The Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival entered its third decade Friday night in West Palm Beach in the arms of a warm, supportive audience that gave all of its work lengthy applause, and laughed forcefully at the jokes its performers offered in oral program notes before each piece. A good time at Palm Beach Atlantic University’s Persson Hall was certainly had by all, but … [Read more...]
Chamber festival opens 21st year: A look at the recorded legacy
The 21st edition of the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival opens Friday night at the Persson Recital Hall on the campus of Palm Beach Atlantic University, and with its arrival we can say that the summer season in South Florida is truly in full swing. This year’s four programs feature some discoveries, including rare works by Alexandre Tansman (Septet for trumpet, viola and … [Read more...]
Handsome, beautifully staged ‘Romeo’ ends FGO season in style
The ultimate success of an opera or of a production finally comes down to the music – whether it’s good enough, in the first place, and in the second, whether it’s been sung well. But something needs to be said now and again about a good staging. Although Florida Grand Opera has had many fine directorial hands at work over the years, its current production of Charles Gounod’s … [Read more...]
Adams classic leads challenging Firebird program
There are at this point only a relatively small number of 20th-century American compositions that have entered the repertory on any kind of permanent basis. But two of them were on an all-American program presented by the Firebird Chamber Orchestra on Thursday night at St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church in Boca Raton. And the third piece on the program is attractive enough to … [Read more...]
Chanticleer impressive in program of old, new love songs
By now, the 12-man vocal band known as Chanticleer has sung and recorded pieces in almost every imaginable genre, a long way from the Renaissance group its founder had in mind back in the late 1970s. But Chanticleer has managed in its career of nearly 35 years and multiple personnel changes to bring the same kind of polish and quality to everything they do, and that makes … [Read more...]
Late review: South Florida Symphony at the Crest
Editor’s note: Here is a late orchestral review from last month. Technical difficulties prevented it from being posted until now: South Florida Symphony (March 11, Crest Theatre, Delray Beach) The South Florida Symphony has had something of a rocky history over the past couple years, with short funding and repeated complaints about overdue payments to its freelance personnel. … [Read more...]
Astanova, Ling lead Palm Beach Symphony to sparkling season finale
It was hard, seeing all those instrumentalists downstage on a closed-in pit at the Kravis Center, not to think of the long-gone Florida Philharmonic. And perhaps that ultimately was the point of the Palm Beach Symphony’s benefit concert Tuesday night at the Kravis Center, which featured a terrific reading of the Dvorak Eighth Symphony as conducted by a major international … [Read more...]
Afiara Quartet exceptional in fresh music
Editor’s note: Here is a late review from a concert last month. Technical difficulties prevented it from being posted until now. By nature of the brief, intimate hold it has on the audience, a string quartet is usually less experimental than a large ensemble, needing to make sure each piece counts and has maximum impact. In its appearance March 14 in the Duncan Theatre’s … [Read more...]
Chopin winner Huangci set for recital, Boca Symphonia
The bicentenary of the birth of Frederic Chopin in 2010 was observed all over the classical world, not least in Miami, where the U.S. version of the Chopin Competition was held. The winner of that February competition was Claire Huangci, a daughter of immigrants from Beijing who grew up in Philadelphia and graduated from the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in her … [Read more...]
Handsome, well-sung ‘Lucia’ ends PBO’s 50th on solid note
With its final production of the season, Palm Beach Opera showcases a number of fine voices in a handsome, traditional presentation that drags somewhat but ultimately comes off in dramatic and satisfying style. Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, which the company last performed in 2003, requires a strong central soprano, and in the Mexican singer Maria Alejandres, Palm Beach … [Read more...]