One of the joys associated with the Mainly Mozart Festival, now in its 24th season in Coral Gables, is that it introduces audiences to rising players they are unlikely to have heard before. This past Sunday, for the festival’s opening, it was the young Russian-born violinist Liana Gourdjia, who studied in Moscow, the Cleveland Institute and Indiana University, and now lives … [Read more...]
Guitarist Herring key to Widespread Panic’s impressive maturity
California may be the heavyweight champion of propelling prominent American bands and artists into popular music history (Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, Santana, Jefferson Airplane, Little Feat, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fishbone, N.W.A., Joni Mitchell, The Doors, the Grateful Dead, Tower of Power, Rage Against the Machine, War, Stone Temple Pilots, Los … [Read more...]
Ben Harper’s powerful songs of protest, fine band make for memorable SunFest show
Most modern musical artists who also qualify as civil rights activists come from the hip-hop world, but Ben Harper has weaved humanitarian ideals into his complex web of blues, reggae, rock, gospel, folk and funk since starting his solo recording career nearly 25 years ago. And the 47-year-old California native, for the most part, let the music do the talking during a memorable … [Read more...]
Fine singing makes for strong ‘Ballo’ at FGO
A production of a favorite opera can seem even better than ever if it allows you to appreciate the genius of its composer. And Florida Grand Opera’s current production of Giuseppe Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera (A Masked Ball) does just that, with some exceptional singing that underlines the composer’s dramatic power and shows why this opera is one of his mid-career … [Read more...]
Soprano Wilson returns to ‘Un Ballo in Maschera’ for FGO
When Tamara Wilson packed her things to head to Miami for rehearsals of the Florida Grand Opera production of Un Ballo in Maschera, she forgot one important item: Her copy of the score. Her assistant later mailed it to her, but having it at hand again perhaps was more akin to having a good-luck charm nearby. This is Wilson’s fifth appearance as Amelia in Giuseppe Verdi’s … [Read more...]
Figueroa’s Bartók, Robertson’s Elgar end Lynn Phil season in strong fashion
During the current concert season, Guillermo Figueroa has made two big statements about repertoire for the student orchestra at Lynn University that he directs. In February, he presented the Roméo et Juliette of Hector Berlioz, his favorite composer, and a work almost never encountered in full in area concert halls (to say nothing of any of its constituent parts). And this … [Read more...]
Palm Beach Symphony’s Russian finale shows Tebar’s mastery
Ramón Tebar conducts his orchestra like a man fine-tuning a grand piano. Responding to his every command, even the slightest hand gesture, the refined playing of the Palm Beach Symphony in its last concert of the season Thursday night at the Kravis Center was superb. Tebar is proving to be more than a fine orchestra builder. His conducting and orchestral control is … [Read more...]
World premiere Easter work, Schütz stand out at Seraphic Fire
By Robert Croan Bach’s jubilant, elating Easter Oratorio (BWV 249) was the featured item in advance announcements of Seraphic Fire’s Easter weekend concerts (seen Friday night in Fort Lauderdale’s Sanctuary Church), but in the event, two shorter works on the first half of the program — one brand-new, the other older than Bach — provided the event’s most rewarding moments. … [Read more...]
Germany’s Gaechinger Cantorey riveting in Bach B Minor Mass
By Robert Croan Bach’s so-called Mass in B Minor is a paradox in musical history. Firstly, it’s not a mass for liturgical use. While the work covers the text of the Latin Ordinary – those parts of the mass for which the words remain the same throughout the liturgical year – it was never intended to be performed all together. It consists of several compositions dating … [Read more...]
‘Pirates’ brings PB Opera season to smart, funny close
The operettas of William Schwenk Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan might not be the kind of touchstone they once were in American culture, but that fact gives professional opera companies room to do the works as they should be done: With thorough fealty to scripts and their often underrated scores. This past weekend, Palm Beach Opera closed its season by fulfilling that mission, … [Read more...]