Palm Beachers inspire Four Arts’ diverse lineup

Daily News Arts Editor

Notable names abound in The Society of the Four Arts’ 2015-16 season.

Celebrities booked this season, which starts in November, include The Metropolitan Museum of Art director Thomas Campbell, former National Security Agency director Michael Hayden, jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, opera star Deborah Voigt, fashion maven Iris Apfel and actor Ralph Fiennes.

The quality of the Four Arts’ programs derives from its track record of excellence — and its well-connected members. For example, a phone call from W.L. Lyons Brown, a Four Arts board member and Metropolitan Museum honorary trustee, smoothed the way for booking Campbell.

As president David Breneman says, "with all the prominent people we have in this community and the contacts they have, I’d be foolish not to exploit them."

Other noteworthy lecturers suggested by Palm Beachers include Akbar Ahmed, chairman of Islamic Studies at American University in Washington, D.C. speaking about Islam and the West since 9/11, and Charlie Cook of the Cook Political Report looking ahead to the 2016 presidential election.

An Eye for Opulence: Charleston through the Lens of the Rivers Collection features the decorative arts collection of frequent Palm Beach visitor John Rivers Jr., as well as loans from the Gibbes Museum of Art and other Charleston institutions. The show, which was organized for the Four Arts, spans colonial times to the advent of the Civil War, the city’s golden age of luxury goods.

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Opulence also characterizes Invitation to the Ball: Marjorie Merriweather Post’s Fancy Dress Costumes, an exhibition from Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens in Washington, D.C. showcasing the finery of the late Palm Beach doyenne.

Big-screen series embrace more disciplines, such as Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD, National Theatre Live — which includes Fiennes starring in George Bernard Shaw’s Man and Superman — The Bolshoi Ballet, Exhibitions on Screen and Friday films.

Palm Beach presenters in the Campus on the Lake education series include Apfel, who will chat about style with fashion designer Naeem Khan, and Margaret Bradham Thornton, who will discuss editing Tennessee Williams’ notebooks, restoring an 1818 garden in Charleston and her novel Charleston.

Two Beyer artists in residence are scheduled. Former Yale University English and theater professor Murray Biggs will lead a series on American dramatists in February. Sculptor and painter Alexander Shundi will guide students in developing their own approaches to art-making in March.

Evening events include wine tastings with Palm Beach Daily News contributor Roberta Sabban and wine appreciation with Athena Yannitsas. Three female experts will participate in a panel on succeeding as a woman board member.

At the King Library, the Florida Voices series will include Palm Beachers Richard Rene Silvin, discussing his book Villa Mizner: The House that Changed Palm Beach, and Annie Falk, author of Palm Beach Entertaining and the recently released Hamptons Entertaining.

Director of Education Molly Charland views the lineup with pride — and gratitude to the Palm Beach patrons whose input helped shape the season. "Only in Palm Beach could you pull something like this together," she said.

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