By Dale King Not since Hurricanes Frances, Jeanne and Wilma has a trio of any kind hit Boca Raton with the impact of Forte, the power-voiced operatic tenors whose nearly two-hour show Saturday night wrapped up the eighth annual Festival of the Arts Boca on a high and mighty note. The men with stellar, soaring voices played to four standing ovations and performed two encores — … [Read more...]
Archives for March 2014
For two-piano sensations Anderson and Roe, it’s all about joy
You could look a long time and you’d be hard-pressed to find a whole lot of musical ensembles with a mission statement. But Anderson and Roe, the two-piano sensation that formed at Juilliard a dozen years ago, have that staple of business culture right on the News page of their website: “To make classical music a relevant and powerful force in society. To connect with others; … [Read more...]
‘50 Years’ a standout at Ririe-Woodbury’s Duncan show
By Tara Mitton Catao On Friday night, the Duncan Theatre hosted the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, a Utah-based repertory dance troupe that continues to bear the name of the University of Utah professors who founded it over 50 years ago. However, the program didn’t have the variety that a mixed repertory program usually encompasses. Growing from a local company to an … [Read more...]
Sundays: Ghost ship
By Myles Ludwig I have to tread lightly here. I do not want to add to the anguish. Or the hysteria. But I feel as though I have been assaulted by TV news this week, CNN in particular. On the one hand, the geopolitical issue of Crimea has been positioned as a scary game of brinkmanship reminiscent of the post-WWII confrontation between the U.S. and Russia in Berlin which led … [Read more...]
Historian Goodwin takes audience back to Progressive Era
By Dale King Pulitzer Prize-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin doesn’t just talk about history. She takes her audience on a word picture journey through time, giving wings to funny facts and deep insight into many of this nation’s presidents. Her lecture Thursday night at the Mizner Park Amphitheater in Boca Raton, part of Festival of the Arts Boca, touched on her latest … [Read more...]
Fine new clarinet concerto debuts at Atlantic Classical Orchestra
Get ready: The Atlantic Classical Orchestra is coming. After four well-attended rehearsals in the Eissey Campus Theatre at Palm Beach State College in Palm Beach Gardens, they will give four Tuesday afternoon concerts there next season. Well known for its creative programming, after 24 years of playing in Vero Beach, Fort Pierce and Stuart, the ACO feels its brand of … [Read more...]
Smith’s night of ‘Grace’ wins over festival audience
By Dale King When actor Anna Deavere Smith is in character, she can actually be many different characters. She brought some of her best stage personages to a performance at the Cultural Arts Center in Boca Raton on Tuesday night as part of the Festival of the Arts Boca lecture and theater series. A playwright, professor and known face on the movie and TV screen, Smith employs … [Read more...]
Pianist Dong makes thrilling, important Florida debut
The art of recital programming is an elusive one given that there’s so much repertory to choose from, but in solo performances, pianists generally follow a chronological order, going from the Baroque or Classical periods to the present. The terrific young Chinese pianist Fei-Fei Dong, a medalist at the last Van Cliburn competition last year, followed this norm only in the … [Read more...]
‘Better Living’ wallows in vulgarity, cliché
The only likable character in Better Living Through Chemistry shows up in two scenes, late in the movie. His name is Jack, and his role in the film doesn’t really matter. Suffice it to say that he coasts on the warmth, depth and intelligence of the actor playing him, Ray Liotta, and when he leaves the screen, it’s all the more apparent that the rest of these 92 minutes have … [Read more...]
Scrupulously beautiful Beethoven, intriguing Beamish from Elias Quartet
Sometimes the difference between a splendid performance of something and one that’s merely good comes down to an exercise of fundamentals. In the case of Britain’s Elias String Quartet, which played the Society of the Four Arts on Sunday afternoon, its exceptional performances had a lot to do with dynamic range. Seldom have I heard a performance with the kind of soft dynamics … [Read more...]