Pianists Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Roe brought a capacity crowd of 280 to their concert in the Grand Ballroom of Mar-a-Lago on March 20. The largest audience yet for this fledgling arts organization heard expert playing and superb dancing by students from the Dreyfoos School of the Arts in Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. The pianists met at the Julliard School in New York in … [Read more...]
Strong Brahms, radiant Chopin at PB Symphony
Under the 16 glittering chandeliers of Mar-a-Lago, the most tastefully decorated concert hall in America, Palm Beach Symphony played to the great, the good and the glamorous: scattered among the 600 guests were stand out beautiful young women in designer evening gowns — a coterie from Donald Trump’s Miss America pageant, perhaps? Thanking Trump for his hospitality, Symphony … [Read more...]
Well-played Russian warmth from Kremlin strings at Kravis
Billed as Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, the tiny band of Russian musicians that played the Kravis Center on March 13 is really a string orchestra of 14 players: Seven violins, three violas, three cellos and one double bass. Founded in 1991 by Misha Rachlevsky, their conductor, they have toured the world extensively, and their concert in West Palm Beach was given a very warm … [Read more...]
Fine new clarinet concerto debuts at Atlantic Classical Orchestra
Get ready: The Atlantic Classical Orchestra is coming. After four well-attended rehearsals in the Eissey Campus Theatre at Palm Beach State College in Palm Beach Gardens, they will give four Tuesday afternoon concerts there next season. Well known for its creative programming, after 24 years of playing in Vero Beach, Fort Pierce and Stuart, the ACO feels its brand of … [Read more...]
Talich Quartet ends Flagler music season in glorious fashion
The Flagler Museum Music Series ended its season Tuesday with the world famous Talich Quartet, and it was an evening of glorious music-making. Named for Vaclav Talich, conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra for many years, and founded by his nephew, Jan Talich in 1964. His son, also named Jan, now plays lead violin. As one can imagine, there has been considerable … [Read more...]
PB Opera’s Young Artists score brave triumph in abridged ‘Alcina’
Palm Beach Opera’s Young Artists brought off another astonishing coup Friday with their performances in Handel’s 1735 opera, Alcina, aided and abetted by music director Timothy Cheung and stage director Fenlon Lamb. Cheung’s grand piano was surrounded by a raised platform: it sat in the middle of the action, providing guidance and control in a staging that was put together in … [Read more...]
Atos Trio provides spotless evening of Schubert, Suk
The Atos Trio of Germany gave an immaculate concert of music by Rachmaninov, Josef Suk and Franz Schubert in the Flagler Museum’s music series Feb. 18. The Rachmaninoff and Suk pieces were written when both composers were mere teenagers, but their music is anything but sophomoric; it is well-developed, tuneful and one might say, masterly in structure. Kudos to the Atos Trio … [Read more...]
A wonderful night of Vivaldi from Europa Galante at Four Arts
The craze for the “early music” of the 17th and 18th centuries began with Arnold Dolmetsch in 1925. He was a recorder maker who started the Haslemere Early Music Festival in England, laying the foundation for the widespread interest that caught the public imagination. In America, recorder player Bernard Krainis linked up with musicologist Noah Greenberg to form New York Pro … [Read more...]
Humor, showmanship make for delight with Manasse, Nakamatsu
When two brilliant first-prize winners get together to form a duo, what you get is brilliant music making. Jon Manasse, principal clarinet of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, won top prize in Munich’s International competition for clarinet, and pianist Jon Nakamatsu won the coveted gold medal in the 1997 Van Cliburn International … [Read more...]
Music roundup: Cuarteto Latinoamericano at Flagler; PB Symphony brings out brass
I first heard the Cuarteto Latinoamericano in 1984 making their New York City debut. They were managed by a friend I’d met years before at Tanglewood, summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. My friend asked for a report and I was honestly able to say they had great promise, and that all their black shocks of Brylcreemed hair would certainly win over the ladies. Fast … [Read more...]