. Second St., Deerfield Beach
Cost: Free
Contact: 954/429-0378, deerfieldbeachhistoricalsociety.com
The interregnum between the Beatles’ 1970 breakup and the release of George Harrison’s epochal debut LP “All Things Must Pass” was a pivotal one for the so-called “quiet Beatle” as he planned the next phase of his career. And he did a chunk of his cogitating right here in South Florida—in Deerfield Beach, to be precise. Harrison was only here for a short time in November 1970, to visit his maternal uncle and aunt, Edmund and Mimi French, residents since 1967. Locals spotted him around town, of course, but Harrison urged them to keep his presence a secret. They must have been successful, because this rare two-day exhibition marks the first time that images of his South Florida respite have been seen by the public. Recently recovered from a private collection and subsequently restored, the photographs will be accompanied on Friday night by a live performance from acoustic duo Dark Horse, playing key tunes from Harrison’s solo career.
SATURDAY
What: Opening day of “Light as Air: The Buoyant Sculptures of Mariko Kusumoto”
When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Where: Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens, 4000 Morikami Park Way
Cost: $10-$16 museum admission
Contact: 561/495-0233, morikami.org
I’ve never scuba dived the Great Barrier Reef, but I can only assume the aquatic kaleidoscope of colors and shapes looks something like the recent fabric art of Mariko Kusumoto. Motley bursts of faux-coral, diaphanous tubular sculptures in pastel hues, puffy evocations of starfish and other oceanic bottom dwellers—all share real estate in the capacious imagination of their creator. She also fashions transparent bubble-like forms containing miniature horses, fish, mushrooms and bicycles, like goodies in an arcade claw machine. All of which goes a long way to spread joy, which is one of the artist’s objectives: “A playful, happy atmosphere pervades my work,” she has said. “I hope the viewer experiences discovery, surprise and wonder.” Kusumoto’s Technicolor art has evolved despite, or perhaps because of her monastic childhood as the daughter of a Buddhist priest in a 400-year-old Japanese temple. The artist worked in paint and metal sculpture before finding her recent zen with fiber. Her Morikami exhibition will include a unique site-specific installation that will utilize all dimensions of the gallery space. It runs through April 5.
What: Opening night of “The City in the City in the City”
When: 7:30 p.m.
Where: Theatre Lab at FAU, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton
Cost: $35-$60
Contact: 561/297-6124, fauevents.com
So nice he named it thrice, playwright Matthew Capodicasa’s world-premiere work “The City in the City in the City” abounds in mystery, theatricality and invention—qualities that have long attracted Theatre Lab Artistic Director Matt Stabile, who directs this production to kick off the company’s 2025-2026 season. It follows the journey of two strangers linked by mortality and fate: Tess had planned a trip with her mother to an ancient city-state to retrieve a package left for them by Tess’s estranged father. When Mom dies, Tess creates a Craigslist ad seeking a person of her mother’s exact name to join her on the odyssey, which takes both women to a borderless land where monastic cheese, octogenarian crooners and ancient graves only begin to unveil a expansive world of myth and wonder in which two actors—Vaishnavi Sharma and Niki Fridh—will portray more than 30 eclectic roles. The production runs through Nov. 23.
For more of Boca magazine’s arts and entertainment coverage, click here.
