Heather Johnson as Elizabeth Proctorand Sean Anderson as John Proctor, in The Crucible.Editor's note: This story has been reposted to correct errors.By Rex Hearn Sarasota Opera’s season in February and March each year has three weekends to suit the traveling operagoer.This year’s offerings were Don Giovanni, The Crucible, La Bohème and I Lombardi.I wasn’t … [Read more...]
ArtsPreview 2010-11: The season in opera
Anthony Roth Costanzo,who will sing Orfeo for Palm Beach Opera.(Illustration by Pat Crowley) By Greg StepanichSouth Florida’s two chief opera companies mostly played it safe at the box office last season when it came to repertoire, with dueling productions of Bizet’s Carmen closing both companies’ offerings.But Palm Beach Opera and Florida Grand Opera also took some … [Read more...]
ArtsBuzz: Rival WXEL bidders to present plans at Boynton meeting
Disc jockey Stu Grant.Disc jockey Stu Grant, host of the Jazz Impressions show on Saturday nights at WXEL-90.7 FM, is in limbo.The Boynton Beach-based station is set to be sold, which will make it an arm of American Public Media and change its call letters. And the future of Grant’s show has yet to be decided upon.“I’m hopeful that things will remain the same,” … [Read more...]
Opera review: Sarasota’s ‘Giovanna’ revealed Verdi gem
Cristina Castaldi as Giovanna and Rafael Dávila as Carlo(Charles VII) in Giovanna d’Arco.(Photo by Rod Millington)By Rex HearnThe Sarasota Opera likes to say that no other company in the world will have completed a Verdi cycle – a complete survey of all the composer’s stage works -- when it comes to an end in 2013 on the 200th anniversary of Verdi’s birth.The company’s … [Read more...]
ArtsPreview 2009-10: The season in opera
Carl Tanner as Otello. (Illustration by Pat Crowley)By Greg StepanichThe coming opera season has been scaled back somewhat in both of the major local companies, but opera devotees will still have plenty to look forward to.In addition to the seven local productions, there will be five others from two different trunk companies, and 11 high-definition broadcasts of live … [Read more...]
Opera review: Sarasota’s ‘Don Carlos’ is a stunner
Kevin Short as Philippe II, Reyna Carguill as Elisabeth,Jeffrey Tucker as the Grand Inquisitor, and Gustavo LopezManzitti as Don Carlos, in the Sarasota Opera'scurrent production of Verdi's Don Carlos.(Photo by Richard Termine)By Rex HearnSARASOTA -- Don Carlos is about Philip II, the 16th-century king of Spain, and his fight with the forces of the Inquisition.This Spanish … [Read more...]