By Dale King Four chaps from Liverpool visited the Crest Theatre in Delray Beach on Feb. 16 and, quadruple-handedly, recreated a piece of the global phenomenon that altered the world of music 50-plus years ago, a feat accomplished by — four other chaps from Liverpool. Meet the Mersey Beatles, childhood friends from that port community in northwest England, east of the … [Read more...]
Attacca Quartet shows its worth in Ligeti, Beethoven at Duncan
By Dennis D. Rooney It took only a few measures of Beethoven’s Quartet No. 6 (in B-flat major, Op. 18, No. 6) to explain the high rank among contemporary American string quartets of the Attacca Quartet, founded in 2003 and actively concertizing for a decade. In the opening work of their Duncan Stage West program Feb. 21, they excelled in its strongly rhythmic character … [Read more...]
Voices carry the day for a ‘Candide’ that tries too hard
The celebration of the Leonard Bernstein centenary is bringing a lot of the composer-conductor’s music back into the public eye, and last weekend at Palm Beach Opera, the company tackled Candide for the second production of its current season. Like all troubled theater works, Candide has had several iterations since its relatively unsuccessful 1956 debut, with multiple … [Read more...]
Violinist Koh shows mastery in Boca Museum recital
By Dennis D. Rooney Jennifer Koh, a Chicago native and alumna of Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute where she studied with Jaime Laredo and Felix Galimir, was heard in recital on two succeeding days in Palm Beach County. Her first appearance was in Boca Raton, the second at The Breakers in Palm Beach. Both events were presented under the auspices of the Chamber Music Society of … [Read more...]
Seraphic Fire’s ‘St. Matthew Passion’ simply glorious
By Robert Croan You don’t have to be a believer to be moved – overcome with emotion, even – by J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. Although Bach composed this work for a Lutheran Good Friday service in 1727, repeating it with revisions in subsequent years, it has survived as a concert work. Patrick Dupré Quigley, director of Seraphic Fire’s splendid South Florida … [Read more...]
Huang shows new maturity in Barber with ACO
By Dennis D. Rooney This is a partial review. I was caught in a bad traffic jam on Interstate 95 northbound through Lake Worth that delayed my arrival in Palm Beach Gardens for a concert Feb. 14 by the Atlantic Classical Orchestra concert until the finale of Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony, which opened the program. I was in my seat by the time Sirena Huang appeared … [Read more...]
Chicago Symphony, soloists give master class in elegance
You might not have realized it with the modest size of the Kravis Center audience Thursday afternoon, but a major American symphonic ensemble was there in West Palm Beach, making beautiful and fascinating music for an appreciative house. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which hasn’t toured her for more than a decade, offered two very different programs in its stay, on … [Read more...]
Prima Trio brings zest and brilliance to Flagler series
By Dennis D. Rooney The Prima Trio is composed of Anastasia Dedik, piano; Gulia Gurevich, violin and viola; and Boris Allakhverdyan, clarinet. They met while students at the Oberlin Conservatory and founded the trio in 2004. They appeared Feb. 6 on the Flagler Museum Music Series for a second time; their debut was in 2009. Unlike the piano trio, the repertoire for … [Read more...]
Soprano Chambers makes a splendid Salome for FGO
By Robert Croan “A 16-year-old girl with the voice of Isolde.” That’s how composer Richard Strauss described the requirements for the title part of Salome, his magnificent one-act opera that shocked audiences at its premiere in Dresden in 1905. He was referring to the biblical daughter of Herodias, who danced for the lecherous Herod and in return demanded the head of … [Read more...]
Unlikely partnership of comedian and cellist born on an airplane
In an unlikely pairing that is getting top reviews, actor Bill Murray, best known for his work on Saturday Night Live and films like Ghostbusters and Lost in Translation, has joined forces with a classical music trio led by renowned German cellist Jan Vogler, his wife and violinist, Mira Wang, and pianist Vanessa Pérez in a mélange of songs, music and literary readings. They … [Read more...]