Only six players constituted the Palm Beach Symphony on Feb. 8, in a case of staffing to suit the venue: the concert was in the acoustically ripe room housing Henry Flagler’s personal railway carriage. About 500 people attended. Moving from the rear of the orchestra where they always play, the daunting six percussionists were front and center and made up in volume what they … [Read more...]
Jazz legend Corea to team with Rubacalba for night of piano-duet improv
Chick Corea. The name is as unique, identifiable and indelible as the sounds from the 75-year-old jazz pianist’s lengthy recording and touring career. From solo and duet to big band and orchestral projects, Corea has proven restless and amoebic for more than 50 years. His early classical and jazz training is most evident on his acoustic catalog, much of which ranges from … [Read more...]
Oliveira Competition lookback: A talk with Sirena Huang; the competition reviewed
By Greg Stepanich When the going gets tough, the tough get chill. At least, that’s how Sirena Huang handles things before she has to go out with her violin and face the public. “Right before I go on stage, whether it’s a competition or a concert, I meditate in my dressing room. It helps me focus, to stay in the present moment, and just do my best,” said Huang, whose … [Read more...]
Lyricism, energy distinguish Belgian violin-piano duo at Flagler
By Dennis D. Rooney Sitting in the Music Room of Whitehall, the 1902 stately home of Henry M. Flagler at Cocoanut Row and Whitehall Way in Palm Beach, and now the museum that bears his name, reminds me a little of hearing a concert at the Frick Collection in New York. Henry Clay Frick and Flagler, were both tycoons (steel and oil, respectively) whose residences became … [Read more...]
Lensky stands out in second cast of FGO’s ‘Onegin’
By Robert Croan Although composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky was Russian through and through, his music was highly influenced by his mainstream European contemporaries. His orchestral writing was a continuation of the Germanic styles of Schumann and Brahms. Eugene Onegin – his most famous opera, first performed in Moscow in 1879 and newly presented by Florida Grand Opera … [Read more...]
Ebony Chorale, PB Opera’s Young Artists unite in electrifying crossover
By Dale King As genres go, opera and African-American spirituals can easily stand on their own. But what would happen if performers of both long-established styles were to join voices in a single, combined program? The Palm Beach Opera and The Ebony Chorale of the Palm Beaches put that supposition to the test Thursday night in an epic collaboration, a show called … [Read more...]
Cellist Moreau impressive at PB Chamber Society
The violoncello is an instrument that often gets tapped for the most soulful kind of music, and its kinship to the human voice gives it a unique communicative power. But except for certain concerti, it’s rarer to hear the cello as a barn-burning virtuosic instrument. Thursday night, the young French cellist Edgar Moreau reminded a West Palm Beach audience what they might … [Read more...]
Kozhukhin, Philadelphia Orchestra stun Kravis full house
The Kravis Center was packed Tuesday night, with every seat sold for a visit from the Philadelphia Orchestra. Well-dressed Philadelphians turned out in their hundreds to support the 93 players of their world-famous orchestra although the program had no sugar-coated “lollipops.” It was an all-Russian evening: Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto and Shostakovich’s Fifth … [Read more...]
Colin Hay: The original man at work tours South Florida
By Christina Wood Colin Hay, former front man for ’80s pop/rock phenomenon Men at Work, is known to have a somewhat irreverent and self-deprecating sense of humor. Ask him what audiences can expect on his current tour and you’ll get a taste of it. “I think they can probably expect that they’ll be entertained and that they’ll be happy they came,” he says, his native … [Read more...]
Clarinetist Miklis sparkles at Chameleon Music
By Robert Croan The spectacular virtuosity of clarinetist Julian Milkis, the only student of the venerable Benny Goodman, was showcased on Chameleon Musicians’ Jan. 29 concert in the Josephine S. Leiser Opera Center in Fort Lauderdale. It was a program that exploited the instrument as much as the performer, however. As always in this enterprising series, Chameleon’s … [Read more...]