World Music, Mozart and More
Delaware Friends of Folk Coffeehouse presents Ustad Shafaat Khan at Wesley College Chapel in Dover on April 21. Ustad Shafaat Khan, a virtuoso of the sitar, tabl and surbahar, has performed at prestigious concert halls, music festivals and universities around the world. At Wesley, you can see why he has become one of India’s most renowned musicans. If you haven’t been to a DFF coffeehouse, this is a terrific opportunity to see what they’re all about. 877-delfolk
On April 19 the Market Street Music Thursday Noontime Concert Series features Terra Soul Project at First & Central Presbyterian Church. Led by bassist Rob Swanson, this jazz group plays original works influenced by world music. Members have played with Ray Charles, John Legend, Kieko Matsui, Othello Molineaux, Ernie Watts and others. What better way to spend your lunch hour? marketstreetmusicde.org
The heavenly Serafin String Quartet will close the Arts at Trinity series on April 21 with a performance that includes Dvorâk’s Cypresses, Bartok’s Quartet #4 and Dvorâk’s Piano Quintet with guest artist, pianist William Ransom. Visit Episcopal Church in Wilmington. Admission is free. We already can’t wait for next season. 652-8605, theartsattrinity.org
Animal lovers, music lovers, unite: Tour the animal kingdom through New Ark Chorale’s presentation of “All Creatures Great and Small.” Hear where more than 50 animals mentioned in choral masterpieces, novelty songs to Ivor Davies’ “Prayers from the Ark,” then meet a few animal ambassadors from PAWS for People. The fun happens April 21 at Newark United Methodist Church. 368-4946, mycommunityevents.com
It can’t get more Mozartian than this—when The Kennett Symphony presents Leopold’s Violin: A Magical Evening of Mozart at Longwood Gardens on April 27, guest violinist Christopher Collins Lee will play his 1680 Cremonese violin, which once belonged to Leopold Mozart, Wolfgang’s father. Very, very cool. Under the direction of Maestra Mary Woodmansee Green, the Kennett Symphony offers a delightful concert of Mozart’s best-loved melodies, opening with Symphony No. 29. Don’t miss this unique opportunity. (610) 444-6363, Kennettsymphony.org
Performance Par Excellence
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 April 19-July 5. 831-2204, rep.udel.edu
What is hat-titude? Find out as Delaware Theatre Company presents the musical “Crowns” through April 29. As a young woman who moves to the South quickly learns, there’s a hat for every occasion, and every one 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
Get the kids to Delaware Children’s Theatre in Wilmington for “Cinderella,” which plays Saturdays and Sundays through May 6. This is a musical version of the fairy tale that will delight everyone. 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 through May 20. 475-2313, nctstage.org
Still Slammed with Poetry
National Poetry Month continues with a few special events. “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 from 1979 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. 674-0402, doverartleague.org
Most Artful
In this centenary year of Howard Pyle’s passing, Rehoboth Beach Film Society’s Cinema & Art series presents ”Howard Pyle & The Illustrated Story” April 19 at The Inn at Canal Square in Lewes. The film explores the history, artistry and spectacular rise of this amazing artist, showing his talents as author, illustrator and teacher. It shows how Pyle established a new standard of excellence in turn-of-the-century American graphic art. See interviews with artists Jamie Wyeth and Darrell Warren of “Pirates of the Caribbean” fame. Wow. 645-9095, rehobothfilm.com
See the best of Not Yet Famous Artists through April 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. You need to make an appointment for this one, so you know it’s good. 312-5493, new.wilmington.art@gmail.com
“American Masters Art of the 19th and 20th centuries” at Sommerville 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
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 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 the “golden age of illustration” through May 2. (610) 388-2700, brandywinemuseum.org
