Editor’s note: The publication of this review, which was scheduled for the week of Feb. 21, was delayed by technical problems. In 1998, four young men attending Prague’s Academy of the Arts decided to form a professional string quartet. Emphasizing their Czech origins, the four high school-age boys took the name Bennewitz to honor Antonin Bennewitz, founder of the Czech … [Read more...]
Carpenter brilliant in launching new Kravis organ
Cameron Carpenter launched the new Kravis Center organ Wednesday night with American-style pomp and circumstance. The pomp was in the program he chose and the circumstance was the gala atmosphere surrounding what went on with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra playing alongside this lovable master of the new Opus 11 digital console organ, donated by generous philanthropist … [Read more...]
ACO blissfully good in Ravel, Respighi, Haydn
David Loebel, the second of four conductors vying for the post of music director, led the Atlantic Classical Orchestra in a familiar but adventurous program at the Eissey Theatre on Feb. 10. It was the first evening concert in the series and seats were filled. Was it because it was a light orchestral program of five music gems or that concertgoers prefer the nightlife that … [Read more...]
Hanslip electrifying, Falletta refined in Buffalo Phil concert
In a short three-city tour of West Palm Beach, Vero Beach and Fort Lauderdale, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra showed Feb. 7 at the Kravis Center just how good they are under the baton of JoAnn Falletta, one of the fine women conductors who has made inroads into the once male-dominated maestro domain. Abandoning the usual warm-up piece of overture or tone poem, the … [Read more...]
PB Symphony takes its place with the majors in Benjamin Hall
Like a top-league soccer coach, Ramón Tebar has gotten his team to World Cup level. The Palm Beach Symphony, playing Jan. 27 at the new auditorium of Benjamin High School in Palm Beach Gardens, sounded like a major orchestra from Europe or the Americas. In my time covering this ensemble, Tebar has taken it from a refined chamber music ensemble of 35 players to a well-crafted … [Read more...]
Vega SQ brings rapturous sound to Flagler series
The Vega String Quartet: Yinzi Kong, Guang Wang, Domenic Salerni and Jessica Shuang Wu. Vega is the name of the brightest star in the constellation Lyra. And while the young Vega String Quartet, which played the Flagler Museum series Jan. 26, may be only on the road to that distinction, they do produce a rapturous, rounded sound, and that is perhaps their signature. Now in … [Read more...]
PB Opera’s ‘Carmen,’ second cast: A subdued heroine, brilliant Young Artists
Nora Sourouzian. Bizet’s collection of melodies in his opera Carmen continue to buzz around in the recesses of the brain long after the performance has ended. His music is immortal. The production I saw at Palm Beach Opera on Jan. 23 had all the elements of a successful evening with some minor flaws. But it’s the music that lives on. Also, on this occasion, is the memory of … [Read more...]