By Janis Fontaine Rhea Francani isn’t a tough-talking Texan or a boot-scooting Okie but she loves country music like one. Born in Buffalo, N.Y., the youngest of three sisters in a close-knit Italian family that put on “full-blown concerts” in the living room of their modest home, Francani, 28, now of Boca Raton, just released the first single from her soon-to-be released … [Read more...]
Video concerts keep faith alive for PB Chamber Music Festival
The Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival is finishing up its 29th season tonight with the release of the third program in its series of short virtual concerts. Forced by the coronavirus pandemic to cancel its live shows, the festival has moved online for three abbreviated concerts filmed at Old School Square’s Crest Theatre, and made available for $10 apiece on Vimeo. The … [Read more...]
For 29th season, PBC Chamber Fest going virtual with 3 concerts
The classical music world has adapted rapidly and skillfully to the coronavirus pandemic when it comes to the presentation of concerts. Look no further than YouTube or the Facebook page of your favorite presenting institution and you’re likely to find streams of live music that in the absence of audiences at least are keeping the faith alive. And so it is that the Palm … [Read more...]
Back from bout with COVID-19, Boca singer eager to see audiences again
Every picture tells a story. It’s a time-honored phrase, but it’s not always true. Take South Florida-based vocalist Deborah Silver (www.deborahsilvermusic.com). Even if you know that she’s a veteran singer well-versed in jazz and adult contemporary styles, and see images that indicate the look of a classic cabaret artist, those elements are only part of her tale. … [Read more...]
Music online: Pianist Vlaeva plays Mainly Mozart Festival
Recent musical summers have become richer hereabouts with the programming of the Mainly Mozart Festival, a long-running concert series in Coral Gables that got fresh, innovative energy under the leadership of pianist Marina Radiushina. Unwilling to let this summer go, Radiushina is presenting her series online as we all wrestle with the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning with … [Read more...]
Postmodern Jukebox warms up chilly Boca Fest finale
By Dale King The final evening of this year’s Festival of the Arts Boca at the Mizner Park Amphitheater in Boca Raton on March 8 was damn cold, with a biting wind that made ambient temperatures in the 60s feel even frostier. Still, the not-too-comfortable folding chairs on the amphitheater lawn were nearly filled, thanks, in large part, to the appearance of Postmodern … [Read more...]
The blues haunts Zwilich’s fine new cello concerto
By Dennis D. Rooney Two world premieres opened the third program of the South Florida Symphony Orchestra’s 22nd season. Zuill Bailey was soloist in the Concerto for Cello and Orchestra by Ellen Taafe Zwilich, one of two premieres on the program, both dedicated to founding Music Director Sebrina María Alfonso. Zwilich (b. 1939), a native Floridian, is a distinguished … [Read more...]
Legendary fusion band Brand X to play first-ever Florida show
Formed in the mid-1970s in England, iconic jazz/fusion group Brand X became one of the sub-genre’s prominent acts of the decade after its members initially met to record solo albums for multi-instrumentalist/producer Brian Eno. Dormant afterward through the 1980s and again between 1999 and 2016, its current four-year-old lineup hasn’t yet recorded in a studio, but has … [Read more...]
ACO, soloist get mixed Beethoven results; Stravinsky, Higdon sparkle
By Dennis D. Rooney Dance music dominated the first half of the second Masterworks Series program of the Atlantic Classical Orchestra’s 30th season Wednesday at the Eissey Campus Theatre in Palm Beach Gardens. Dance Card by Jennifer Higdon (b. 1962) was the opener. Written in 2016, the five-movement work, for string orchestra, explores different aspects of dance rhythms. … [Read more...]
Splendid ‘Acis and Galatea’ closes Seraphic Fire’s Enlightenment Festival
By Robert Croan “Happy we!”/”Wretched lovers!”/”Galatea, dry they tears!” That’s the plot, in a nutshell, of Acis and Galatea, Handel’s pastorale opera, first performed in London in 1718, given a rare (and splendidly realized) revival by Seraphic Fire to conclude the group’s two-week Enlightenment Festival in South Florida. The shepherd Acis and the sea nymph … [Read more...]