The Baker Museum
The coming of spring brings new life and new joys, and there is so much to look forward to in March at Artis—Naples. This month, the Kimberly K. Querrey and Louis A. Simpson Cultural Campus is alive with an enchanting new exhibition at The Baker Museum, invigorating performances by the Naples Philharmonic and a variety of noteworthy guest artists and a diverse range of compelling Lifelong Learning lectures.
With the changing of seasons comes a changing of visual arts at The Baker Museum. Visitors to the museum over the last six months have been challenged by the haunting and raw exhibition lining the walls of the first-floor galleries, Envisioning Evil: “The Nazi Drawings” by Mauricio Lasansky, offering a compelling reflection of the artist’s visceral response to the horrors of the Holocaust. And though Envisioning Evil draws to a close this month, a new and refreshing exhibition opens at The Baker Museum on March 4: Naples Collects: 2022-23, a follow-up to the wildly popular Naples Collects exhibition of 2016, sharing the most inspiring and engaging art from among the collections in Southwest Florida. The exhibition is accompanied by a panel discussion moderated by Museum Director and Chief Curator Courtney McNeil as local fine art collectors share insights into their collections and guiding philosophies as collectors on March 9.
L to R: Renee-Elise-Goldsberry, Leslie Odom Jr. | Photo Credit Jimmy Fontaine
Alban Gerhard | Photo Credit Sim Canetty-Clarke Hyperion Records
Spring’s equinox also sees a great deal of liveliness in Hayes Hall as the Naples Philharmonic presents a series of electrifying performances, including not one, but two separate Masterworks programs in March. On March 9-10, cellist Alban Gerhardt returns to perform Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations in a concert that also features Rimsky-Korskakov’s Scheherazade, a rich and brilliantly styled orchestral musical retelling of the classic Arabian tale One Thousand and One Nights. And on March 31-April 1, Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma makes her Naples Philharmonic debut with a performance of Bruch’s soaring Violin Concerto in G Minor. Other orchestral highlights this month include performances by two stars of stage and screen as Renée Elise Goldsberry joins the orchestra on March 6 and Kristin Chenoweth returns on March 25 for two delightful evenings of music from Broadway and beyond. And on March 24, a crowd favorite returns as Associate Conductor Radu Paponiu conducts the orchestra in An Evening of Overtures, featuring some of the most popular orchestral pieces ever written.
The North American Tour company of Jesus Christ Superstar.
March commences with another major orchestral landmark: the return of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Zell Music Director Riccardo Muti, and with it a slew of engaging residency activities—including two orchestra performances on March 2 and 4 in Hayes Hall, a variety of master classes, a collaborative chamber music concert with musicians of the Naples Philharmonic on March 5 and even a community chamber performance for the students at Immokalee high school. And as if March were not already brimming with enough excitement, Artis—Naples welcomes the iconic Broadway musical Jesus Christ Superstar on its 50th-anniversary tour, March 14-19, as well as presentations by Leslie Odom, Jr. on March 11, Itzhak Perlman on March 12 and Paul Anka on March 28.
Tickets and additional information can be found at artisnaples.org.