Magical Music
This is a week of heaven for music lovers, with several great concerts in rapid succession. First, the Delaware Symphony Orchestra strings will perform Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048, and Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G major, BWV 1049 at the Hotel du Pont on April 10. See the Gold Ballroom transformed into an 18th century German concert hall to celebrate J.S. Bach, considered the father of modern music. You will be transported. 652-5577, delawaresymphony.org
Newark Symphony Orchestra ends its chamber seriies with Emotions of a Virtuoso on April 14. Pianist Antonio Di Cristofano will perform a program of Schumann and Chopin at Newark High School. 369-3466, newarksymphony.org
The market Street Music Thursday Noontime Concert Series on April 12 features singer-songwriter Gina Roche. The music is a little jazzy, a little bluesy, a little Brazilian, and a lot of fun. Hit 1101 N. Market St. in Wilmington for a different sort of lunch hour. 654-5371.marketstreetmusicde.org
The magical Mélomanie chamber ensemble premieres “Dumgoyne” by Jennifer Margaret Barker at Grace Church in Wilmington on April 14. “Dumgoyne” is a homage to Barker’s homeland. The ensemble welcomes several special guests: flautist Eve Friedman composer Mark Hagerty and Barker herself. If you can’t make Grace, see the concert the University of Delaware on April 15. melomanie.org
Concerts on Kentmere ends it season at the Delaware Art Musuem April 12-13 with a concert by its ensemble-in-residence, Pyxis Piano Quartet. Enjoy a beautiful evening, but order your tickets soon. 351-8538, delart.org
This year’s CoroAllegro and Friends concert is a special one, indeed. In celebration of its 25th anniversary, the chamber choir is joining with an orchestra, soloists and community singers to perform Handel’s “Utrecht Te Deum” and Haydn’s “Missa in Augustiis,” known as the Nelson Mass, all conducted by Jack Warren Burnam. CoroAllegro and Friends may happen every three years, but a 25th anniversary only happens once. Head to Brandywine Valley Baptist Church on April 15. Don’t miss it. 652-3997, coroallegro.com
Powerful Performances
What is hat-titude? Find out when Delaware Theatre Company presents the musical “Crowns” April 11-29. As a young woman who moves to the South quickly learns, there’s a hat for every occasion, and everyone has a unique meaning. Hear Mother Shaw and her Hat Queens relate the significance of everything from turbans to pill boxes in this heart-warming charmer. It will put your head in a good place. 594-1100, delawaretheatre.org
If loved the Muppet Movies, you’ll flip over “Stuffed and Unstrung,” an outrageous comedy featuring Him Henson’s famous puppets. This one is most definitely not for children. See it April 12 at the Grand Opera House. 652-5577, thegrandwilmington.org
First State Ballet Theatre performs “Giselle” April 14-15. The beautiful and haunting romantic work is a premiere for Delaware’s only professional ballet company. See it at the Grand Opera House. 800-37GRAND, firststateballet.com
You’ve never seen a spectacle like Vox Lumiere’s “Metropolis,” running at DuPont Theatre April 13-15. See Vox’s eight singers and eight-piece band rock new moves and music to Fritz Lang’s classic silent film as it plays in the background. Upon its release in 1927, “Metropolis,” with its futuristic setting, flying cars and The Machine, seemed destined for such a high-tech treatment. 656-4401, duponttheatre.com
When professor Henry Higgins tries to transform cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle into a proper lady, the relationship evolves into something more. Find out what as Clear Space Theatre Company stages the classic American musical “My Fair Lady” at The Schwartz Center for the Arts in Dover April 13-14. Erin Williams stars as Eliza Doolittle. That’s her in the photo. 678-5152, www.schwartzcenter.com
Get the kids to Delaware Children’s Theatre in Wilmington for “Ciinderella,” which begins its run April 15. This is a musical version of the fairy tale that will delight everyone. It plays Saturdays and Sundays through May 6. 655-1014, dechildrenstheatre.org
You roared at the movie with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. Now you can see “The Wedding Singer” on stage in a musical at The New Candlelight Theatre. As the good people there say, party like it’s 1985. We promise lots of laughs. See it ow through May 20. 475-2313, nctstage.org
Slammed with Poetry
By now, we’re well into National Poetry Month. If you haven’t celebrated yet, there are a couple unique opportunities. “As the Poet Paints: E. Jean Lanyon” at the Biggs Museum in Dover features the literary and visual artworks of Lanyon, who was Delaware’s poet laureate from1979 through 2001. “As a fine artist I paint what I cannot write, and I write what I cannot paint,” Lanyon has said. See the exhibition through April 29. (674-2111, biggsmuseum.org) Also through April 29, “Object Poetry” shows the watercolor paintings of Susan S. Johnston at Dover Art League. The show will partner with local writers for a special evening April 25, when the writers will read works inspired by the paintings. (That’s one of hers above.) 674-0402, doverartleague.org
Most Artful
See the best of Not Yet Famous Artists April 13-27 at New Wilmington Art Association’s gallery space at 605 N. Market St. in Wilmington. This is a juried exhibition of University of Delaware art department members. If you miss the opening reception on Friday, make an appointment. It’s perfect lunch hour entertainment. 312-5493, new.wilmington.art@gmail.com
“American Masters Art of the 19th and 20th centuries” at Sommerville Manning Gallery in Greenville April 13-June 2 shows works by contemporaries of the Wyeth family. You’ll see works by N.C., American Impressionists Childe Hassam, Mary Cassatt and John Henry Twatchtman, Ashcan School artists Maurice Prendergast, Everett Shinn and William Glackens, and masters John Singer Sargent and Thomas Anschutz. There’s more, and you get to see them up close during the opening reception April 13. 652-0271, somervillemanning.com
If you missed “Fred Comegys: Through the Lens—A Photographic Journey” at the Delaware Art Museum last year, you can see selections from it at the Rehoboth Beach Museum through April 22. For more than 50 years, native son Comegys has captured celebrities and local folks for the The News Journal, producing photos we’ll never forget. 227-8408, rehobothartleague.org
Those interested in publishing and illustration may want to visit the Brandywine River Museum soon to see “Scribner’s Magazine: The Early Years in Illustration” to learn about the importance of illustrated magazines in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Of the important artists Scribner’s hired, you’ll notice Maxfield Parrish, Howard Pyle, Frank Schoonover and N. C. Wyeth as notables, men who helped make the magazine one of the most popular in its day. Learn more about “golden age of illustration” through May 2. (610) 388-2700, brandywinemusuem.org
