Conductor Gerard Schwarz has become a regular guest of the Symphonia Boca Raton over the past three seasons, and his cellist son Julian has occasionally accompanied him. Both were on hand Dec. 10 for the opening concert of the Symphonia’s season at the Roberts Theater on the campus of St. Andrew’s School in Boca Raton, where the son gave the world premiere of a piece his … [Read more...]
Sunshine Fest at Mizner will have a New Orleans feel
As always, the sixth annual installment of the Sunshine Music Festival will be headlined by the Tedeschi Trucks Band, the powerful, 12-piece roots music juggernaut led by husband-and-wife festival co-founders Derek Trucks (guitar) and Susan Tedeschi (vocals/guitar). But the ever-impressive supporting acts take on a decidedly more jazzy, funky, and New Orleans-themed vibe in … [Read more...]
Philadelphia Orchestra Brass in winning form at CMSPB
By Dennis D. Rooney The Philadelphia Orchestra Brass Quintet is composed of members of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s brass section, viz. David Bilger and Anthony Prisk, trumpets; Nitzan Haroz, trombone; Jeffrey Lang, horn; and Carol Jantsch, tuba. Their appearance Monday was sponsored by the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach and marked that organization’s first concert … [Read more...]
Palm Beach Symphony’s opener underwhelms
By Kevin Wilt The Palm Beach Symphony orchestra squeezed on to the stage at the Society of the Four Arts for their “Seven Wonders” concert Dec. 6, along with guest conductor Albert-George Schram. The show opened with Gioachino Rossini’s overture to his opera La scala di seta (The Silken Ladder). There were a few intonation issues early on, especially between the winds and … [Read more...]
Seraphic Fire adds richness, variety to sounds of Christmas
There have to be as many ways of exploring the music of the Christmas season as there are ways to celebrate the holiday, from indulging in the sounds of choirboys from a centuries-old English college to using Spotify or YouTube to find brand-new music for the year’s end. In the case of Seraphic Fire, you start with 13 expert singers and an adventurous approach, and you end … [Read more...]
Mørk, Orpheus CO masterful in Shostakovich concerto
By Dennis D. Rooney The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra played the same program here Tuesday at the Kravis Center as it had in New York’s Carnegie Hall the previous Saturday evening; Handel’s Water Music Suite opened it and Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite concluded it. In between came the local premiere of Out Came the Sun by Shuying Li, an Orpheus commission that was its … [Read more...]
Serkin brings old-school taste, distinction to Mozart, Bach
We are living through a period of remarkable pianism, with terrific young players popping up everywhere you look and making impressive strides in rethinking concerts and willing new repertoire into being. But there is also a good deal of hype to go along with that, amplified enormously by the power of social media. And so it is something of a respite to encounter an artist … [Read more...]
Ehnes Quartet opens Chamber Music Society season in splendid style
By Dennis D. Rooney The Gold Room at the Breakers was the venue for the inaugural concert Tuesday of the Palm Beach Chamber Music Society’s fifth season. A replica of a space in Venice’s Gallerie dell’Accademia, the room’s ceiling, lavishly decorated in gold, is painted in a graphic diagonal pattern adorned with 260 hand-carved cherubs. Surrounding the ceiling are … [Read more...]
Lake Worth’s own John Ralston returns to music, new album after detour
“Small-town boy makes good” is a familiar tale, but not one often told when the town is Lake Worth. And not often about a small-town boy who’s as resilient as singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist John Ralston (www.John-Ralston.com). Born at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Palm Beach in 1977, Ralston (who’ll turn 40 years old on Dec. 29) has lived most of his life in … [Read more...]
Seraphic Fire triumphs in challenging look at American hymnody
In its decade and a half of concertizing in South Florida, Seraphic Fire has occasionally featured concerts drawing on the music of the American church, usually that arising from the Protestant and African-American traditions of the 19th century. In its second concert of the season, the Miami choir again turned to American hymnody, but in the program assembled by guest … [Read more...]