If there was a persuasive argument to be made ― and there is – for the excellence of Walter Piston, the Boca Raton Symphonia made it Sunday afternoon. And they did so in a highly enjoyable, expertly played overall concert that featured not only a welcome programming of a fine work by that estimable American composer, but a standout young violinist making his way through one of … [Read more...]
Pianist Simmons brings new savvy to the old business of classical music
When she took part in the Musical Awakenings educational outreach program for the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Jade Simmons tended to take the students she saw by surprise. “It takes you into 20 schools in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, with a mostly minority demographic,” said Simmons, who as an African-American female is a rarity in the world of classical … [Read more...]
Violinist Zhu joins mentor Entremont at Boca Symphonia
The Violin Concerto of Robert Schumann was written in the fall of 1853, at the end of the composer’s productive life, and only in 1937, more than 80 years after it was composed, did it get its first performance. It’s one of the young Chinese-born violinist Dan Zhu’s favorite concertos, and deep in the recesses of YouTube he can be seen playing it with the Schleswig-Holstein … [Read more...]
Palm Beach Symphony reaches out to youth with Stravinsky
Time was, in the late 1950s, that a charismatic conductor could start a TV series in which he introduced young people to the world of classical music, and build himself a legend as well as permanently influence the lives of millions of those youths. But Leonard Bernstein is no longer with us, and neither is the middlebrow consensus that led to the televising of the Young … [Read more...]
Perez’s ideal Mimi renews appeal of ‘Boheme’ at FGO
The opera that Giacomo Puccini and his librettists concocted from Henri Murger’s La vie de Bohème has been one of the most beloved of all operas since its premiere in 1896, and in the century and more that’s followed, it’s become pretty much indestructible. The current production of La Bohème at Florida Grand Opera is as traditional a production as you could wish for visually, … [Read more...]
Violinist brings strong personality to familiar concerto
It has only become a commonplace of Tchaikovsky criticism in recent years to emphasize his work’s continuity with Russian folk tradition, but as a performance Tuesday night showed, it’s always been right there in plain view. The Canadian violinist Lara St. John, in an exceptional performance with the South Florida Symphony at the Crest Theatre in Delray Beach, dug deep into … [Read more...]
Violinist St. John follows her own sharp instincts
When Lara St. John graduated from the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia at age 16, she hit the road, in search of travel and new musical experiences. That quest led the young Canadian violinist to, of all places, what was then the Soviet Union, where she took up post-graduate study at the Moscow Conservatory. “And I learned so much there, about songs, about Gypsy culture … it … [Read more...]
Cuban orchestra’s States debut impressive, populist
From the protests outside the Kravis Center to the activists handing out literature on the way to the parking garage, the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba drew plenty of outside attention Sunday afternoon as it wrapped up its first-ever American tour in West Palm Beach. Our nation’s policy wrangles with the island nearby may be on the verge of a new easing, if some of the … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2012-13: A season of change for local opera
After years of retrenchment and cutbacks, the area’s opera companies are moving ahead in positive directions in the coming season. Although both South Florida companies haven’t added back the productions they once cut, there are signs of a return to artistic daring, and the Sarasota company is offering a world premiere of an American opera. And the popular high-definition … [Read more...]
Seraphic Fire concert shows greatness of American choral foundation
There’s something profoundly satisfying about hearing early American choral music, even if the listener doesn’t identify with the white Protestant tradition that informs it. Drawing on the modes of the British Isles and harmonized in a plain-lumber, honest-nails fashion, it speaks to our national history in a way that calls up images of hardworking, straightforward people in … [Read more...]