It is almost as though the members of the Dover Quartet, all in their early 20s, holed themselves up with 1960s-era recordings by the Guarneri Quartet, so seamless, elegant and perfect is their playing. But there should be some room for wider variety and contrast amid all that, and so while one could make the case for this young foursome already being one of the finest … [Read more...]
Michael Fagien: Dr. Jazz sells music, magazines and a lifestyle
There are few stories in the local arts as unusual as that of Michael Fagien, M.D. The Boca Raton radiologist lives in two worlds, one of medicine, and one of the jazz music he’s loved since his youth in Hollywood, where he moved with his family in 1969 from New Jersey. As a medical student at the University of Florida in 1983, he founded Jazziz magazine, for which he … [Read more...]
A new, exciting chapter opens for Master Chorale
Something very important happened here last week for the classical music scene in South Florida: One of its performing organizations came into its own. The Master Chorale of South Florida, which rose out of the remains of the Florida Philharmonic some 10 years ago, has presented some fine programs over that time and enjoyed regular gigs backing Italian poperatic singer Andrea … [Read more...]
Evocative new movements make successful fresh take on Mozart Requiem
It took a serious amount of artistic nerve for Seraphic Fire to commission a new completion for the Mozart Requiem, some 18 minutes of freshly composed music the choir unveiled last week at three different concerts. Instead of going with another academic examination of the music Franz Süssmayr composed, or perhaps drew from some now-missing Mozart sketches, for the Sanctus, … [Read more...]
Music roundup: SoFla Symphony, Delray SQ, PBAU Artists series
A very fine young cellist made an eloquent case Nov. 16 for an undeservedly neglected American concerto in the opening program of the South Florida Symphony’s concert season at the Crest Theatre in Delray Beach. Clancy Newman, a first-prize Naumburg Foundation Competition winner and a graduate of Columbia and the Juilliard School, tackled the Cello Concerto of Samuel Barber … [Read more...]
Guitarist Karadaglić looks to bigger future for instrument
Earlier this month, Miloš Karadaglić signed off on the final proof of his forthcoming recording of the Concierto de Aranjuez, probably the most beloved classical guitar concerto in the world. He’s delighted with how it came out. “It’s everything I ever wanted. It’s a very special recording for me,” said Karadaglić, the rising young guitarist who recorded the emblematic … [Read more...]
Brilliant FGO production lets ‘Mourning’ shine
Marvin David Levy’s opera Mourning Becomes Electra made a big impression when it was first launched at the Metropolitan Opera in 1967, helped by the star turns of its leading ladies, Evelyn Lear and Marie Collier, and a young baritone named Sherrill Milnes. It had to wait 30 years for its next performance, at Chicago’s Lyric Opera, and its current production at Florida Grand … [Read more...]
Black Violin: When Bach met Tupac
If it’s true that a serious musician doesn’t really know any genre boundaries, then it’s even truer for the two men who make up Black Violin. These two Fort Lauderdale natives and graduates of the Dillard High School for the Performing Arts (now the Dillard Center for the Arts) have for 10 years been forging a career out of an original style of music that takes them from Bach … [Read more...]
For Deborah Voigt, a time of giving back and looking ahead
On Deborah Voigt’s Twitter feed, amid the family and dog pictures and shout-outs to friends, you’ll find the occasional reference to her most familiar public identity. “The women of the young artist program sang me the hojotohos!!” she writes about her late October visit to South Florida to be honored as the special guest of the Florida Grand Opera. “Hojotoho” is the cry … [Read more...]
Stepping in for Mozart, composer forges a fresh connection with the past
The first thing Gregory Spears wants you to know is that he’s not trying to complete the Mozart Requiem. Even though he has. The American composer sees his three new movements for the iconic work, which have their world premiere Friday, less as a solution to a Mozart puzzle then as a continuation of a dialogue with Mozart and with the continuum of Western sacred music. But … [Read more...]