For every veteran musician, there are shows etched into memory over the course of a career. They’re usually high-water marks: a gig at a lauded festival; a reunion, an opening slot for a national to international touring act, and/or a night when everyone on stage performed with uncommon synchronicity. And then there’s the other kind of memory, one West Palm Beach-based … [Read more...]
New World, conductor Grams impress in Mahler’s Sixth
By Márcio Bezerra If Thomas Mann thought that Wagner’s art was “dilettantism raised to the level of genius,” what would he have made of Gustav Mahler’s symphonic output? Mahler, one of the more important conductors of the late 19th and early 20th centuries (in both Europe and New York City), had a limited compositional output as he wrote his symphonies mostly during his … [Read more...]
Director’s smart touches refresh FGO’s well-sung ‘Traviata’
By Robert Croan Verdi’s La Traviata, as staged for Florida Grand Opera by Chía Patiño [seen at the Broward Center, Nov. 30], contained many original and unusual touches while retaining the opera’s original 19th-century milieu. Early on, in retelling Alexandre Dumas fils’ story of the courtesan who sacrifices her one chance of true love, the consumptive heroine --- … [Read more...]
Seraphic Fire renders French Baroque superbly
By Robert Croan Welcome to Paris in the 1730s, during the reign of Louis XV. To open its 2023-24 season, Seraphic Fire, directed by Patrick Dupré Quigley, presented two rarely heard works from the period --- a sacred motet followed by extracts from an opera, each evoking the alleged splendors of the French court while providing a tantalizing glimpse into music that was … [Read more...]
Mexico’s Minería orchestra, pianist Montero get Kravis classical season off to fine start
By Márcio Bezerra The Classical Concert Series at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach opened its season Monday with a concert by the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería of Mexico. Founded in 1978, the OSM is unusual as its main season runs in the summer in Mexico City (for the rest of the year, the orchestra, according to its website, “performs special … [Read more...]
2023-24 Season in Classical: Season looks abundant across genres and venues
Even with the loss of one orchestra’s Palm Beach County concerts (the Atlantic Classical Orchestra, which will stick to Stuart and Vero Beach this time around), the upcoming classical season is hard to complain about, with its roster of major ensembles and performers, several world premieres, and a deep lineup of compelling music across the genre spectrum. Here’s how that … [Read more...]
2023-24 Season in jazz: It’s harder to find, but good jazz will still enrich season
Since the dawn of the all-encompassing non-genre now known by the blanket term “pop,” and specifically since the popularity surges of Elvis Presley and the Beatles, it’s become increasingly difficult for jazz musicians to get substantial paying gigs. Even pop players have since become relegated to legacy acts, but jazz — which has been called “America’s classical music” — … [Read more...]
2023-24 Season Preview: Metropolitan Opera in HD
By Robert Croan Three operas composed in the last five decades, all Metropolitan Opera premieres, will be featured in the coming season’s The Met: Live in HD’s 2023-24 season, live simulcasts in high-definition cinemas nationwide and abroad. The series is a valuable adjunct to live performances available in South Florida, offered by Florida Grand Opera in Miami’s … [Read more...]
2023-24 Season in Opera: Area’s companies play it (mostly) safe
It’s fair to say the world of opera is in flux, with the nation’s preeminent company, New York’s Metropolitan Opera, sharply modernizing its repertoire, and locally, with the three opera houses pulling back from innovation somewhat and sticking with box-office certainties. Palm Beach Opera The West Palm Beach-based company opens its 62nd season with the most reliable … [Read more...]
2023-24 Season in Pop: From Willie to Pink to Blackberry Smoke, season features artists of integrity
There’s a tendency to presume that COVID-19 might’ve driven home one of the final nails in the coffin inhabited by the once-affordable popular music concert scene. Realistically, it was the latest in 50 years of paper cuts that turned music from art into business, and made it just another part of our advertorial non-culture. Punk music once declared that any non-rock … [Read more...]