Over the past 30 years, the world of contemporary classical composition has moved, like so many things in our digital culture, into niches. There are hardcore atonalists, minimalists, New Romantics, and eclectics of every description vying for the ears of a busy audience. But in the United States, this flowering of different styles comes after the establishment in the … [Read more...]
This could be the start of something Wagner-big
It’s been more than 20 years since Miami’s opera company did any works by Richard Wagner, and it’s been even longer for Palm Beach Opera, so it was something of a truly special event Saturday night when the Miami Music Festival gave the first concert by its new Wagner Institute. Designed by festival founder Michael Rossi to develop voices for the demands of Wagner … [Read more...]
Promising, but rough-edged, Mahler at Miami Music Festival
Yuriy Bekker MIAMI SHORES — It takes some serious ambition to open your first concert with a Mahler symphony, but that’s exactly what the students in the current Miami Music Festival did Saturday night. The orchestral program of the 3-year-old festival, which is presenting opera, chamber music and symphonic literature through July 31 at several Miami-area venues, made its … [Read more...]
PB Chamber Fest 1: Mozart concerto, chamber-style, enchants
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), as painted by Barbara Krafft in 1819. The piano concertos of Mozart work well in chamber settings, as has been demonstrated by none other than the composer himself, who arranged several of them for piano and string quartet. This past weekend, members of the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival did that one better with a reduced version of … [Read more...]
Mezzo stands out in Ravel; cast charms in ‘Schicchi’ at Miami Music Festival
Isabel Signoret (center front) as The Child with the cast of L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. (Photo by Kristin Pulido) The operatic repertory is vast and rich, and some of its greatest gems can be found in shorter pieces. That’s not to say we hear them all that often in South Florida, so the Miami Music Festival’s mounting of two one-act masterpieces that almost never turn up … [Read more...]
Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival set to open its 25th season
Members of the Palm Beach Chamber Festival. If you’re seeking from relief from the summer heat in a cool Sunday afternoon concert of music from woodwinds and strings, check out the front row of the balcony at the Crest Theatre in Delray Beach this July. That’s where you’ll find Anton Bernath, who’s been coming to the concerts of the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival since it … [Read more...]
Radiant Brahms stands out at Mainly Mozart
Moran Katz. CORAL GABLES —The Carnegie Hall chamber music collective known as Decoda has developed a continuing relationship with the Mainly Mozart Festival, and on Sunday, two of the group’s members joined festival director Marina Radiushina for a strong program of works featuring the clarinet and cello. On hand for the last concert before the festival’s finale Friday night … [Read more...]
‘South Pacific’ set for concert performance Sunday at FAU
Aaron Kula and the Klezmer Chamber Orchestra. South Pacific, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s blockbuster musical of war and love in the islands, turned 67 earlier this year, and in some respects, you could argue it’s showing its age. It’s set in the Pacific Theater of World War II, for one, which every day fades from society’s living memory. For another, one of … [Read more...]
Scenes from new Matthew Shepard opera to premiere Friday
Matthew Shepard (1976-1998). If ever there were a time when a work of art coincides with current events, that time will be Friday, when sections of a new opera with an anti-bullying theme have their premiere as the air is still thick with the sorrow of the Orlando shootings. Not in My Town, an opera based on the 1998 torture and murder of gay Wyoming college student Matthew … [Read more...]
Brilliant Godden work stands out at Harid spring recital
Rebecca Trionfo and Alexander Sargent in Renaissance Way. (Photo by Alex Srb) The spring concerts of the Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton always begin with an introduction of the graduating class of dancers, who come to the mic, tell the audience who they are and where they’re from, and reveal their future plans, which are always very impressive. It’s a charming tradition … [Read more...]