By Márcio Bezerra After the once-in-a lifetime appearance of the legendary Vienna Philharmonic last season, the Classical Concert Series at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts scored another point by securing the no less prestigious Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra from Amsterdam to open the current one. Led by the celebrity conductor Klaus Mäkelä, the ensemble has … [Read more...]
Blues trailblazer Samantha Fish heads for Boca bash
It’s probably safe to say that the blues world never saw Samantha Fish (www.samanthafish.com) coming. The 35-year-old emerged from the historic Kansas City, Missouri, music scene 20 years ago with her ample vocal chops, heady songwriting and incendiary guitar playing, aided since by an attention-grabbing pinup gal sense of fashion. She’s appeared on a dozen albums, most … [Read more...]
SOTA opens its season with impressive tour of ‘The Planets’
By Robert Croan Gustav Holst’s The Planets is one of the great orchestral showcases, and one of the most difficult for any orchestra to carry off. It’s a mammoth hourlong work for large orchestra, usually of close to 100 players, so it was remarkable to see it on the docket for the opening concert of Fort Lauderdale’s Symphony of the Americas on Oct. 6 in Broward … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2024-25: A big classical season, with exciting guests and new visitors
As always, the classical season in South Florida is a relatively rich one, with plenty of activity in solo, chamber and orchestral music to interest a wide variety of listeners. The season is still somewhat smaller than it used to be, but there is still enough here for some strong months of concertgoing. Special events include appearances by the London Symphony, the … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2024-25: Stalwarts keep the flame alive for jazz fans
If all music forms encompassed a herd of prey animals, jazz might be the unfortunate member struggling to keep up at its rear flank. It’s unfortunate, and not the way it should be, but sadly the way it is in the modern music biz. South Florida has numerous music schools producing quality jazz musicians, yet many need to go into teaching, perform and record popular music, and/or … [Read more...]
Met Opera’s HD shows at movies helps fill in local opera gap
By Robert Croan Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann, one of the most colorful, melodic operas in the repertory and also one of the most difficult to produce, opened the 2024-25 season of The Met: Live in HD—the Metropolitan Opera’s series of high-definition simulcasts in cinemas worldwide – on Oct. 5. The Live in HD showings are an important and valuable part of South … [Read more...]
Legendary UK band Squeeze marks 50th with performance in Pompano
Fifty years together as a band is rare, but the route toward such a golden anniversary isn’t often as circuitous as that of Squeeze (www.squeezeofficial.com). The heady British pop group’s celebratory tour of the United States started in Oregon in mid-August, and includes a stop at Pompano Beach Amphitheatre on Sept. 21. Best-known for late-1970s and early-1980s U.K. and … [Read more...]
‘Not Not Jazz’: Medeski, Martin & Wood doc shortchanges importance of jazz/fusion band
A new phenomenon emerged through the 1990s when keyboardist John Medeski, drummer Billy Martin and bassist Chris Wood (www.medeskimartinandwood.com) created what proved to be the most formidable jazz/fusion act without a stringed instrument since Weather Report. Director Jason Miller’s new Medeski, Martin & Wood documentary, Not Not Jazz (Oscilloscope Laboratories/MVD … [Read more...]
PB Opera taps Netrebko for gala star, courting controversy
By Robert Croan Palm Beach Opera has announced that Russian soprano Anna Netrebko will be the featured guest at the company’s annual Gala, to be held Feb. 5 at The Breakers Palm Beach resort. She will partner with pianist Angel Rodriguez in a recital program to benefit Palm Beach Opera – “An Evening with Anna Netrebko” – and the event will be the singer’s Palm Beach Opera … [Read more...]
Deft Mendelssohn, Ravel performances bring SFSO chamber season to delightful close
By Robert Croan South Florida Symphony’s Summer with the Symphony series --- one monthly chamber music concert in Miami and in Fort Lauderdale --- is the oasis in South Florida’s off-season classical music desert. Responding to this cultural void, an enthusiastic capacity audience filled the attractive auditorium of Fort Lauderdale’s Center for Spiritual development for … [Read more...]