The 17th Annual Festival of the Arts Boca, presented by the Schmidt Family Centre for the Arts, will take place in downtown Boca Raton from Friday March 3rd through Sunday, March12th, 2023. The much-anticipated event returns to the Mizner Park Amphitheater, with a celebration of the arts through performances, lectures, and conversations.
“From the Young People’s Chorus of New York City and Young Singers of the Palm Beaches to the Rotary Club Future Stars Competition, this year’s program highlights our mission of promoting the spirit and talent of our youth,” said Joanna Marie Kaye, executive director of the Festival of the Arts Boca. She adds that everyone can attend worry-free: “The audience will continue to enjoy our open-air tented venue with ample, well-spaced seat placement.”
The Festival opens on Friday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m. with Disney’s classic film Fantasia, remastered and projected on a giant screen and accompanied by Festival Orchestra Boca playing the soundtrack, conducted by Constantine Kitsopoulos, Festival Music Director.
Returning to the Festival, this year, is the legendary three-time Grammy award winning musician Sergio Mendes and Brasil 2023, in an exclusive South Florida performance, and the very popular A Night at the Ballet: From Tchaikovsky to the Rolling Stones, with an all-star cast performing the most beloved classical ballets and new works set to contemporary music. Nicole Henry: Time to Love Again, will showcase one of our most acclaimed jazz singers in a new concert featuring her newly released CD, accompanied by a seven-piece band.
The spotlight on young performers includes Voices Rise: The Young People’s Chorus of New York City in a joint performance with the Young Singers of the Palm Beaches and Broadway star Christina Maxwell; Scheherazade and Solos, an enchanted evening centered around Rimsky-Korsakov’s romantic favorite Scheherazade and two inspiring young soloists, flutist Kara Ravaschieri (winner of the Festival’s Young Artist Competition) and violinist Hina Khuong-Huu, with Festival Orchestra Boca conducted by Music Director Constantine Kitsopoulos; and the Rotary Club Future Stars Competition featuring South Florida’s top high school singers and dancers.
The Authors & Ideas program features Lynne Olson, our era’s foremost chronicler of World War II politics and diplomacy, presenting WWII: Women in the Resistance, discussing one of the most crucial and effective spy networks during that time; 90 minutes with the inimitable Fran Leibowitz, author, actress and social commentator; and Charles Fishman, one of our most respected and engaging journalists discussing The Big Splash, how water is the foremost global challenge and an exploration of possible solutions.
Established in 2007, Festival of the Arts BOCA was designed to promote the cultural arts and to enrich the quality of life of the residents of Boca Raton, North Broward and Palm Beach County through an extraordinary series of performing arts events and lectures every March. The Festival has received numerous awards, most recently being named the No. 1 cultural event in the “Top 10 Florida Events for 2022” by Social Magazine.
Since its inaugural year, the Festival has been a resounding success, presenting artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Renée Fleming, Joshua Bell, Lang Lang, and Pat Metheny. Celebrated films including The Wizard of Oz, Casablanca, West Side Story and Raiders of the Lost Ark have been performed with live orchestra. World-renowned speakers have included Edward Albee, Sir Salman Rushdie, acclaimed historian and Pulitzer Prize winner Doris Kearns Goodwin, Daniel J. Levitin, Thomas Friedman, and Fareed Zakaria.
As a non-profit organization, Festival of the Arts BOCA is also the regional leader in cultural arts education and supporting local performers and musicians – introducing new audiences to great music and exposing over 10,000 young people to the great artists through educational outreach and master classes. The images are remarkable: Sir James and Lady Jeanne Galway leading over 50 of the best flute students in the region in a public master class, Itzhak Perlman doing a Q & A with students, two-time Grammy Award nominee Joey Alexander playing with the Don Estridge High Tech. Middle School Jazz Band, and physicist Brian Greene igniting the imaginations of students at West Boca Regional High School and throughout Palm beach County via live streaming.
In addition, over 1,000 Festival tickets are donated to students and teachers every Festival.
Tickets for the 17th Annual Festival of the Arts Boca range from $15 to $150 per person and are available at festivalboca.org or by calling 561-757-4762 between the hours of 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.
Virtual tickets to the Authors & Ideas events are available for $10. Admission to the Rotary Club Future Stars Competition is free.
For more information visit festivalboca.org or call 561-571-5270.
Abbreviated Schedule 2023
March 4: Voices Rise ~ Young People’s Chorus of New York City (7:30pm)
March 5: A Night at the Ballet: From Tchaikovsky to the Rolling Stones (7pm)
March 6: Lynne Olson on Women in the Resistance In WWII (7pm)
March 7: Future Stars Competition (7pm) FREE ADMISSION
March 8: Fran Lebowitz Would Like a Word (7pm)
March 9: Charles Fishman on The Future of Water (7pm)
March 10: Nicole Henry ~ Time to Love Again (7:30pm)
March 11: Scheherazade and Soloists with Festival Orchestra Boca conducted by Constantine Kitsopoulos (7:30pm)
March 12: Sergio Mendes (7pm) – POSTPONED TO APRIL 2
