All this and Bogie, too, as Boca arts fest returns | Palm Beach ...

Musical Director Constantine Kitsopoulos leads the Boca Raton Symphonia through the score of 'Casablanca' during a showing of the movie Friday, while pianist Valentina Lisitsa performs with the Lynn Philharmonia on Wednesday and Patti Austin sings with Tony DeSare on Thursday, covering the songs of George and Ira Gershwin.

For the sixth annual Festival of the Arts Boca, organizers rounded up some of the usual suspects (think Doris Kearns Goodwin) and booked some new acts, too ? most notably, the screening of a certain Hollywood classic with live orchestral accompaniment.

"Casablanca is going to be spectacular," says festival chair Charlie Siemon of the screening at 7:30 p.m. today at Mizner Park Amphitheater. "It was a great movie, of course, but it had a great soundtrack that is sort of lost in the movie. What we all remember is the piano."

As performed by the Boca Raton Symphonia, conducted by the festival?s newly appointed musical director, Constantine Kitsopoulos, "the score has a totally different quality," Siemon says. "It makes the movie more alive, more romantic ? if that?s possible."

Celebrating its 70s anniversary this year, Casablanca won the Academy Award for Best Picture, plus Oscars for its screenwriters and director Michael Curtiz. Composer Max Steiner?s score was Oscar-nominated.

Throughout the festival, which continues through March 18 at the amphitheater and Boca?s Cultural Arts Center, the Authors & Ideas program takes a political slant.

"Given the recession, given the time, given the presidential election, we thought it was appropriate to bring those kinds of voices," Siemon says.

Goodwin, the festival?s writer-in-residence, will speak about presidential elections past and present, and Andrew Ross Sorkin, co-host of CNBC?s Squawk Box and bestselling author of Too Big to Fail, also will give a talk.

Other authors on the schedule include Kevin Bleyer, Emmy-winning writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and Mika Brzezinski, co-host of MSNBC?s Morning Joe.

The festival has created a couple of more intimate programs this year. For example, ticket buyers can purchase premium, on-stage seats for Sunday?s performance by Time for Three, a string trio. "They perform as classical artists, but they also do crossover bluegrass, jazz and country," Siemon says.

This year?s opera offering is cinematic in scope. Rising Metropolitan Opera stars Angela Meade, James Valenti and Jennifer Johnson Cano will join the Boca Raton Symphonia on Saturday to present beloved arias, duets and overtures heard in movies such as Pretty Woman, Philadelphia, Raging Bull, Moonstruck and more.

Patti Austin and Tony DeSare will sing Gershwin favorites Thursday, and the Lynn University Philharmonia will have what Siemon calls its "coming out party" on Wednesday when it joins pianist Valentina Lisitsa for Rachmaninoff?s Piano Concerto No. 2, under the baton of Jon Robertson.

Says Siemon: "The Lynn Philharmonia has really become a great institution, and a lot of our followers encouraged us to do something with them."

Could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Festival of the Arts

Boca 2012

Today through March 18, Mizner Park Amphitheater and the Cultural Arts Center, Boca Raton. Tickets start at $20. (561) 368-8445, FestivalOfTheArtsBoca.org. | See event listings at the Festival

Today

7:30 p.m.: Casablanca, with the Boca Raton Symphonia conducted by Constantine Kitsopoulos

Saturday

4 p.m.: ?Authors & Ideas,? with Kevin Bleyer

7:30 p.m. ?Opera Goes to the Movies,? with Angela Meade, Jennifer Johnson Cano, James Valenti and the Boca Raton Symphonia, conducted by Constantine Kitsopoulos

Sunday

4 p.m.: ?Authors & Ideas,? with Barbara McDonald Stewart

7:30 p.m. Time for Three

Monday

7 p.m.: ?Authors & Ideas,? with Mika Brzezinski

Tuesday

7 p.m.: ?Authors & Ideas,? with University President?s Panel: ?The Role of the College President in Preparing Citizens of the World?

Wednesday

7:30 p.m.: Valentina Lisitsa, pianist performing Rachmaninoff?s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Lynn University Philharmonia, conducted by Jon Robertson

Thursday

7:30 p.m.: Jazz Roots presents ?An Evening of Gershwin,? with Patti Austin and Tony DeSare

March 16

7 p.m.: ?Authors & Ideas,? with Andrew Ross Sorkin

8:30 p.m.: Poncho Sanchez and His Latin Jazz Band

March 17

3 p.m.: St. Patrick?s Day Extravaganza, with Drake Irish Dance, Seven Nations, James Kelly and more

March 18

2 p.m.: ?Authors & Ideas,? with P. Scott Cunningham, ?A Reading and Discussion of Poetry?s Place in the Modern World?

4 p.m.: ?Authors & Ideas,? with Doris Kearns Goodwin, ?The Road to the White House: Presidential Campaigns Past and Present?

Source: http://www.pbpulse.com/arts-and-culture/2012/03/09/all-this-and-bogie-too-as-boca-arts-fest-returns/

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