Weather permitting, Johnny and the Blaze, a favorite local band at various venues around town such as Waldo’s, Grind + Grape and Riverside Theatre’s Live at the Loop, will once again have people dancing in the streets at the May 25 Downtown Friday Street Party, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., along 14th Ave. hosted by Main Street Vero Beach.
Band members Johnny Herron, Pete Jorgensen, Dave Williams, Gary Brown and John Wunsch will keep young and old on their toes – or just tapping them – playing a mix of Motown and classic rock. Downtown Friday is family- and dog-friendly, and best of all free, so grab your lawn chairs and make a night of it.
The wonders of the universe will be on display beginning May 26 at the Vero Beach Museum of Art with the opening of the exhibition Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year. The exhibit will include roughly 50 photographs, chosen from the thousands of entries submitted earlier this year to London’s Royal Observatory Greenwich for the Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2018 competition, held in association with Insight Investment and BBC Sky at Night Magazine.
Billed as “the biggest international competition of its kind, annually showcasing spectacular images shot by astrophotographers worldwide,” winners are selected by a juried panel from submissions in nine categories: Skyscapes, Aurorae, People and Space, Our Sun, Our Moon, Stars and Nebulae, Galaxies and Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year (under age 16). The celestial marvels will remain on display in the Holms Gallery through Sept. 16. For more information, call 772-231-0707 or visit verobeachmuseum.org.
Space Coast Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Conductor and Artistic Director Aaron Collins, closes out its ninth season with what they’re billing as a “Big Epic” concert, featuring works by Tchaikovsky, Fuchs and Shostakovich. The concert takes place at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 27, at the Vero Beach High School Performing Arts Center. Talented violinist Suliman Tekalli will perform Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major, now instantly recognizable as a result of its use in movies and television, including in the popular Amazon series, Mozart in the Jungle.
A Daytona Beach native, Tekalli entered the Julliard School’s bachelor’s degree program at age 17, studying there with Hyo Kang, who is now on the faculty of Yale School of Music, and obtained his master’s from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied under Joel Smirnoff, former CIM president. Tekalli has performed throughout the world and was the top prize winner in 2015 Seoul International Music Competition and prize winner in the Sendai, Lipizer and Szeryng International Violin Competition.
Although she won’t be performing on this trip, Suliman frequently performs with his sister, pianist Jamila Tekalli. Rounding out the concert offerings are Atlantic Riband, a piece by Kenneth Fuchs inspired by the S.S. United States’ record-breaking maiden voyage; and Shostakovich’s stirring Symphony No. 5, which he described as “a Soviet artist’s creative response to just criticism.” Call 855-252-7276 or visit spacecoastsymphony.org.