A Week of Magical Music
In Reflections, the concluding concert of DSO’s 2011-12 classic series, violinist Jaime Laredo joins DSO favorite Jennifer Koh for two concertos: David Ludwig’s new work and its muse, the famous Bach Double Concerto. The program includes Strauss’ Metamorphosen, Ludwig’s Concerto for two violins and Ravel’s La Valse. Want to lean more? Don’t miss conductor David Amado’s pre-concert lecture at 7 p.m. 652-5577, delawaresymphony.org
The incomparable Brandywine Baroque’s annual weekend of harpsichord music, The Dumont Concerts, happens May 18-20. Your performers: Karen Flint on Friday, Matthew Hall and Beatrice Martin on Saturday, then, on Sunday, Davitt Moroney, playing The Complete French Suites of Johann Sebastian Bach. There’s nothing like the festival—or its home, The Barn at Flintwoods, 205 Center Meeting Road. 877-594-4546, brandywinebaroque.org
The Newark Symphony Orchestra has been playing for more than 40 years, growing from a small group of friends to a full symphony orchestra of more than 80 musicians. On May 20 it will end its 2011-2012 season with a performance of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D, “Titan,” and a concerto featuring one of the winners of our youth concerto competition. See it at The Independence School in Newark. 369-3466, newarksymphony.org
Clap your hands, tap your toes. The Market Street Music Thursday Noontime Concert Series this week features Center City Chorale performing “O Clap Your Hands,” a program of music from serious to silly that will have you keeping time any way you like. Hear “Thou, O God, art praised in Zion,” Mendelssohn’s “Laudate Dominum” and DeMaris’ “Early one morning.” Reflect. Be Inspired. Have fun. David Schelat conducts. Neil Harmon plays organ. The concert is May 17—at First & Central Presbyterian Church, at 1101 N. Market St., as always. 654-5371, marketstreetmusicde.org
Wilmington Children’s Chorus celebrates its 10th anniversary with a special concert on May 20 at P.S. duPont Middle School auditorium in Wilmington. Help them celebrate their sharing a desire to excel in choral singing, performance and musical knowledge. www.wilmingtonchildrenschorus.org
Feasts for the Eyes—and One Freebie
The Delaware Art Museum will offer free admission on May 18 as part of the Association of Art Museum Directors’ Art Museum Day, concurrent with International Museum Day. Art Museum Day encourages museums and their visitors to reflect on the role museums play in our society and communities. “Museums energize and enrich communities in so many ways,” says executive director Danielle Rice. “We bring art to people of all ages, providing education and socialization; we are economic engines, driving tourism and industry; and most importantly, we celebrate creativity and curiosity, two skills that are in high demand. I hope everyone will take advantage of Art Museum Day to visit the Delaware Art Museum.” See the wonderful collection of Pre-Raphaelites, Howard Pyles and the current “Painted Poetry,” a retrospective of work by Delaware’s own Mary Page Evans. The exhibition includes more than 40 years of paintings and mixed-media representations of her favorite gardens, landscapes and seascapes. 571-9590, delart.org
In “Picturing WWI: The American Illustration Collection of the Delaware National Guard,” the Biggs Museum of American Art shows works by local illustrators such as Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972) and Gayle Porter Hoskins (1887-1962) as created for magazines such as Ladies Home Journal to depict key events of the war. It’s a rare opportunity to view the collection of the Delaware National Guard. Visit through June 24. 674-2111, biggsmuseum.org
Cheers to Winterthur for “Uncorked! Wine, Objects & Tradition,” a celebration of 300 objects and imagery created in response to our love of wine. “Uncorked!” shows how wine was marketed and consumed in America and Britain from the 1600s through the 1800s. See unique wine bottles, decanters and cellarettes, lead figures of Bacchus, “Champagne Charlie” song sheets, advertisements and more. The exhibition will be on view through January 6. winterthur.org/uncorked
“American Masters Art of the 19th and 20th centuries” at Somerville Manning Gallery in Greenville 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. See it through June 2. 652-0271, somervillemanning.com
One Great Ballet
Wicked step mother, Prince Charming, merry mice and a magical ball—it must be “Cinderella.” See it as presented by Delaware Dance Company at the Roselle Center for the Arts at UD May 19-20. The full-length ballet features local dance students and guests from the region. Bring the kids. 738-2023, delawaredance.org
On Stage
Who can forget Audrey II, the man-eating plant hell bent on world domination? See her, uh, him, uh, it in “Little Shop of Horrors” by Clear Space Theatre Company through May 27 at the Clear Space Theatre in Rehoboth Beach. David Button plays hapless floral assistant Seymour Krelborn, who has to deal with the giant singing Venus flytrap while trying to thwart disaster. “The show has a different mood and feel, more contemporary music, and a fantastical story,” says Button. “But all of this combines to make the audience connect emotionally to characters that, out of context, would seem utterly ridiculous.” In context, they’re utterly hilarious. 227-2270, clearspacetheatre.org
Who can resist this? In “The Skin of Our Teeth,” the inventor of the wheel, his family and his saucy maid face calamity after calamity—war, flood, famine, climate change and economic collapse—yet somehow manage to pull through. Yes, there is hope. This uproarious Pulitzer winner even offers wooly mammoth. Need we say more? Catch the UD’s Resident Ensemble Players production at Roselle Center for the Arts in Newark through July 5. 831-2204, rep.udel.edu
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 through May 20. 475-2313, nctstage.org
A Biggs, Biggs Deal
The Twentieth Anniversary Biggs Museum Gala: An Affair with the Arts happens May 19. Enjoy fabulous food, an open bar, silent auction and live entertainment by Deja Groove—and wonderful art, of course—while supporting the musuem’s exhibitions and programs. 674-2111, biggsmusuem.org
