Back by popular demand, the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra will present a stunning new approach to Gustav Holst’s cosmic masterpiece, “The Planets,” this Sunday at the Vero Beach High School Performing Arts Center. And what entity could possibly be better to work with for such an endeavor than the National Aeronautical and Space Administration itself, which is exactly what conductor Aaron Collins did for the Orchestra’s amazing multi-media production, “The Planets: An HD Odyssey.”
Says Collins, “NASA was kind enough to provide a gigantic catalog of imagery and film. We are so fortunate to have the Space Program in our community and are thrilled to highlight it with these incredible concerts.” The concert opens with the Southeast U.S. premiere of work by Bruce Babcock, “Event Horizon”; guitarist and composer D.J. Sparr will perform composer Kenneth Fuchs’ “Glacier.” The audience will next experience the multimedia presentation of “The Planets,” the orchestra supported by HD images from NASA’s latest exploration of the solar system, including stunning images from the Mars Rovers and past probe missions Magellan, Voyager and Galileo projected on the big screen. “The multi-media performance blew the audience away last time and after three years and dozens of requests, we just had to do it again. The footage from NASA for this concert is nothing short of stunning,” Collins raves. The concert begins at 7 p.m.
The Kilted Mermaid is a cozy little neighborhood craft beer and wine bar on Old Dixie, in the heart of Vero’s artsy downtown, with live music on Fridays and Saturdays. This Friday, it’ll be the band Soul Jam; Saturday it’s singer-songwriter/guitarist Damion Suomi; and Sunday, singer/songwriter/acoustic musician Donnie Haight. Across the lagoon, there’s music every night at Grind and Grape, a coffee house during the day, and a wine bar by night, popular with locals and visitors who enjoy the laid-back vibe. This Friday hear the Category 5 band; Saturday, the Bobby Owen band; and Sunday, Bobby and the Blisters.
Next in the Emerson Center’s Celebrated Speaker Series, this Saturday, is bestselling author and sustainable food advocate Michael Pollan, whose books “In Defense of Food” and “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” have, says one synopsis, “caused us to question whether the things we eat could be eating at us.” In a clip from one of Pollan’s PBS presentations, he says he has condensed the way to eat properly down to seven words: “Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants,” and he calls most of the highly packaged, highly promoted foods that scream at us from grocery shelves “not even worthy of the name food.” He calls them, instead, “edible foodlike substances,” and says you don’t hear screaming like that from the apples or broccoli. Pollan will speak at 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Appearing in concert this Thursday at the Emerson Center will be The Weight, a group composed of former members and collaborators of The Band, which, with the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers, played the music that became the soundtrack of the Baby Boomer generation. Showtime is 7 p.m.
This Sunday at 2 p.m., the Vero Beach Chamber Orchestra, under the baton of Page Howell, will perform a benefit concert to raise funds for the young musicians of the Vero Beach High School Orchestra, who have been given the opportunity of a lifetime. In recognition of their abilities, they’ve been invited to Austria, the world capital of classical music, to perform in Salzburg, Graz and Vienna. Austria, the birthplace of the waltz and the operetta, remains the home and workplace of more composers and musicians than any other city. All proceeds will be donated to the VBHS Orchestra.