It’s heartening to hear the evidence of the continued good work being done in new American art music composition, much of it by composers just barely out of their studies, presented on Reincarnations, a recording released earlier this month by Seraphic Fire. The Miami-based concert choir opened its 13th season of concerts with selections from that disc, plus two other works, … [Read more...]
Wind quartets stand out at second PB Chamber Music Fest fall program
The composers of the so-called Boston School, with the exception of Leonard Bernstein, are not well-known today, which is unfortunately par for the course for American classical composition in general. But one good reason to know the music of at least one other of the Boston composers, Arthur Berger (1912-2003), could have been heard Saturday night at the Lighthouse ArtCenter … [Read more...]
2014-15 arts preview: The season in classical music
In some respects, area classical music activity has begun to divide more sharply into concerts that echo the middlebrow past, and others that are working out on the borderlands of the nervy future. This season, there will be plenty of new music, as well as a healthy helping of contemporary music to enliven the programs of standard canonic repertoire. In addition, the season … [Read more...]
Lynn Phil’s best-ever opener hints new era for school, orchestra
It’s hard to know whether a change as simple as a rehearsal strategy can make all the difference in the world for a performing organization, but in the case of the Lynn Philharmonia, this much can be said: Its opening program this past weekend was easily the finest opening concert of the season the conservatory orchestra has ever given, and in its freshness, maturity and … [Read more...]
A modern jazz piano master thrills at Arts Garage
Jazz improvisation, Cyrus Chestnut said last Saturday night, is “the art of composition at a very rapid pace, without the benefit of editing.” That’s the kind of useful working definition a good teacher would provide, and perhaps it’s no coincidence that Chestnut recently was appointed a distinguished professor of jazz studies at Howard University. But the audience that … [Read more...]
2014-15 arts preview: The season in opera
For opera companies, being the first house for a brand-new work is a standout way to elevate your cultural profile at home and abroad. And surely the biggest news in the coming season for the local opera scene will be the world premiere at Palm Beach Opera of a new American work, Enemies: A Love Story, with music by Ben Moore to a libretto by Nahma Sandrow, based on the Isaac … [Read more...]
Figueroa reaching ahead and reaching out at Lynn Philharmonia
When the student orchestra at New York’s Juilliard School gives concerts, audiences have to line up beforehand to get a ticket. But with free admission, it’s a pretty good deal. So when Guillermo Figueroa, who studied the violin at Juilliard, came to Lynn University to take over the conservatory orchestra, he was astounded and pleased to discover that its audiences in Boca … [Read more...]
Chamber fest returns this week with second fall festival
The second-ever winter series of the long-running Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival opens this week for a set of three programs over three months that will include a world premiere, a further exploration of two off-the-beaten path composers, and the appearance of a masterwork the festival is tackling for the first time in its two-decade history. Launched last year, the PBCMF … [Read more...]
Impressive new dances at Reach/O Dance ‘Heat Wave’
It’s a pity that the annual dance intensive summer show produced by the Reach and O Dance companies only had one performance Saturday night, because this collection of modern, jazz and ballet moves showcased intriguing choreography and some standout individual dancers that more people should have been able to see. The show, called Heat Wave, and which contained a touching … [Read more...]
A beautiful visitation for Boca Ballet’s ‘Swan Lake’
It’s too easy to compare the appearance of a major ballerina with a local company to the visitation of a swan, especially when the ballet in question is that of Tchaikovsky. And it also minimizes the contribution of the company itself, which in the case of Boca Ballet Theatre would be distinctly unfair. But this past Saturday night’s mounting of Swan Lake with New York City … [Read more...]