A trio of stunning chamberworks: “Ravel and Beethoven,” a free concert from the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra, will be performed this Sunday at Vero’s First Presbyterian Church. Described by the orchestra promo, Beethoven’s Sextet in E-flat Major, Op.81b, for two virtuoso horns and string quartet, is a “passionate chamber concerto full of rousing hunting calls and fanfares.” Ravel was only 27 when he wrote his incredible String Quartet in F Major. Although modeled on Debussy’s celebrated Quatuor from 1893, this early work displays the careful craftsmanship and sense of color and melody that is all Ravel. While melody, harmony and rhythm are typically considered the most important ingredients of music says the symphony promo, Ravel’s string quartet “added a fourth element, sound, as a factor of equal importance.” Completing the program will be Giuseppe Cambini’s String Quintet No. 84 in D Major. The ensemble includes two violins, two violas, two French horns and a cello. Time: 3 p.m. No ticket is required. 855-252-7276.
Make ’em laugh: You have a couple of opportunities to ditch all that serious weekday stuff and get your grin on this weekend. At Vero’s Riverside Theatre heralded as “hilarious, wild and untamed,” it’s the Comedy Zone. This Friday and Saturday’s laughmeisters will be Frankie Paul and Viet Huynh (pronounced “hwin”). The show promo says Paul, who’s been touring professionally for close to 30 years, has a “unique knack for taking typically unnoticeable situations to new levels of hysterics.” Paul covers topics such as marriage and family with a “lovable, animated appearance and an inoffensive attitude” audiences find irresistibly silly and hilarious. Born in South Carolina and launching his stand-up career in Atlanta, Huynh, says his bio, gets a lot of his humor from his own life – being an Asian-American growing up in the South. He abandoned a structural engineering career to follow his dreams of making toys (custom action figures) and “talking in front of drunk people; all while continuing to disappoint his parents.” In addition to the comedy, if you get there an hour before the show, you’ll have the opportunity to enjoy food and a free concert, Live in the Loop, outside beneath Riverside’s famed oaks. On stage Friday will be The Mixers, with an evening of rock, R&B and soul. Saturday’s free concert features Mighty Flea Circus, bringing their own inimitable style of swing, rockabilly and blues. Show times: Live in the Loop free concert: 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Comedy Zone: 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Tickets: $12 to $18. 772-231-6990.
Do you think of riding a bicycle when you hear “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head”? BJ Thomas “owns one of the most distinctive voices in American pop music,” his bio states, and you’ll be able to enjoy his “reassuringly masculine timbre” live this Saturday, Aug. 25, at the King Center. Known for his 1960s and 1970s hits, which made it onto pop, country and Christian music charts, says Wikipedia, Thomas’ best-known recordings include his first hit “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” from 1967; the Burt Bacharach/Hal David hit “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” from the movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”; and the original version of Mark James’ “Hooked on a Feeling.” Thomas extended the theme that winds through much of his music – seeking some level of positivity to overcome the proverbial universal battle with loneliness – “into his successful late 70s-early 80s venture into gospel music,” states the show promo, earning him the first four platinum albums in the genre’s history. Show time: 8 p.m. Tickets: $59. 321-242-2219.
