By Dennis D. Rooney The Symphonia opened its new season at St. Andrew’s School’s Roberts Auditorium on Nov. 13 with a program that featured guest conductor Andrés Cárdenes, who was also the soloist in the program’s final selection, Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 (in A, K. 219), which has the nickname “Turkish” due to an A minor episode in the finale that emulates Janissary … [Read more...]
Chang disappoints in uneven PB Symphony opener
By Dennis Rooney The Nov. 6 concert by the Palm Beach Symphony at the Kravis Center was the opening of the orchestra’s 49th season. Music director Gerard Schwarz was on the podium and violinist Sarah Chang was the soloist. The first work on the program was the afternoon’s best performance; an alert and sprightly account of Rounds for String Orchestra by David Diamond. … [Read more...]
Seraphic Fire’s 20th opens with splendid Monteverdi, Coleridge-Taylor
By Marcio Bezerra One of the crown jewels of South Florida’s performing arts scene, the choral ensemble Seraphic Fire is celebrating its 20th season with a series of seven concerts that promises to be a real treat to its faithful followers. The celebration started at the highest level this past weekend with multiple performances of selections from Claudio Monteverdi’s … [Read more...]
Brahms, Tchaikovsky vary in effectiveness at Lynn Philharmonia
By Dennis Rooney Two staples of the classical repertoire were heard on the final weekend of October at Lynn Conservatory’s Wold Performing Arts Center auditorium, with the students of the Lynn Philharmonia under the direction of the conservatory’s director, Jon Robertson. Faculty member Lisa Leonard was soloist in the Piano Concerto No. 1 (in D minor, Op. 15) by … [Read more...]
At a Lake Worth Beach church, another school of rock takes shape
Chris O’Brien, founder, owner and instructor at the Lake Worth Beach-based music school Music4Lyfe (www.music4lyfe.org), tried doing things by the book. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in music from Florida State University in 2009, the Delray Beach native and resident returned south to pay it forward. Over the next decade, he taught at a handful of Palm Beach … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2022-23: The Met: Live in HD boosts options for opera fans
By Robert Croan There are limited opportunities to attend live opera performances in South Florida. In the upcoming season, Miami-based Florida Grand Opera will present four productions in the Arsht Center, repeating three of them in Fort Lauderdale’s Broward Center; while Palm Beach Opera offers three productions in Kravis Center in West Palm Beach. And they’re all pricey. … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2022-23: The season in pop
"Pop" is an all-encompassing term used to describe music that basically isn't jazz, classical or opera. Therefore, it describes the sampling of James Brown, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, Jimi Hendrix, Alison Krauss, Lucius, Nirvana, Public Enemy, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Hank Williams. Which mostly constitutes a cross-reference of what's become, in the tribute act era, a form of … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2022-23: The season in classical music
There has been a profound change in the world of classical music over the past two or three years when it comes to programming. Although South Florida will still welcome touring orchestras bearing gifts of symphonic favorites, the post-George Floyd world has had a bracing effect on the kinds of music presented to today’s concertgoers. Programs now feature more Black and … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2022-23: The season in opera
South Florida’s two regional opera companies are adding some new things to a lineup heavy in audience favorites, while across the state in Sarasota, the repertory company is returning to an early Verdi masterwork and offering a French rarity. The country’s largest opera troupes are making moves this season into a much more modern direction, with new works, especially … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2022-23: The season in jazz
In 1998, a quartet of jazz/fusion veterans started an instrumental group in which they interpreted music by seminal jam band the Grateful Dead. More recently, a rising jazz record label started mixing in elements of hip-hop to draw new and younger fans to America's time-honored genre. Both are called Jazz Is Dead. Yet this isn't an obituary for live jazz, rather … [Read more...]