Violinist Yuki Numata.By Greg StepanichIf eclecticism is the name of the game for today's younger virtuosi, then to be successful these days requires that you play all those different kinds of pieces equally well.It won't do, in other words, to have a middling Mozart but an incandescent Shostakovich. Too much is expected, but that doesn't mean you can't shine a little brighter … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Jan. 29-Feb. 3
Jupiter and its moon, Io.(Photo by NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory)Music: This weekend, the Houston Symphony Orchestra comes to town as part of a limited national tour, and it’s bringing the universe along with it. Conductor Hans Graf will lead the Houstonians (and the women of its chorus) in the great seven-part tone poem The Planets, by English composer Gustav Holst, … [Read more...]
Music feature: Violinist O’Connor to play genre-busting recital
Violinist Mark O'Connor.(Photo by Erica Horn)By Bill MeredithSome musicians are so adept at different styles that they get tagged with the phrase "they can play anything." Fewer actually earn the distinction, since most don't get the chance, or even seek, to play every style.American violinist Mark O'Connor is the exception, since the 48-year-old has practically been there and … [Read more...]
Opera review: Second cast outstanding in PB Opera’s ‘Otello’
Allan Glassman and Michele Capalbo in Otello.By Rex HearnShakespeare’s tragedy Othello was the basis for the libretto Arrigo Boito wrote for Giuseppe Verdi, who at the time Boito approached him about the opera was 71 years old and considered himself retired.But three years later, in February 1887, Otello had its triumphant premiere at La Scala, and this work plus Verdi's final … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Jan. 22-28
A teaset by John McCoy.Art: For the past 36 years, John McCoy has been teaching visual arts and art history to students at Florida Atlantic University. Many of his students now have successful art careers, and some of them have come together to celebrate McCoy's ceramics work in a retrospective exhibition.The list of exhibitors for John McCoy and Friends reads like a Who’s Who … [Read more...]
ArtsBuzz: Cleveland Orchestra settles strike; Miami series will go on
Violinist Leila Josefowicz.By Palm Beach ArtsPaper staffThe Cleveland Orchestra strike was settled early this morning after a one-day walkout when the two sides agreed to a new three year-contract that freezes wages for two years.The agreement means the Miami residency for the orchestra, set to start Friday, will go forward as scheduled.“We are very happy that management has … [Read more...]
Music feature: Composer Frazelle finds inspiration in South, nature
Composer Kenneth Frazelle. By Greg StepanichEven though his art has gone in a very different direction, Kenneth Frazelle will even now defend the severe modernist composers who used to dominate the world of classical music, including his own teacher at the Juilliard School, Roger Sessions.“He did not want you to write the way he did, he wanted you to write what you wanted,” … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Jan. 15-21
A wall sculpture by Federico Uribe,made of clothespins and plastic forks. (Photo by Ed Sheahan)Art: The biggest news in the local art world this weekend is artpalmbeach, which opened Friday night. Featuring more than 70 dealers and special exhibition spaces, this show at the Palm Beach County Convention Center looks every bit as dynamic as the Art Basel show last December.Not … [Read more...]
Music feature: Composer Zwilich’s Septet gets local premiere Sunday
Composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich.(Photo by Greg Stepanich)By Greg StepanichIn the life of every creative artist, there must one day come The Leap.It's that moment of mental alchemy when all the bits and pieces the artist is trying to fit together suddenly come together, often while the creator is sleeping, paying bills or doing something else entirely other than concentrate on the … [Read more...]
Music review: Violinist Almond shines in Ravel, both Schumanns at Flagler recital
Violinist Frank Almond.By Greg StepanichThe violinist Frank Almond was equal parts artist and advocate Tuesday night as he opened the Flagler Museum's 2010 concert series, making an eloquent case for the music of Clara Schumann.Almond, concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, performed one of the German pianist's Romances for violin twice in a broad-ranging recital … [Read more...]