French soldiers in the trenches during World War I. Imagine a world in which Great Britain and Germany are the major powers, and the United States and Russia are only minor players on the global scene. It’s a world of relatively conservative politics, where there was no World War II, no Holocaust, and no one but their families had ever heard of Adolf Hitler or Vladimir … [Read more...]
Kravis to welcome its newest resident: A digital organ
The George W. Mergens Memorial Organ. If you happened to be driving by the Kravis Center early Saturday morning, you might have felt something unfamiliar: A tremor, a rumbling, a distant shaking. That was no earthquake you heard — at least not in the terrestrial sense. What you heard was a sonic quake, an electron-wave tsunami, the shuddering of a subwoofer temblor. It was … [Read more...]
Exceptional ‘Pasquale’ a triumph for Palm Beach Opera
Palm Beach Opera’s second mainstage production of the season, Gaetano Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, showcased in deeply satisfying fashion the improvement in vocal casting this company has demonstrated in the past couple years. In a charming, smart production reset in the 17th century and borrowed from Glimmerglass Opera, Palm Beach Opera gave Donizetti’s 1843 comic romp … [Read more...]
Composer Zwilich featured at Lynn New Music Festival
The life of a composer is something like that of a permanent student, says Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. Which will come in very handy this week when the eminent American composer confers with some young practitioners of the craft at Lynn University’s New Music Festival. “I’m always learning. I think that’s one of the fun things about what I do,” Zwilich said last week. “I always … [Read more...]
Pianist Moutouzkine stellar at Symphonia
Alexandre Moutouzkine. (Photo by E. Appel) Sunday afternoon’s concert by The Symphonia Boca Raton had a loose and handmade feel to it, with decent performances by the group of some unusual repertoire, and a standout appearance by a guest soloist. Alexandre Moutouzkine, a Russian-born pianist, was the soloist for two works, the rarely heard Ballade (in F-sharp, Op. 19) of … [Read more...]
Victor DeRenzi: At the end of the Verdi journey
Victor DeRenzi, artistic director of the Sarasota Opera. (Photo by Giovanni Lunardi) On Saturday night, the curtain at the Sarasota Opera House will open on a production of Giuseppe Verdi’s Aïda, marking the beginning of the 57th season at the house. And with a production later in the season of La Battaglia di Legnano, it will mark the culmination of a 28-year project … [Read more...]
Mezzo Shaham brings ‘Carmen’ to vivid life in PB Opera opener
Georges Bizet’s Carmen is a box-office lock, as Sunday afternoon’s performance at the jam-packed Kravis Center amply demonstrated. But because of that, opera companies have been known to take it easy production-wise and let the music do most of the communicating. Thankfully, Palm Beach Opera’s presentation of this tremendously popular work (it last presented the piece in 2010) … [Read more...]
Strong singing makes for thrilling ‘Norma’ at FGO
Florida Grand Opera’s current production of Norma, Vincenzo Bellini’s beloved bel canto singfest from 1831, has a little something extra for its patrons: An added aria by Richard Wagner. But it already has the basic thing it needs, and that’s thrilling singing. Working off a strong directorial vision from Nic Muni, FGO’s Norma features standout vocal work from its four chief … [Read more...]
Ever-popular ‘Carmen’ returns to Palm Beach Opera
Devastated by what he saw as the failure of his latest stage project and under siege from a persistent streptococcal throat infection, Georges Bizet suffered two heart attacks and went to his grave on June 3, 1875, at the early age of 36, never to know how successful that theater piece was to become. Or how successful he’d been in writing it. “In ‘Carmen,’ he hit gold,” … [Read more...]
Cellist Maksin, pianist Gogova show wide range at St. Paul’s
The cellist Ian Maksin first became well-known to South Florida audiences as the original cellist of the Delray String Quartet and principal cellist of the New World Symphony and Atlantic Classical Orchestra before he left the area for Chicago and new opportunities. The Russian-born Maksin returned Sunday afternoon for a recital with his duo partner, the Bulgarian pianist Ani … [Read more...]