Brian Kovachik won best of show for this ceramic vase.(Photo by Katie Deits)Art: The Gallery at Palm Beach Community College’s Eissey Campus in Palm Beach Gardens currently is featuring Earthly Delights, a multimedia exhibition of art by members of The Palm Beach County Art Teachers Association. The exhibition is composed of recent paintings, sculpture, photography, and mixed … [Read more...]
Music review: Cellist Jaffe elegant, polished in Boca recital
Cellist Claudio Jaffe.By Greg StepanichHearing a good chamber music recital in a small room out of season is comforting: While our local world is focusing on other things than the classical realm, it's heartening to know that fine musicians are still at it, working away and making admirable art.This past Sunday at the Steinway Piano Gallery in Boca Raton, the Brazilian-born … [Read more...]
Music review: Schmitt suite, Septet violinist stand out at chamber fest
Composer Florent Schmitt (1870-1958).By Greg StepanichA standout instrumental performance and two intriguing rediscoveries took pride of place Friday night as the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival opened its second series of concerts.The finest of the two rediscoveries, the Suite en Rocaille, Op. 84, of French composer Florent Schmitt, reanimated a beautiful and unjustly … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: July 16-19
The Musicians, by Betty Wilson.(Photo by Katie Deits)Art: Opening this Friday at the Clay, Glass, Metal, Stone Cooperative Gallery in Lake Worth will be an exhibit featuring the work of Norm Gitzen, Tracy Rosof-Peterson and Betty Wilson, as well the cooperative's 22 other artists.West Palm Beach artist Betty Wilson creates colorful art in fused glass and clay. Wilson layers … [Read more...]
Music review: Chamber fest opens with engaging voyage of discovery
Composer Bohuslav Martinu (1890-1959).By Greg StepanichWEST PALM BEACH -- The Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival, which has been sweetening the sweltering summers hereabouts with music since 1992, is notable above all for two things:Its showcasing of the individual instrumentalists whom local audiences normally hear only as part of the area's various symphonic and operatic … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: July 9-12
Pete Byrne of Naked Eyes.Art: Last month, the Norton Museum of Art launched Art After Dark, a program of nighttime art appreciation and entertainment set for the second Thursday of every month.The first Art After Dark on June 11 was very successful, with more than 540 people making their way to the West Palm Beach museum. Tonight, it's Midsummer Night's Mystery at the Museum, … [Read more...]
Music review: Lisitsa impressive in big-sonata Boca recital
Valentina Lisitsa.By Greg StepanichBOCA RATON -- "Did Beethoven write that just to drive pianists crazy?" a man in the audience asked Valentina Lisitsa on Wednesday night just after the pianist had finished taking her listeners through Beethoven's momentous Hammerklavier Sonata."He was crazy," a woman in the audience said in reply, and in truth the 29th piano sonata of … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: July 2-5
Trees in Howard Park, by Bill Perry.Art: If you’re up for some laid-back fun while viewing (and perhaps buying) art at the same time, the weekly Thursday night art show at the Rum Bar next to Panama Hattie's in North Palm Beach is the latest, hottest hangout for the artsy crowd.About a dozen artists show their work, and tonight, well-known local artist and Armory Art Center … [Read more...]
ArtsBriefs: ‘Hammerklavier,’ young recitalists, and poets
Pianist Valentina Lisitsa.Going big at the piano: Valentina Lisitsa, a Russian-born pianist long resident in South Florida, tackles two monumental solo piano works tomorrow night at the Boca Steinway Gallery under the aegis of Abram Kreeger's Piano Lovers series. Foremost among them is the Beethoven Hammerklavier Sonata (No. 29 in B-flat, Op. 106) , the composer's longest, most … [Read more...]
ArtsBuzz: Platt to leave Boca Symphonia after ’09-’10 season
Conductor Alexander Platt.By Greg StepanichAlexander Platt, principal conductor of the Boca Raton Symphonia, said today he will be leaving the orchestra at the end of the upcoming season.Platt, 43, has been chief conductor of the chamber orchestra since October 2007.In a letter today to Symphonia board members, Platt said it was time for him to pay attention to his increasing … [Read more...]