By Robert Croan To commemorate this year’s Pride Month and the 10th anniversary of the infamous Pulse massacre in Orlando, the Gay Men’s Chorus of South Florida commissioned Amor Eterno: A Requiem for Pulse from Saunder Choi, a 38-year-old Philippine-born composer currently based in Los Angeles. It’s an ample 45-minute opus, fitting the enormity of the tragic event, and … [Read more...]
Gingold Chamber Music Festival returns for third summer to Boca venues
“Music reminds us that we have far more in common than what separates us,” says Grammy-nominated violinist Andrés Cárdenes. He is the co-founder of the Josef Gingold Chamber Music Festival, which returns to Boca Raton for its third year in early July with seven free or low-cost performances including a number of community engagement events. Those community concerts will … [Read more...]
For July and August, Glazer Hall brings on the jazz
Summer is usually a dormant season for South Florida musicians. Especially jazz musicians, who frequently perform in establishments that sometimes eliminate live entertainment during summers because most tourists have left for cooler climates. Which means that area fans of one of America’s greatest audio art forms are also figuratively left out in the cold while bearing … [Read more...]
Met Live announces upcoming cinema season
By Robert Croan The Met: Live in HD, our premier opera company’s streaming in movie theaters worldwide of live performances from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, closed its current season May 30 with El último sueño de Frida y Diego. The Spanish-language opera by Gabriela Lena Frank was a novelty for the Met, and timely, as the 53-year-old California-based … [Read more...]
A long partnership: Pop’s Joe Jackson counts on bassist Maby
British singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Joe Jackson (joejackson.com) has proven to be a musical amoeba since his masterful post-punk 1979 New Wave debut Look Sharp! (A&M). There have since been stylistic detours through reggae, cabaret, blues, pop and classical music as well as swing and traditional jazz, all as the 71-year-old Jackson refused to be … [Read more...]
Peabody violinist Li helps close chamber series splendidly
By Robert Croan Victor Santiago Asuncíon, himself a first-class pianist with a busy touring schedule, brings worthy and interesting guest collaborators to his splendid chamber music series in the Community Church at Lauderdale-By-the Sea. The fifth and last concert of his 2026 season, on May 23, featured Beijing-born Qing Li, principal second violin of the Baltimore Symphony … [Read more...]
If it’s a Florida summer, it must be Dave Matthews time
Like sands through the hourglass, so are the South Florida summer-adjacent tour dates for the Dave Matthews Band (davematthewsband.com). Of course, summer unofficially starts early here in the Sunshine State. So let’s just say that singing guitarist Matthews’ touring ensemble has included the iThink Financial Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach between the months of May and … [Read more...]
Jazz titan Herbie Hancock keeping his music young and vital at 86
If you were looking to crown the current greatest living jazz artist, the short list of contenders would include alumni from the ensembles led by trumpeter and band leader Miles Davis (1926-1991) from the 1960s and 1970s. Which would still only narrow it down to an impressive list of luminaries including Keith Jarrett, John McLaughlin, Ron Carter, and Billy Cobham. Yet … [Read more...]
Young violinist makes impressive showing in Lauderdale concert
By Robert Croan Featured guest soloist on Chamber Music at Lauderdale-by-the Sea’s April 11 concert was Sameer Agrawal, a 21-year-old violinist currently studying with Midori Goto at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music. Performing at The Community Church with the series’ founder and artistic director Victor Santiago Asunción at the piano, the Chicago native lent a … [Read more...]
Guitar heroes of the 1980s set for South Florida show
Music in the 1980s largely involved hearing with one’s eyes as much as ears, all due to a waterfall of on-screen pop stars like Madonna, Michael Jackson, Culture Club, Milli Vanilli, Lionel Richie, Duran Duran, and Cyndi Lauper. The decade’s MTV and VH1 music videos also featured the sounds of synthesizers, electronic drums, programming, overproduction, and … [Read more...]