Go ahead, Google it. There really are reborning dolls, vinyl playthings that have been transformed to resemble human babies with as much realism as possible, often employed as substitutes for recently deceased children. Don’t feel bad if you were unaware of the real-world curiosity. Neither were the cast members of Reborning, a creepy little stage play by Zayd Dohrn opening at … [Read more...]
Archives for January 2016
Ever-popular ‘Carmen’ returns to Palm Beach Opera
Devastated by what he saw as the failure of his latest stage project and under siege from a persistent streptococcal throat infection, Georges Bizet suffered two heart attacks and went to his grave on June 3, 1875, at the early age of 36, never to know how successful that theater piece was to become. Or how successful he’d been in writing it. “In ‘Carmen,’ he hit gold,” … [Read more...]
Cellist Maksin, pianist Gogova show wide range at St. Paul’s
The cellist Ian Maksin first became well-known to South Florida audiences as the original cellist of the Delray String Quartet and principal cellist of the New World Symphony and Atlantic Classical Orchestra before he left the area for Chicago and new opportunities. The Russian-born Maksin returned Sunday afternoon for a recital with his duo partner, the Bulgarian pianist Ani … [Read more...]
Exquisite Beethoven at Flagler from New Orford SQ
To open the 17th season of the Flagler Museum Music Series on Jan. 13 came the New Orford String Quartet of Canada. Made up of two principals of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, violinist Jonathan Crow and cellist Brian Manker, and two lead chairs from the Montreal Symphony, violinist Andrew Wan and violist Eric Nowlin — soon to take the first chair of the Detroit Symphony … [Read more...]
Seraphic Fire movingly examines the American spiritual
By Robert Croan If you’ve seen the Coen Brothers’ O Brother, Where Art Thou, which has become a cult movie since its release in 2001, you’d have recognized several of the Appalachian hymns included in Seraphic Fire’s concert of The American Spiritual, performed in five South Florida venues Jan. 12-17. Artistic Director Patrick Dupré Quigley labeled the concert “an expression … [Read more...]
Delray SQ, soprano Aleida revive Danielpour quartet in fine fashion
By Robert Croan The Delray String Quartet featured three works, each containing some sort of spiritual connection, in its Jan. 15 concert at Fort Lauderdale’s All Saints Episcopal Church. The sacred elements, however — variously Catholic, Jewish and Russian Orthodox — were secondary to the music itself, window dressing perhaps, to conform to the evening’s venue. Central to … [Read more...]
Oscar nominations left good films, performers on cutting-room floor
You can tell it was a good year at the movies when so many nomination-worthy pictures and performers got snubbed by the Academy. Alejandro Iñárritu’s The Revenant walked off with the most nominations (12), followed by Mad Max: Fury Road, the type of major studio commercial hit that the expansion of the Best Picture category aimed at including. It pulled in 10 nominations, but … [Read more...]
Powerful Prokofiev, Bernstein from Boston Brass, PB Symphony
The quintet known as Boston Brass — two trumpets, horn, trombone and tuba — joined the Palm Beach Symphony on Monday at the Flagler Museum for two memorable pieces dedicated to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet: one by Prokoviev, the other by Bernstein. Devoid of its own brass section of 12 players, Palm Beach Symphony fielded strings and percussion only. What an irony: In the … [Read more...]
Near-flawless Hermès Quartet missing sense of fun
By Kevin Wilt Thursday night, the Hermès Quartet of Paris gave a near-flawless performance at the Eissey Campus Theatre as the debut of the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach’s new Young Concert Artists Series. But despite their precision, which was much appreciated by the intimate crowd, it did not seem like the members of the quartet were having much fun. That seemed to … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Jan. 16-17
Film: The Academy Awards nominations were announced on Thursday and the following day, Mustang, France’s entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category opened locally. Actually, it is a co-production of France and Turkey, the story of five young, coltish girls from a seaside Turkish village whose stern grandmother is intent on keeping them virginal until she is able to marry … [Read more...]