Some information, finally, is beginning to trickle in about what's in store musically for summer 2008 in South Florida, including such anchors as the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival. Programming and, thus, special guests haven't been announced yet but the festival is most definitely back on in its classic formation, four weekends beginning July 11 through August 3. The ensemble's core remains founders Karen Dixon, flute (left), bassoonist Michael Ellert (center) and clarinetist Michael Forte (right) in the accompanying pbcmf photo.

The venue rotation remains the same, with each weekend's opening performance Fridays 8 p.m. at Palm Beach Atlantic University's Persson Recital Hall in downtown West Palm Beach, 8 p.m. Saturdays at the Eissey Campus Theatre in Palm Beach Gardens, and 2 p.m. Sundays at the Crest Theatre at Old School Square in Delray Beach. Tickets were planned to go on sale about now, so the final announcement should come at any time.

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Following through on its theme to pay tribute to Spain, the International Hispanic Theatre Festival will bring four productions from that country to anchor its 23rd festival July 9-27 in Miami. Another four are expected to arrive from Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Slovenia.

They will be joined by the fest's host company, founder and festival director Mario Ernesto Sanchez' (photo at right) Teatro Avante in Coral Gables, plus Miami-Dade College's Prometeo Theatre and a pair of Miami area children's troupes, Gira-Sol and Cuenteros. Various performances will be in Spanish or English, Slovenian and some with supertitles.

The opening attraction will be "El Llanto" (Event) by Federico Garcia Lorca and Enric Granados, performed by Barcelona, Spain's Octubre Teatral, July 9-11 at the Arsht Center's Studio Theatre. Other venues include Miami-Dade College's Wolfson (300 NE 2 Ave.) and InterAmerican (627 S.W. 27 Ave.) campuses, plus the Key Biscayne Community Center and Spanish Cultural Center.

Information is available at the Teatro Avante website, by phone 305-445-8877 and the Arsht Center.

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The Master Chorale of South Florida waited just long enough for the dust to settle over longtime Artistic Director Jo-Michael Sheibe's departure to announce his replacement, Dr. Joshua Habermann (pictured at left), who was recently named director of Choral Studies at the University of Miami.

In addition to timing, there's more serendipity in the announcement. As Sheibe heads for the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, Habermann is relocating from San Francisco State University, where he was Director of Choral Activities, and off-campus Assistant Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus for the past 12 years.

The announcement was made late Tuesday by Master Chorale president Mark W. Glickman, who in a statement gushed to be "absolutely delighted" to land the man who was the "unanimous first choice of our chorus members" from among four finalists (and 33 applicants, total). He'll make his debut here Nov. 14 conducting Mendelssohn's "Elijah." Click on the link below for additional information from the official announcement.

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You may have already noticed -- the show business news at the moment tends to be loaded with season announcements about what's coming up in the 2008-09 season starting in September-October. This is traditional - it began in early spring with the major arts orgs that plan long-range, and is winding up now with most other groups who want to get the word out before snowbirds head north and the rest of us check out for wherever. Coming days and weeks likely will have plenty more. We'll ID the highlights and give you the links to pour over the details.

If you're looking for info on something specific, let me know. I'll checkitout.

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"What good's permitting some prophet of doom
To wipe every smile away
Life is a cabaret, old chum
So come to the cabaret."

--Lyrics by Fred Ebb, music by John Kander, "Cabaret," Broadway, 1966

Welcome to the blogosphere that encourages discourse from everyone who recognize the obvious: There are few if any boundaries among interests in the arts or their connection to show "business" and pop culture.

Plays, musicals, opera, symphony, chorus, recitals, jazz, pop concerts, artspolitik, philanthropy, and much more are part of the Cultural Cabaret.

Here, you'll find breaking news and opinion of events - performing arts and show business - in the digital world, often as observation within minutes or hours of an event - previews to the fully vetted online and print news or reviews to follow.

Whether the discussion is conducted digitally or on paper, we all need to be a part of the community exchange. Ours is South Florida. These posts are the starting point for you to discuss our cultural community among one another.

Now that the cabaret is in full swing with a few scoops and catch-up items on the entertainment news front, it's time to pause for introductions and welcomes.

You lounge lizards know the drill - the set begins with a torch song opener, then a ballad, then the entertainer "chats" with you personal-like before diving into the show proper.

Here's my chat: I've spent nearly 40 years covering entertainment and the arts for every major newspaper in South Florida, from Miami through the Palm Beaches - over half of it here at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

For much of that time, I've also covered the statewide entertainment industry reporting for "the bible of show business," Variety based in New York City and Daily Variety in Los Angeles.

In the overview, that means nights in saloons and salons and sheds (a.k.a. amphitheaters), plus supperclubs, casinos and concert halls, from symphony orchestras to rock festivals, playhouses to theaters to opera houses, movies from the set to the neighborhood multiplex to art cinemas to film festivals, and artspolitik from city hall to the state legislature.

That's a jack-of-all-trades experience in a whole bunch of class-conscious worlds with many self-appointed high priests. So, expect to hear some some high-velocity rebuttals from contributors offering counterpoint as we rebuild the roads of information and opinion as two-way, community-wide thoroughfares.

This blog and its threads will attempt a univeral approach to the arts and show business without demeaning one to the other.

High priests have their place, and their standards deserve defense. I myself am a devotee of Ayn Rand's cultural philosophy and live in a condominium named The Fountainhead, for which I have been board president. This is not entirely coincidence or serendipity.

Yet, the differences that propel community expectations populate the arena of the cultural cabaret. On the web, the stage is yours, mine and ours.

There is one caveat, however. Anonymous comments won't get a followup or response from here. To be taken seriously, you need to be taken at face value. Without a face, your comments have no value.

- Jack Zink

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