WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — This fall, the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts will transform a milestone in American history into an afternoon of music, storytelling and spectacle.
On Sunday, Nov. 8, the Kravis Center and Palm Beach Symphony will present “America 250 in Concert,” a special matinee celebrating the nation’s 250th anniversary. The performance pairs Hollywood charisma with Broadway gravitas, as Golden Globe winner George Hamilton hosts and two-time Tony Award winner Brian Stokes Mitchell serves as narrator and featured vocalist.
Led by Music Director Gerard Schwarz, the concert blends patriotic classics, orchestral masterworks and Broadway favorites while spotlighting the next generation of talent through a side-by-side performance with musicians from the Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts.
The program opens with “The Star-Spangled Banner” before moving through works by Valerie Coleman, Leroy Anderson and Charles Ives. Mitchell will narrate Aaron Copland’s stirring “Lincoln Portrait,” one of the afternoon’s centerpiece performances.
Following intermission, Dreyfoos students join the orchestra on stage for a collaborative performance featuring Sousa’s “Semper Fidelis,” Morton Gould’s “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” selections from John Williams’ beloved film scores, and Mitchell’s performances of “Wheels of a Dream” from Ragtime and “The Impossible Dream” from Man of La Mancha. The concert concludes with Sousa’s enduring “The Stars and Stripes Forever.”
Founded in 1974, Palm Beach Symphony has become one of South Florida’s premier cultural institutions, pairing world-class performances with music education programs that have reached more than 100,000 students.
America 250 in Concert begins at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8, in Dreyfoos Hall at the Kravis Center. Tickets, starting at $40.25, go on sale Friday, Aug. 7, at 10 a.m.
For tickets visit kravis.org or call 561.832.7469.
