Florida Grand Opera closed its 78th season on May 11 with a beautifully sung, attractively presented mounting of Jules Massenet’s Werther, which many scholars of French opera consider to be the composer’s masterpiece. The opera, based on Goethe’s breakthrough novel The Sorrows of Young Werther, tells the story of a young poet who falls desperately in love with a woman he … [Read more...]
Garbage brings out the sun during a soggy SunFest Sunday
By Hali Neal There was a brief two-hour window on a rainy Sunday where it actually looked like SunFest was going to live up to its name. That window was when the Wisconsin rockers by the name of Garbage took the stage. Scottish lead singer Shirley Manson strutted up and down the stage in a white kimono/dress, hot pink hair pulled into a bun as she nailed every note on … [Read more...]
Papa Roach makes SunFest Saturday special
By Hali Neal Although there was an unusual amount of rain at this year’s SunFest, Saturday saw only a few drops in the early evening. Still, it warranted a warning: “Inclement weather approaching. Take necessary precautions.” Like most Floridians, I figured that if the next band was still going to play, I didn’t need to worry about the inclement weather warning yet. That … [Read more...]
Fine performances of contemporary music stand out at Zimmermann’s
By Dennis Rooney Zimmermann’s Café Chamber Music is devoted to presenting the music of living composers resident in South Florida. Its biannual concerts are presented in the social room of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Lake Worth, where an audience of somewhere between 50 to 100 people gather at banquet tables to listen to the performances. The most appealing aspect of … [Read more...]
Classical music: The 2019 Summer Season
Although the wave of national tours that sweep South Florida during the regular season are over by April, there are several classical festivals that are regular features of the hot months afterward, when we’re all in need of some relief. Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival (July 5-28; West Palm Beach, North Palm Beach, Delray Beach) In the long-distant year of 1992, when … [Read more...]
Pop and Jazz: The 2019 Summer Season
Summertime blues? Check. South Florida venues have it, along with summertime folk-rock, glam-rock, comedy-rock, classic rock, jazz/fusion, and modern rock and pop. As tourist season ends, locals get a chance to turn up the heat, especially at open-air venues such as Coral Sky Ampitheatre in West Palm Beach, Mizner Park Ampitheater in Boca Raton, and Bayfront Park … [Read more...]
Guitarist who reshaped Jethro Tull plays Arts Garage this weekend
If there could be a Mount Rushmore of musicians who changed the entire trajectory of the popular rock bands they joined, by sheer force of their inclusion, guitarist Martin Barre of Jethro Tull would be on it. Perhaps with fellow guitarists Steve Howe of Yes and David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, plus drummer Neil Peart of Rush. The natural inclination would be to compare … [Read more...]
Cellist Schwarz impressive in Shostakovich with ACO
By Dennis D. Rooney The Atlantic Classical Orchestra, led by David Amado, presented the final subscription concerts of its 29th season last week. The three works on the program, which I heard April 4 at the Eissey Campus Theatre in Palm Beach Gardenms, were attractively varied, and also bore witness to the noticeable improvement in the quality of the ACO’s playing that I … [Read more...]
Jazz guitar innovator Stanley Jordan brings his magic touch to Arts Garage
To borrow a phrase from the Grateful Dead song “Truckin,’” what a long, strange trip it’s been for guitarist Stanley Jordan, who performs solo shows at the Arts Garage in Delray Beach on April 5 and 6. Now 59 years old, the Chicago-born Jordan became a rarity — a jazz superstar — while in his mid-20s as a result of his 1985 album Magic Touch. Released on the Blue Note … [Read more...]
Pianist Daneshpour commanding, wayward at Steinway Gallery
By Dennis D. Rooney A Washington, D.C., native, pianist Sara Daneshpour has studied with Leon Fleisher at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute, Yoheved Kaplinsky at New York’s Juilliard School, Oleg Volkov, and at present is studying with Sergei Babayan at the Cleveland Institute. Her recital March 22 at the Steinway Gallery Boca Raton, sponsored by Piano Lovers of South … [Read more...]