By Dennis D. Rooney The conclusion of the Mainly Mozart Festival’s 25th season, held July 8 at the University of Miami’s Gusman Auditorium, was a gallimaufry masquerading as a concept program. It would have been better dubbed “a bit of Mozart, but mostly Shostakovich.” The subtitle was “The Soul of Celebration” and included video accompanying the music, credited to Ali … [Read more...]
Miami Music Festival’s ‘Walküre’ sees directorial debut by composer’s descendant
Sitting alone deep in the ancient cedar forests on the Japanese island of Yukushima, Antoine Wagner came in direct contact with his quest for silence. “You spend three days living in a dense forest in tents, and then suddenly the guide says, ‘You have to stay here for an hour, someone will come get you,’” he said. “There’s not a single sound in the forest, and you feel like … [Read more...]
PBCMF, Program I: Bubbly Bellini and strong Mendelssohn
By Dennis D. Rooney “Not a millennial in sight,” observed an elderly man whom I encountered on my way into the Helen K. Persson Concert Hall on the campus of Palm Beach Atlantic University last Friday. I had to agree. “Yes,” I replied, “the median age definitely skews older.” And it was an old audience who attended the inaugural program of the Palm Beach Chamber Music … [Read more...]
Lake Worth’s Bamboo Room renews itself as Phoenix Charity Bar
Risen from the ashes, the Bamboo Room opened for the fourth time in Lake Worth on June 8 as The Phoenix Charity Bar (www.facebook.com/PhoenixCharityBar) at the Bamboo Room. The reason for the new name is based more in benevolence than in the mythical bird’s revival, though. More on that later. The iconic venue, located in the 1920s-era Paradise Building, has featured … [Read more...]
A stellar evening with Shakespeare and Seraphic Fire
By Clare Shore (Editor's note: The publication of this review was delayed by technical difficulties.) To delight or not to delight? Surely the latter is out of the question, and as for the former, it’s exactly what Seraphic Fire did in its season-closing concert of music inspired by, or set to, the work of William Shakespeare. At the May 12 concert at All Saints … [Read more...]
Cake leaves out ‘Survive’ dessert from strong SunFest set
Unlike the primary California gold (and platinum) rush of popular music acts between the 1960s and present day, most of them from Los Angeles (The Doors, Van Halen, Los Lobos, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ice-T, Jane’s Addiction, N.W.A., Maroon 5) and the San Francisco Bay area (Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Sly & the Family Stone, Tower of Power, Primus), Cake emerged … [Read more...]
SunFest, Day 4: Third Eye Blind and Dafeauxnito
By Hali Neal On the last day of SunFest (May 6), Third Eye Blind went all Depeche Mode for the occasion, dressing completely in black, even on a South Florida afternoon close to summer. Lead singer Stephan Jenkins, hilariously, even had a black water bottle. The only pop of color was Jenkins’ highlighter-yellow tennis shoes. After finishing the anti-suicide anthem … [Read more...]
SunFest Day 3: Ice Cube, 311 in fine form
By Hali Neal Ice Cube, one of the pioneers of gangster rap, was an odd choice to replace 1970s Miami mainstays K.C. and the Sunshine Band (who had a scheduling conflict) on Day 3 of SunFest (May 5), but it proved to be a wise one. He put on an entertaining set while also managing to poke fun at himself: “I bet you thought Ice Cube couldn’t do this s**t no more, huh? … [Read more...]
South Florida composers shine at Zimmermann’s Café
By Dennis D. Rooney The Zimmermann’s Café Chamber Music series, modeled after the similarly named Leipzig establishment where J.S. Bach led a collegium musicum, features South Florida composers. Chamber music by five of them was heard April 29 in a concert at Frazell Hall at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Lake Worth. In addition to the music, the audience, seated at … [Read more...]
Master Chorale gives glorious account of Brahms’s ‘German Requiem’
By Clare Shore At the end of a grueling week, on an absolutely gorgeous spring Friday evening in South Florida, one is not always keen on driving 40 minutes to sit inside for an hour and a quarter listening to a large-scale piece of music. But that’s what I did, and I left Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale on May 4 renewed and refreshed by Master Chorale … [Read more...]