Film: It is a complaint have heard so often I can anticipate it returning every Oscar season: “Where can I go to see the short subjects, both animated and live action, that are nominated for an Academy Award?” The answer used to be a big shrug, but now you can head to Emerging Cinemas. This week, at the funky art cinema called Mos’Art in Lake Park, you can see … [Read more...]
Music roundup: A powerful premiere at Lynn; evocative Ravel at PB Symphony
Composer Chiayu Hsu.Lynn Philharmonia/Gunther Schuller (Jan. 29, Wold Performing Arts Center, Boca Raton)“I am Chiayu!” the small woman wearing a red dress jacket almost shouted to the audience at the Wold Performing Arts Center as she took the stage at Lynn University in Boca Raton to introduce her new composition.Chiayu Hsu, a Taiwan-born composer who … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Jan. 21-23
Sharon Gless in A Round-Heeled Woman.(Photo by George Schiavone) Theater: Although it is a little lighter than the usual fare at Coral Gables’ GableStage, the cutting edge company has a crowd-pleasing winner in Jane Prowse’s A Round-Heeled Woman, based on the true story of Jane Juska. In her mid-60s, she places an ad soliciting men to have sex with her, adding … [Read more...]
Music feature: Pianist Graffman offers left-hand music at Lynn
Gary Graffman.(Photo by Christian Steiner)By Greg StepanichSitting down at the Steinway on the stage of the Wold Center, Gary Graffman demonstrates how he tests pianos for the Curtis Institute, which has asked its former director to help choose a new batch of 20 for the Philadelphia arts school.Graffman’s test piece is a slow solo passage from the middle of … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Nov. 5-7
A scene from A Film Unfinished.Film: Among the many atrocities attributable to the Nazis is the masterful way they churned out propaganda films during World War II. A new inside look at their disinformation machine is found in A Film Unfinished, a documentary by Yael Hersonski that sifts through existing footage of the Third Reich’s depiction of the Jewish ghetto, contrasting … [Read more...]
ArtsBuzz: Lynn opens new concert hall; venues set 2010-11 classical series
The inside of the center.(Photo by Greg Stepanich)Lynn University on Thursday opened its new $14.9 million concert hall, adding a much-needed venue for theater and music in south Palm Beach County.The Keith C. and Elaine Johnson Wold Performing Arts Center, which took about 18 months to build, features a 752-seat hall with adjustable acoustic panels, a video studio, plus scene … [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...]
Weekend arts picks: Oct. 30-Nov. 2
His Eye Is on the Sparrow, a quilt by Wendell George Brown.Art: Handmade quilts have been a cultural part of America’s history for practical reasons (warm bed covers), community building (quilting bees), storytelling and personal artistic expression.But in the African-American community, quilting took on an expanded role. During slavery, quilts with secret symbols were hung on … [Read more...]
ArtsPaper Interview: Jon Robertson making a difference at Lynn
Jon Robertson.(Illustration by Pat Crowley) By Greg StepanichIt is perhaps not generally realized in the wider world of area classical music that Palm Beach County has a thriving music conservatory, that it is in the middle of building a $15 million concert hall that will be a major addition to the area’s art scene, and that its dean, Jon Robertson, used to run the school of … [Read more...]