As superhero showdowns go at this year’s Festival of the Arts Boca, you’d be hard-pressed to find a stronger marquee bout than Beethoven versus Yoda.
But believe us, it’s a fair fight. In one corner, the soaring John Williams soundtrack of the greatest “Star Wars” sequel, “The Empire Strikes Back” – and the first film to introduce Baby Yoda’s maybe-ancestor, Yoda. In the opposite corner, an all-Beethoven suite of joyful classics helmed by the Grammy-nominated chamber powerhouse Eroica Trio.
Both events lead the slate of classical music and movies, authors and ideas returning Feb. 28-March 8 to the 14th annual bash at Boca Raton’s Mizner Park Amphitheater and nearby Cultural Arts Center. This year’s theme, “A Season of Heroes,” salutes performers past and present, throwing spotlights on cultural heavyweights such as Milos, the London-based classical guitarist on a career rebound after a prolonged hand injury; Postmodern Jukebox, the YouTube-born ensemble of musicians who reinterpret modern pop songs as jazzy throwback arrangements; and novelist Jesmyn Ward (“Salvage the Bones,” “Sing, Unburied, Sing”), the first woman of color to collect two National Book Awards for fiction.
The festival will kick off at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 27, with a screening of the documentary “Forte” at the Cultural Arts Center (201 W. Plaza Real, Boca Raton), about a trio of women who carve out careers as classical soloists in adulthood. Members of the Eroica Trio will take part in a post-film discussion.
Admission to each event will range from $15 to $150. Call 561-300-4138 or go to FestivalBoca.org.
Day-by-day schedule
7:30 p.m. Feb. 28 (Amphitheater): With its “Cirque du Cinema” program, Troupe Vertigo, a group of high-flying acrobats, will pirouette, swing and perform physical feats to the symphonic music of hero movies including the James Bond franchise, “Batman” and “Mission: Impossible.”
3 p.m. Feb. 29 (Cultural Arts Center): “Achilles Heel,” an evening of stories exposing weaknesses and soft spots, is the theme of the Moth StorySLAM. The popular radio broadcast and storytelling gathering is best described as a pressure cooker, where Moth producers pick 10 speakers from a hat to regale audiences with stories no longer than five minutes.
7:30 p.m. Feb. 29 (Amphitheater): In this salute to Beethoven’s 250th birthday, Grammy-nominated soloists the Eroica Trio (pianist Erika Nickrenz, violinist Sara Parkins and cellist Sara Sant’Ambrogio) will perform the German’s pianist’s “Triple” Concerto.
7 p.m. March 1 (Amphitheater): Milos, returning from a hand injury in 2016 that severely stunted his playing ability, will perform “Voices of the Guitar,” cycling through the music of the Caribbean, Catalonia and the catalogs of Leonard Cohen, Radiohead and the Beatles.
7 p.m. March 2 (Mizner Park East Tent, near Amphitheater): The winner of a pair of National Book Awards for fiction (for novels “Salvage the Bones” and “Sing, Unburied, Sing,” author Jesmyn Ward will share how growing up black and poor in the South influences her work.
7 p.m. March 3 (East Tent): New Yorker cartoonist and National Book Award finalist Roz Chast will set aside her pencil and drafting table to discuss “Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?” a talk about her art, family and work.
7 p.m. March 4 (East Tent): TED talk speaker Dr. Laurie Santos will deliver an abbreviated version of her current Yale University class (“Psychology and the Good Life”), offering tips on living one’s best life.
7 p.m. March 5 (East Tent): Political analyst Amy Walter (“The Cook Political Report” newsletter) will weigh in on Super Tuesday (March 3) election results with her talk, “Where Are We Now?”
7:30 p.m. March 6 (Amphitheater): Luke Skywalker’s deadbeat father cuts off his son’s hand and Darth Vader entombs his daughter’s boyfriend in carbonite in “The Empire Strikes Back,” the Greek tragedy-est of the “Star Wars” sequels. The film will be screened onstage and its John Williams score will be performed live by the Symphonia under the baton of conductor Constantine Kitsopoulos.
7:30 p.m. March 7 (Amphitheater): Prone to mixing electronica beats with the velvety strains of Beethoven, the Miami-based Nu Deco Ensemble heads back to the festival for a second time with a genre-bending program of classical meets Bill Withers and Fleetwood Mac.
7 p.m. March 8 (Amphitheater): Imagine Lizzo’s “Good As Hell” reinterpreted as a Roaring ’20s-style jazz standard, or Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” as a ’50s doo-wop cover, and you have some sense of Postmodern Jukebox’s style. Their YouTube channel now boasts some 400 million views.
