Gabriela Montero. (Photo by Colin Bell)By Greg StepanichThe Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero has carved out a useful niche for herself as a musician who recalls an earlier tradition of performers who improvised in concert.Her recital Thursday night during the fifth Festival of the Arts Boca ended with four of her improvisations, but it was the rest of her program that … [Read more...]
ArtsBuzz: Boca arts fest to return March 4-12
Singer Jackie Evancho, who created a sensation this summeron America’s Got Talent.By Skip SheffieldThe Festival of the Arts Boca is going lean and green for its fifth season March 4-12 at Mizner Park in Boca Raton.That’s “green,” as in “young.”One of the headliners in the concert finale March 12, operatic soprano Jackie Evancho, is just 10 years … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Dec. 3-5
Sara Bareilles.Pop music: Fresh off her third Grammy nomination, announced Wednesday in Los Angeles, Sara Bareilles plays Boca Raton’s Mizner Park on Saturday night on a bill with Michael Franti and Spearhead, the always barefoot social-justice singer’s dub-ska outfit. The two acts are playing as part of WRMF-97.9 FM’s annual No Sno … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Oct. 8-11
John Leonard Thompson and Kim Cozort in Candida.Theater: Palm Beach Dramaworks opens its new season by continuing to take the high road, giving its audience “theater to think about,” the triangular comedy Candida by the all-too-rarely produced in South Florida George Bernard Shaw. Kim Cozort stars in the title role, the wife of a “moralist and windbag” … [Read more...]
Music feature: Singer O’Connor finds career on contemporary path
Mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor.By Greg StepanichKelley O'Connor would like to spend some time pursuing her passion for cooking in the house she just bought in her hometown of Fresno, Calif.But for the time being, the world of contemporary classical music has plenty for her to do.Most notably, O'Connor is currently championing the Neruda Songs, a five-song cycle written by the … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: June 25-28
The Flower Is Always in the Almond (After Bachelard),by Justin Rabideau.Art: Opening Friday at the Pine Jog Environmental Education Center in West Palm Beach is Native Offerings III, an exhibit in which four South Florida artists interpret their surroundings. Curated by Talya Lerman, the show demonstrates how Isabel Gouveia, Brigid Howard, Justin Rabideau and Carolyn Sickles … [Read more...]
Music review: Steely Dan still tight, mysterious after reeling in all those years
Donald Fagen, right, and Walter Becker, left, of Steely Danperform My Old School at Mizner Park on Saturday night.(Photo by Thom Smith)By Thom SmithForty years later and we still scratch our heads. We're gullible; we're impressionable; we're hungry for the new; and although we have more money, we still run into trouble when we try to buy a thrill.Which makes it all the easier … [Read more...]