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...]
At PB Opera, a fun ‘Fledermaus’ with an aria surprise
A little Italian magic came as the most unexpected surprise Saturday night during the Palm Beach Opera’s presentation of Johann Strauss II’s operetta Die Fledermaus. Playing Prince Orlofsky en travesti was the celebrated mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, resplendent in Russian battle dress and a white beard. Pressed in Act II to sing something (itself an interpolation into the … [Read more...]
FGO’s ‘Frida’ a brilliant, energetic read on iconic Mexican artist
By Robert Croan Robert Xavier Rodriguez’s 1991 opera, Frida – based on the life of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo – requires only 15 singers (some in double roles) and an orchestra of six to 11 players, but the brilliant, kinetic Florida Grand Opera production that opened last weekend in the Miramar Cultural Center, seemed huge. The energy level soared from first note to … [Read more...]
Young, exciting Thalea SQ wows Flagler audience
Oh, to be a member of a young string quartet nowadays. A format that reached its first flowering in the days when leaders of Britain’s American colonies were looking for the exit sign is today a group synonymous with the kind of tight-but-exhilarating camaraderie that results from a small band of people attempting something Olympian while navigating concert-packed road … [Read more...]
Violinist Znaider thrills Broward audience at Brussels Philharmonic appearance
By Robert Croan A British critic has described Guillaume Connesson’s Flammenschrift (Written in Fire) as “Beethoven on speed,” not intending it to be taken as a compliment. On hearing the French composer’s nine-minute homage to Beethoven played by the Brussels Philharmonic in Broward Center (March 13), I would agree with the epithet – however, in an entirely positive, not … [Read more...]