MUSIC

Play in May: Naples Arts-wellness festival promises two more weeks

The Bumper Jacksons bring their roots jazz to Naples Friday.

It’s time to stomp. No, it’s time to paint. Well, perhaps we should meditate on that. The Stay in May Festival offers all the above possibilities and more.

The festival, which opened Tuesday and ends May 12, ramps up to boogie strength Friday, April 27, with the Bumper Jacksons, a Washington, D.C.-based multi-genre group who can play several instruments each, sing and draw the audience into their Americana jazz, lost-78 rpm sounds and blues. They'll appear at Moorings Park auditorium 120 Moorings Park Drive, which like all events except for its mindfulness sessions, are in Naples. 

Jump start:Hear the Bumper Jacksons on "Coffee Mama"

The festival is bringing the group in from the Washington D.C.-Maryland area, But many of the featured artists and specialists practice right here in Naples, and are stepping out of their schedules to offer audiences new perspectives or to team with guest artists.

Five events have sold out: The three-day Short Film Fest, a Moroccan dinner-art talk and a performance of "One Night in Memphis," the music from "The Million-Dollar Quartet."

The film festival has sold out quick both years, "I think because people can't see these in theaters. You can only see them at festivals like this," said Claudian Polzin, media liaison for the festival. "Judy Copeland, who organizes it, goes to film festivals around the country and brings in the best of the best. These are award winners."

Paula Brody will offer a lesson in her colorful expressionist banded work.

She noted that the festival has become a good way to introduce people to new venues in the city, such as the South Regional Library, Moorings auditorium and the Naples Arts District.

"The gallery hop this year will include a scavenger hunt, which will make it a good way for people to get to know what's there," she said of the Naples Art District in North Naples. "We try to make it something fun, something different and in places you wouldn't expect to see things."

For a full list of all events, see the website, stayinmay.com. For a listing of this week's events, see the calendar in this magazine.

More:Naples' Stay in May fest enriches wellness offerings, ramps up its film and popular music offerings

Wellness

Angela Tarquini-Sanders, founder of Naples-based Mindful Mindz, led an opening workshop Tuesday and is back April 30 to offer techniques to reduce stress by reshaping our response to it. The 10 a.m. session, in partnership with Shangri-La  Spa, is in an appropriately calming place, the spa's Octagon Room, 27750 Old 41 Road, Bonita Springs. 

At the same location, she'll also close the festival with a workshop May 11 on what the simple act of listening to music does to our brains. Can music, like laughter, be medicine? It's a multimedia presentation tracking music through our heads with Glen Estrin, president and cofounder of Musicians With Dystonia, who has studied music and its work within the brain extensively. 

Art

"Finding Your Inner Artist" 2-4 p.m. Saturday, April 28, gives the public a chance to try that type of art they've always been interested in. Six artists in the Naples Art District are offering classes from raku to collage to all prima and encaustic work.

If you're not ready to pick up a brush just yet, the district is offering its monthly Naples Art District gallery hop 5-8 p.m. Wednesday, May 2, beginning at 5880 Shirley St., Naples. There will be prizes and nibbles from Grain de Cafe.

And finally, Michael Connors, a consultant and gallery owner who devoted much of his life to studying and preserving West Indies art, discusses design in "Havana Modern," about which he has written one of his four books on the island nation, at 4 p.m. Monday, April 30. Jett Thompson Home is a partner in his appearance at its location, 393 Broad Ave. S.

Classical concerts

Classical music, the festival's bedrock, is scattered throughout both weeks, beginning at 8 p.m. April 30 with Dickie Fleisher, Naples Philharmonic harpist, and guest flautist Travis Jones in Mozart's Concerto for Flute & Harp in C Major. The program, at Sugden Community Theatre, 701 Fifth Ave. S., features the Fifth Avenue Chamber Orchestra and outgoing Classic Chamber Concerts Director  William Noll. Benjamin Britten's Simple Symphony and the Fauré Pavane are also on the program.

Seraphic Fire

Fort Myers pianist Peter Fancovic and Amy Porter, principal flute of the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina, collaborate with the Symphonia Virtuosi Strings, a blend of local and regional musicians, on an afternoon of "The Bach Boys," Johann Sebastian and Carl Philip Emmanuel  at 2 p.m. May 5. Works range from  the senior Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Major to the younger's Concerto for Flute in D minor. It happens at Bower Chapel, Moorings Park, 120 Moorings Park Drive.

Seraphic Fire fetes the Bard with an entire program of music inspired by Shakespeare. at 7 p.m. May 8. The composers on its programs have equally impressive names: Vaughn Williams and Morley, but a number of anonymous ones are a reminder of ages when composers' works weren't always credited. The concert is at Vanderbilt Presbyterian Church, 1225 Piper Blvd., which is the partner for this performance.

"Grand Pipes" brings back Michael Barone, host of "Pipe Dreams," the American Public Radio weekly visit to great pipe organs around the world. Barone is back by demand of those who followed his organ crawl during the last festival. For its size, Naples hosts a large number— at least seven — pipe organs. This time Barone will add the newest, the Vanderbilt Beach Presbyterian Church organ, to its tour of three stomach rumblers around the city at 2 p.m. May 10.

Jazz/pop concerts

Jazz and pop concerts are nearly a daily treat for the second week of the festival. William Noll, artistic director for the festival in its formative years, brings his jazz trio, with some soaring help from Naples Philharmonic concertmaster Glenn Basham, who is no slouch with a jazz tune, at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 3, in the court at Bentley Village 810 Retreat Drive.

An earful:Glenn Basham, William Noll Trio on "Blue Bossa"

Wycliffe Gordon

Naples-based sax star Lew Del Gatto and trumpet virtuoso Dan Miller put together "Jazz  from New Orleans to New York" to celebrate songs from both jazz meccas at 6 p.m. Friday, May 4, in the South Regional Branch, Collier County Public Library, 8065 Lely Cultural Parkway, Naples.

Then trombone composer-performer Wycliffe Gordon comes from Augusta, Georgia, for an elegant jazz evening with del Gatto at North Naples Church, 6000 Goodlette-Frank Road, 7 p.m. May 7. 

Finally, for a bit of big-band gloss, there's a show of "Big Band Meets Art Deco" at 7 p.m. May 9 in the Rose Auditorium, 180 S. Heathwood Drive, Marco Island. The evening is a trip through time to a party with beverages and bites while the Naples Big Band creates the ambience of the 1930s and '40s. Artist Malenda Trick demonstrates her Art Deco style of painting, creating a work during the evening, which is in partnership with the Marco Island Historical society.

Stay in May information

Office: 239-390-2788

Tickets: 888-613-8488

Website: stayinmay.com