In the 10th year of its existence, the group now known as The Symphonia Boca Raton has begun to branch out, playing concerts other than their usual Sunday afternoons at the Roberts Theatre and their appearances as the house band at the Festival of the Arts Boca. Saturday night, the group inaugurated what its hopes to be a regular series at All Saints Episcopal Church in Fort … [Read more...]
Palm Beach Pops readies return to local concert life
When Palm Beach Pops founder Bob Lappin died suddenly at age 78 in August 2013, the orchestra he had founded 22 years earlier went silent. There were those who argued that the last thing in the world Lappin would have wanted for his orchestra was for it to go out of existence, but the orchestra’s new executive director, Charlotte Laurent-Ottomane, said the organization was in … [Read more...]
Nutcrackering: Ballet companies ready for holiday favorite
All over the country at this time of year, in prop rooms big and small, someone is dusting off the head of the Mouse King. It’s time, in other words, for The Nutcracker, a ballet from Imperial Russia that has been an indelible staple of American culture for decades, an unmistakable sign of the holiday season as familiar as Ebenezer Scrooge and round-the-clock Christmas carols. … [Read more...]
Late reviews: South Florida Symphony, Cameo Chamber Players
South Florida Symphony Orchestra (Nov. 15, Crest Theatre, Delray Beach) One of Sergei Prokofiev’s last works was his Sinfonia Concertante (Op. 125), a reworking of his earlier Cello Concerto and one of the most challenging such pieces in the repertoire. The American cellist Zuill Bailey, a repeat guest with the South Florida Symphony, returned to that ensemble’s … [Read more...]
At FGO, a triumph for a ‘Butterfly’ newcomer
It was a good Sunday afternoon for Vanessa Isiguen. The young soprano who made her debut in the role that day with Florida Grand Opera showed herself well up to the task of bringing to vivid vocal life the character of Cio-Cio-San, the doomed heroine of one of the world’s most popular and beloved operas, Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. A North Carolinian who made her … [Read more...]
Late review: Seraphic Fire, Sebastians glory in early Handel
Some of the most satisfying concerts of Seraphic Fire’s now-substantial history have included the music of George Frideric Handel. In addition to its regular holiday run-throughs of the Christmas portion of the Baroque composer’s Messiah, there have been revelatory readings of his oratorio Israel in Egypt, and five years ago, a lovely reading by a chamber spinoff of some of … [Read more...]
Late review: Delray SQ vividly brings Herrmann, Ravel to opener
Bernard Herrmann was proud of the film scores he wrote for Alfred Hitchcock, and some of the music the American composer created in the 1950s and 1960s for the British master of suspense has become justly celebrated in its own right. The Delray String Quartet opened its 11th season Nov. 2 at the Colony Hotel in Delray Beach with a program of three works that included a suite … [Read more...]
Late review: In Grieg sonatas, Joshua Bell finds riches
The splendid American violinist Joshua Bell has been making something of a study of the three sonatas of Edvard Grieg in his regular recital tours. Although the Third Sonata is the most well-known of the three, he was very excited about the Sonata No. 2 when he took it out on a tour a few years back, as he told me during an interview at the time; he said in some ways he liked … [Read more...]
Late reviews: Recent concerts, in brief
Editor’s note: Here are three reviews from recent concerts; posting has been delayed by technical difficulties. Three clarinetists in a trio de force for Farberman concerto Lynn Philharmonia (Oct. 25, Wold Performing Arts Center, Boca Raton) One of the important insignia of the new regime of conductor Guillermo Figueroa at the Lynn Philharmonia is his determination to offer … [Read more...]
New season is start of something big for Delray String Quartet
It’s been 11 years since the Delray String Quartet was formed and made its first appearance, but only four since its current lineup took shape. And this one feels like a keeper. “Like any quartet, you go through lots of personnel changes. Some of the quartets I know have none of the original members,” said Richard Fleischman, the group’s violist. “We went through so many … [Read more...]