The Festival Beat

Don Pettit is America's oldest actively serving astronaut. And one heckuva great photographer.

Bill McKibben brings a very important voice to the study of our planet’s present and future, because all that he writes, all that he does, is grounded in hope.

It is pretty difficult not to look at our world today and pithily conclude that “it is a mess.” It would seem a time ripe for US leadership, yet it seems to be a time of “rejection of internationalism.”

If this whole opera thing doesn’t work out, Larisa Martínez always has her bachelor’s degree (with high honors) in Environmental Sciences to fall back on. But let’s be clear, the opera thing is going very well.

While it is surely good for one’s own well-being to sing and dance regardless of whether anyone is watching, for those who make their living in the arts, the absence of audiences meant deep economic and spiritual hardship.

The Encyclopedia Britannica asserts that “Any attempt to arrive at a precise, all-encompassing definition of jazz is probably futile.” Replace the word jazz in that quote with the name Terence Blanchard and you have a statement that is no less true or beguiling.

Festival Boca took First Place at the SUNsational Awards in the category of Hybrid Event, for its presentation of Nadine Sierra and Friends, broadcast via live-streaming on March 6, 2021.

We were a bit trepidatious about moving the Festival to a virtual setting. But opening weekend came off without a hitch, and we are getting lots of positive feedback about the Nadine Sierra and James Ehnes concerts.

Admiral James Stavridis will share timely views and information about the current state of the world, based on many years spent in top leadership and NATO posts.

In a talk sponsored by Baptist Health, Sonia Shah brings insight and clarification to how environmental changes, often a result of human behavior, affect disease, and how migration – naturally and historically the focus of suspicion – may actually be our salvation.

Bruce Feiler, the author of seven New York Times bestsellers, the presenter of two prime-time series on PBS, and the inspiration for the drama Council of Dads on NBC, has been thinking a lot about wolves of late.

When the Festival Boca team decided to go ahead with a virtual 2021 season, they knew they had to include Music Director Constantine Kitsopoulos and the Festival Orchestra, who have anchored the Festival’s programs over the last 15 years. But, in the age of social distancing and masking, that posed unusual challenges.