Celebrating 40 years of concertizing this season, the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio arrived at the Kravis Center for two days of concerts Dec. 14 and 15. Pianist Joseph Kalichstein, wearing all black, spoke eloquently of the group’s founding when they played the inaugural concert for President Jimmy Carter in 1977. Kalichstein also teaches at the Juilliard School of … [Read more...]
PB Symphony’s ‘Egmont’ a revelation
A full house in the Four Arts auditorium on Monday night heard a very interesting program from the Palm Beach Symphony that had simply been promoted as “Egmont”: An uninspiring name associated with Beethoven’s masterful overture of the same name. The concert, however, proved to be most inspiring. This Egmont was more than an introductory overture to warm up the orchestra; … [Read more...]
Hornist, conductor stand out at Mozarteum concert
The Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg came to the Kravis Center on Saturday night and made a lasting impression on the well-heeled audience of about 1,600 concertgoers who would not let them go until they heard an encore. And that encore was no ordinary sugar-sweet lollipop, but the great final movement of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. And they played it with a verve and … [Read more...]
Last-minute changes unsettle last PB Symphony concert
The Palm Beach Symphony’s last concert this season April 10 suffered from a much-changed program, keeping the group’s largest public ever of 1,200 souls guessing. New insert programs lay in piles undistributed by the volunteer ushers at the Kravis Center. Lola Astanova, the highly regarded Russian-American pianist, was scheduled to play three solo pieces after her Mozart … [Read more...]
Violinist Schmidt electrifies ACO audience in Tchaikovsky
Giora Schmidt. (Photo by Dave Getzchman) The fourth and last conductor to meet the public in the Atlantic Classical Orchestra’s search for a permanent music director was David Handel, who on Wednesday led the most ecstatic evening so far in terms of audience response with violinist Giora Schmidt, who received a long standing ovation after completing the first movement of the … [Read more...]
Liederabend shows PB Opera’s Young Artists keep getting better
Fleur Barron. The Palm Beach Opera Young Artists gave a Liederabend on March 29 at the Royal Poinciana Chapel in Palm Beach; close on 200 people attended this rare form of songmaking. European opera singers trot out their best lieder songs at festivals in between engagements ad nauseam. And retired greats offer milder versions, extending their careers by a few years. American … [Read more...]
Ballet Palm Beach’s new ‘Gatsby’ clever, skillful
Addressing the elegantly dressed audience at the Eissey Campus Theatre on March 20, Ballet Palm Beach’s founder and choreographer, Colleen Smith, said she thought about creating a ballet from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby last season. Written about the excesses of the years after World War I, Smith felt Fitzgerald’s story was really about the American Dream, in … [Read more...]
Poland’s Meccore Quartet closes Flagler season in brilliant fashion
The last of this year’s fine crop of string quartets to play in Flagler Museum’s Music Series came from Poland. Introduced by the museum’s new executive director, Erin Manning, the Meccore String Quartet, established in 2007, has won numerous awards for their innovative approach. Each member currently receives scholarships from the Polish Ministry of Culture and teach at the … [Read more...]
PBO’s ‘Ariadne,’ ‘B’ cast: Wagner, Young Artists stand out
Jeffrey Hartman and Amber Wagner in Ariadne auf Naxos. Palm Beach Opera’s last opera this season, Ariadne auf Naxos, was a singing triumph. The company brought together some of the freshest and best voices — all 16 of them — that ply their trade in the opera world today. I heard the second-cast stars on Saturday evening, sitting among a very new but appreciative audience. … [Read more...]
Glorious music-making from PB Symphony at Mar-a-Lago
Conductor Ramón Tebar has done it again. He has taken the enlarged Palm Beach Symphony of 75 players to new heights of perfection, drawing a record audience that filled Donald Trump’s glorious wedding hall at Mar-a-Lago on March 16, the day after he won the Florida Republican primary. Perhaps many were curiosity-seekers. No matter, the great and the good were augmented by the … [Read more...]