Because Martín is a big draw, concerts are free and venues are small, getting a seat may take some doing. Here’s how to avoid disappointment: San Germán: First come, first served. Arrive 45 minutes early. Reaching the museum is like climbing a pyramid. Anyone with mobility issues should pass. Mayagüez: Easy access, small capacity. The early bird gets the clarinet. Preregistration is a must. Use Jotform or telephone (787) 986-7850 to commit to a seat. San Juan: Arrive a half-h

By PEGGY ANN BLISS Special to The STAR What’s that plaintive sound? A sigh, a wail, a shout? No, it’s a clarinet, and it can imitate the human voice better than any instrument. Mozart, for whom it was a favorite instrument, spotlighted it in his last work. His wind quintet is also revered by clarinetists. Another tradition featuring the clarinet is klezmir, a soulful, celebratory creation of Ashkenazy Jews in Eastern Europe. While this tradition has existed for thousands of y

Spanish clarinet virtuoso Ángel Martín (Facebook via Ángel Martín - Clarinetist) By PEGGY ANN BLISS Special to The STAR Flash! At 26, Spanish virtuoso Ángel Martín, a top attraction of the Casals Festival, has reached a rare pinnacle. After three auditions to attain the chair of solo clarinet in the prestigious Paris Opera Orchestra, he made the cut on May 6. This young Toledo prodigy has taken the giant step up from the Lyon (France) Opera Orchestra, where he reigned in the

Rihanna and ASAP Rocky at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala in New York, May 4, 2026. Rihanna and ASAP Rocky described the attack that took place at their home in Los Angeles to the police; the singers discussed their stalkers and their experience inside a trailer struck by gunfire, according to a police report. (Nina Westervelt/The New York Times) By MATT STEVENS It was just after 1 p.m. on a Sunday, and pop star Rihanna was inside an Airstream

“Danzando al Ritmo de las Algas Marinas” (Dancing to the Rhythm of Seaweed), acrylic on canvas, by Yanira Delgado By THE STAR STAFF The Puerto Rican Association of Plastic Artists (APAP) will present “Ego Trip: El Niño Interior,” a collective exhibition featuring Puerto Rican and international artists in a deeply introspective and visually engaging showcase. The exhibition opens next Tuesday, May 19, at 6 p.m. in the lobby of José Paulino Hernández Miranda Library at the Univ

Julius Erving of the New York Nets, center, laying up a shot against the San Antonio Spurs during an American Basketball Association game in 1976. The Nets eventually sold Erving to the Philadelphia 76ers. (Larry Morris/The New York Times) By STUART MILLER While Kenan Kamwana Holley was shooting his documentary series “Soul Power: The Legend of the American Basketball Association,” he asked basketball players what they knew about the long-defunct ABA. “We had young NBA player

Gustavo Dudamel conducts at right as singers, including Rubén Blades, center, perform with the New York Philharmonic and the Spanish Harlem Orchestra at the United Palace Theater in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan on Saturday, May 9, 2026. The 184-year-old Philharmonic and the 25-year-old Spanish Harlem Orchestra represent vastly different New York worlds; Dudamel’s decision to put them on one stage — with a program including salsa compositions — signaled how

Christophe Dimitri Réveille, the director of a Che Guevara documentary premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, near Cannes, France, in April 2026. The film “Che Guevara: The Last Companions” tells the story of Guevara’s last surviving comrades in arms. (François Ollivier/The New York Times) By FARAH NAYERI Che Guevara is the undisputed poster boy of 20th-century revolutions. With his mustache and signature beret, he is perpetually popular, appearing on T-shirts all over the w

María Nieves Rego, 1934-2026 (Wikimedia Commons/Gobierno de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires) By ALEX WILLIAMS María Nieves Rego, who with her dance partner and onetime husband, Juan Carlos Copes, formed a duo that, despite their often painful personal relationship, helped spark a tango revival in Argentina that spread worldwide, died on April 19 in Buenos Aires. She was 91. Her death was announced by the Argentine Association of Actors and Actresses, which did not specify

Left photo: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, detail from “Portrait of the Mozart Family,” by Johann Nepomuk della Croce, c. 1781 (Wikipedia); right photo: Constanze Mozart (née Weber), portrait by Joseph Lange, c. 1782 (Wikipedia) By PEGGY ANN BLISS Special to The STAR What better way to show love for one’s new bride recovering from an illness than to write a Mass for her? And how much better if she just happened to be one of Austria’s most celebrated sopranos? Her husband, Wolfgang