By Dennis D. Rooney The Symphonia opened its new season at St. Andrew’s School’s Roberts Auditorium on Nov. 13 with a program that featured guest conductor Andrés Cárdenes, who was also the soloist in the program’s final selection, Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 (in A, K. 219), which has the nickname “Turkish” due to an A minor episode in the finale that emulates Janissary … [Read more...]
Chang disappoints in uneven PB Symphony opener
By Dennis Rooney The Nov. 6 concert by the Palm Beach Symphony at the Kravis Center was the opening of the orchestra’s 49th season. Music director Gerard Schwarz was on the podium and violinist Sarah Chang was the soloist. The first work on the program was the afternoon’s best performance; an alert and sprightly account of Rounds for String Orchestra by David Diamond. … [Read more...]
Seraphic Fire’s 20th opens with splendid Monteverdi, Coleridge-Taylor
By Marcio Bezerra One of the crown jewels of South Florida’s performing arts scene, the choral ensemble Seraphic Fire is celebrating its 20th season with a series of seven concerts that promises to be a real treat to its faithful followers. The celebration started at the highest level this past weekend with multiple performances of selections from Claudio Monteverdi’s … [Read more...]
Brahms, Tchaikovsky vary in effectiveness at Lynn Philharmonia
By Dennis Rooney Two staples of the classical repertoire were heard on the final weekend of October at Lynn Conservatory’s Wold Performing Arts Center auditorium, with the students of the Lynn Philharmonia under the direction of the conservatory’s director, Jon Robertson. Faculty member Lisa Leonard was soloist in the Piano Concerto No. 1 (in D minor, Op. 15) by … [Read more...]
Join us for our Culture Talks series at Cultural Council
In collaboration with the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County, Palm Beach ArtsPaper is hosting a series of four Culture Talks this season featuring local culture makers discussing arts issues of the moment. We’ve long believed that South Florida needs more of this kind of cultural offering, one that expects that area residents will want to take a deep dive into aspects of … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2022-23: The Met: Live in HD boosts options for opera fans
By Robert Croan There are limited opportunities to attend live opera performances in South Florida. In the upcoming season, Miami-based Florida Grand Opera will present four productions in the Arsht Center, repeating three of them in Fort Lauderdale’s Broward Center; while Palm Beach Opera offers three productions in Kravis Center in West Palm Beach. And they’re all pricey. … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2022-23: The season in Palm Beach art
` By Christina Wood Moving forward from the darkest days of the pandemic, the arts in general --- as well as many of the artists and arts organizations specific to Palm Beach County --- seem to be more conscious of the steps they take. This season, you can count on the arts to provide perspective along with inspiration – from the Boca Raton Museum of Art’s … [Read more...]
‘Fun Home’: LW Playhouse gives breakthrough musical a fine reading
By Dale King Lake Worth Playhouse has officially opened its 70th season with a probing, thought-provoking production of Fun Home, a true-to-life musical theater adaptation of cartoonist Alison Bechdel’s 2006 graphic novel memoir of her passionate search to find a connection between her and her deceased father – both of them gay. With music by Jeanine Tesori and a book … [Read more...]
Lynn Philharmonia mostly impressive in seasonal debut
By Dennis D. Rooney Guillermo Figueroa conducted the Lynn Philharmonia in its first concert of the season Sept. 25 in the Wold Performing Arts Center, on the campus of Lynn University in Boca Raton. The program presented one novelty, Jennifer Higdon’s Blue Cathedral, and two staples of the classical repertoire, Tod und Verklärung (Op. 24), by Richard Strauss, and Ludwig … [Read more...]
Master Chorale’s Turing cantata makes moving, powerful impression
By Robert Croan It’s an encouraging sign, that the Sept. 18 concert by Master Chorale of South Florida was sold out. It was a free event in Fort Lauderdale’s Sunshine Cathedral, sponsored by the Our Fund Foundation in partnership with Stonewall National Museum and Archives, but reservations were required and there was an overflow at the door, with people hoping for … [Read more...]