ArtsBuzz: A busy week for musical events

By Greg Stepanich

It’s a busy week on the music front, with several events over the next two days worth noting:

Organ concerti: Tonight at Bethesda-by-the Sea Episcopal Church in Palm Beach, the Palm Beach Symphony presents an entire evening of music for organ and orchestra with Hal Pysher, the church’s organist and choir director, as soloist. Two works by living Americans are on the program: A concerto by Stephen Paulus and a concertino by Craig Phillips, a feat of programming that alone justifies attending the concert.

Also on the program are concerti by Handel (in B-flat, HWV 290) and the Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 177, by Joseph Rheinberger (1839-1901), easily the most famous composer to hail from Liechtenstein, though he moved as a young man to Munich and stayed there for the rest of his life. Ray Robinson conducts the concert, which begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $45. For more information, call 655-2657 or visit www.palmbeachsymphony.org.

And if you find after tonight you can’t get enough of Rheinberger, you can hear the other of his organ concerti, No. 1 in F, Op. 137, when organist Jack Jones does the honors at 7:30 p.m. Friday with Lloyd Mims and the Palm Beach Atlantic Symphony. That concert, which also includes Strauss’ Till Eulenspiegel and the Symphony No. 3 (in E-flat, Rhenish) by Schumann, takes place at the Royal Poinciana Chapel on Palm Beach as part of that church’s concert series. The recital is free, but donations are encouraged.

Three piano quartets: The Duncan Theatre chamber music series at Palm Beach Community College in Lake Worth continues Wednesday afternoon with the Mozart Piano Quartet, a foursome from Germany (violinist Mark Gothoni, violist Hartmut Rohde, cellist Peter Hoerr and pianist Paul Rivinius). On the group’s program are three piano quartets: by Beethoven (in E-flat, Op. 16), Brahms (in G minor, Op. 25) and Schumann (in E-flat, Op. 47). The concert begins at 3 p.m., and tickets are $25. Call 868-3309 or visit www.pbcc.edu.

Gold Coast’s La Boheme: Later this year, the Palm Beach Opera will present Puccini’s 1896 tale of starving artists and tragic love, but you can see it now in a production by Thomas Cavendish’s Gold Coast Opera. The production uses freelance singers and orchestral players from Europe, and I’ve heard good things about its mounting last month of Aida.

La Boheme opened Monday at the Eissey Campus Theatre in Palm Beach Gardens, and it plays Miramar tonight, but Wednesday night it’s at Florida Atlantic University and Thursday it closes at the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale. All shows begin at 8 p.m., and tickets are $45-$55. Call 800-546-9439 (FAU) or 954-462-0222 (Miramar and Broward).

Winstone’s jazz: The British jazz singer Norma Winstone takes the stage Wednesday at the Society of the Four Arts with Italian pianist Glauco Venier and German saxophonist Klaus Gesing in an evening of music that will include music from the trio’s latest album for ECM, Distances. The concert begins at 8 p.m. at the Four Arts on Palm Beach; tickets are $35-$40. Call 655-7226 or visit www.fourarts.org.

ECM is well-known for its preference for a moody, semi-New Age flavor of jazz, and here’s a video of the Winstone Trio doing a cut from Distances:

J.D. Souther: Finally, there’s a visit tonight in Delray Beach from J.D. Souther, the veteran songwriter who co-wrote hits for The Eagles (Heartache Tonight) and James Taylor (Her Town Too). Tickets for Souther’s show at City Limits in Delray run $20-$40. Call 279-8222 or visit www.citylimitsdelray.com.