By Robert Croan Thanks to the scholarly research of Florida Atlantic University faculty member Barbara Salani, Amalia e Carlo, an opera by the all-but-unknown Italian composer Pietro Carlo Guglielmi will have a revival — possibly the first since its world premiere in Naples in 1812 — in the University Theater at FAU on Friday at 7 p.m. The current performance is the … [Read more...]
The season in Palm Beach art, 2025-26: Rembrandt, Degas, Mucha, and time out for shopping
By Sandra Schulman Big names in classical art dominate this season as the dark drama of Rembrandt, the lyrical graphics of Mucha, and the dancers and racehorses of Degas grace the walls of the major museums. The growing art audience in Palm Beach brings these treasures to the Sunshine State. Other exhibits spotlight the rise of the modern department store and the bracing … [Read more...]
The season in theater, 2025-26: A rich offering of Broadway standouts and provocative world premieres
By Sharon Geltner Area stages are planning an exciting season of TV stars, Netflix writers, off-Broadway actors, European festival standouts, and innovative productions. The contrasts range from Broadway musicals and brand names such as Neil Simon and Stephen King to Southeastern United States premieres of thought-provoking plays. Below, in geographical order, from north … [Read more...]
Perlman’s plays: Ex-Delray mayor finds new success writing for the stage
By Sharon Geltner There are 64,000 plays registered on a national clearinghouse for budding playwrights. The vast majority will never be staged. Yet, since 2024, Jeff Perlman, former mayor of Delray Beach, has seen three plays produced. “The odds of being produced are very low. I was told this by several veteran playwrights,” Perlman said. “Many people [who write … [Read more...]
Musicfor America string orchestra pleases in light summer program
By Robert Croan Musicfor America is a Florida-based not-for-profit corporation — part of the Musicfor International alliance founded by Italian conductor-composer Lorenzo Turchi-Floris, with the mission of supporting music education in disadvantaged areas worldwide. The 14-member string orchestra has toured South Florida in the summer months for several years, with … [Read more...]
Beautifully executed Bach, Dvořák wrap SFSO’s chamber summer
By Robert Croan I love Bach! Full disclosure. We don’t get enough Bach on the local music scene. Johann Sebastian Bach, who lived and worked in five German cities from 1685-1750, was to become the father of modern classical music. Without polemics or academics, his music set the rules and esthetic principles of the three centuries of Western music that followed him. … [Read more...]
Veteran South Florida theater critic Hap Erstein dies at 76
Harris Alan Erstein, known to his decades of readers and to family, friends and colleagues as Hap, died Saturday in Aventura. He was 76. Erstein had long suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He was taken ill Monday night after a showing of the latest Jurassic Park film and transported to Aventura Hospital. Doctors there were able to stabilize him, but his … [Read more...]
For this year’s PB Shakespeare Festival, a story that ends happily
By Elisabeth Gaffney This summer, Trent Stephens thought everyone could use a break. “There’s a lot of conflict in the world. So we thought that our community might benefit from a romance, a story where everything turns out OK in the end,” said Stephens, who is the artistic director of the Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival. And that’s why the festival is bringing back … [Read more...]
SFSO piano trio gives rousing reading of late Schubert trio
By Robert Croan Franz Schubert’s two late-in-life piano trios, both composed in 1827, are among the most challenging works in the chamber music repertory. Profound and sprawling, each taking upwards of 45 minutes to perform, they embody the composer’s deepest, most heartfelt thoughts, in his most advanced compositional style. The second of three summer chamber music … [Read more...]
Piano trio outstanding in Schoenfield, Mendelssohn, Schubert
By Robert Croan South Florida Symphony Orchestra’s Summer with the Symphony, a once-a-month series of three chamber music concerts — each in Miami and then Fort Lauderdale — is an oasis in the off-season desert for classical music lovers. It was therefore heartening to see that the concert I attended May 23 in Fort Lauderdale’s Center for Spiritual Living attracted a … [Read more...]