Tomás Cotik is a violinist, a professor at Portland State University, and perhaps most important, a scholar whose projects for the Centaur Records label have included complete surveys of the Mozart violin sonatas and Schubert violin-and piano works, as well as the Bach sonatas and partitas. Each of these recordings was accompanied by deeply learned program notes by Cotik, who … [Read more...]
FGO’s ‘Agrippina’ has fascinating staging, recitative-heavy editing
By Rosie Rogers Florida Grand Opera closed out its season this month with an ambitious production of Handel’s Agrippina. First performed in 1709, the 313-year-old Agrippina is a tongue-in-cheek tale of political ambition and sexual competition. This production made an admirable musical effort inside of an interesting, if somewhat confusing, framing device. This Agrippina … [Read more...]
Soloists enliven muted ‘Carmina Burana’ at Master Chorale
By Dennis D. Rooney It was a Saturday in the spring of 1957. I was at my high school, doing some sort of extracurricular project, which took place in the auditorium. The Glee Club director had put on a recording of music I didn’t recognize but whose sound and character were captivating. From time to time, someone would tap out one of the catchy rhythms that sprang up as … [Read more...]
Black Pumas close SunFest with a set and sound to remember
For many of the SunFest performers, 2022 turned into RainFest between its first three days of April 28-30. Yet hope was kept alive on day four. Following a country music-heavy opening night, plus additional headliners then attempting to deliver whining pop, forced glam, and frat-boy rock between the raindrops, the Austin, Texas-based soul group Black Pumas … [Read more...]
ProgJect brings titans of prog rock to Boca, all too briefly
Tribute acts are the latest acid for the masses, especially in South Florida. Most of the artists being paid tribute to have either died or are still touring past age 50 --- meaning they're often popular enough to charge exorbitant fees for concert tickets to compensate for their lost recording royalties in the musical streaming era. So consumers who either can't, or … [Read more...]
Poetry in motion: Steady action, score make for captivating ‘Fellow Travelers’ at FGO
By Rosie Rogers Florida Grand Opera’s production of Gregory Spears’s 2016 opera Fellow Travelers told a Lavender Scare love story with a sweetly melancholic score. With direction from Peter Rothstein, the smooth set changes produced a constant motion well-matched to the minimalism of the orchestra. Starring Hadleigh Adams and Andres Acosta as the two romantic leads, … [Read more...]
Cellist Herbert, ACO close season with satisfying Tchaikovsky, Wolf
By Dennis D. Rooney Music of Hugo Wolf (1860-1903) opened the Alantic Classical Orchestra's final concert of this season, which I heard at its second performance April 21 at the Eissey Campus Theatre at Palm Beach State College in Palm Beach Gardens. Like Schumann, Donizetti, and Smetana, Wolf was infected with syphilis and eventually made mad by it. Despite his short … [Read more...]
Palm Beach Opera gets $6 million gift; announces 2022-23 season
WEST PALM BEACH — Palm Beach Opera has received a gift of $6 million from a local foundation, the largest donation in the opera company’s 61-year history. The gift, announced last week, will allow Palm Beach Opera to move forward with renovations on its new home in the artsy Northwood section of West Palm Beach. The company announced in September it had bought an … [Read more...]
Palm Beach Symphony’s closing concert satisfies with Midori, Schuman
By Dennis D. Rooney The final program of this season’s Palm Beach Sympony Masterworks Series, which took place April 10 in the Kravis Center's Dreyfoos Hall, was well-balanced and enjoyed by the (largely un-masked) audience. Among the many important commissions made by conductor André Kostelanetz is William Schuman’s New England Triptych, subtitled "Three Pieces for … [Read more...]
Cream tribute show did best when it stuck to trio’s heyday
For a band that lasted less than three years between 1966 and 1968, Cream cast a long shadow, influencing the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Jeff Beck Group, Led Zeppelin, ZZ Top, and countless others. But considering the trio's all-star personnel of guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, vocalist/bassist Jack Bruce (1943-2014) and drummer/vocalist Ginger Baker (1939-2019), that isn't … [Read more...]