For all the different varieties of chamber music there can be, strings tend to be heard more often in quartets and winds in quintets. The 22nd edition of the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival has no string quartets on its programs this summer, but it came close Sunday at Delray Beach’s Crest Theatre, closing with a string quintet, and opening with two wind quintet miniatures. … [Read more...]
Palm Beach Film Festival turns 18: At last, it’s about the movies
The Palm Beach International Film Festival, running April 4-11, turns 18 this year, and it reaches the age of maturity with a new emphasis on the films themselves. There will be 141 in all, including eight United States premieres and 26 world premieres from such diverse nations as Russia, Spain, Thailand, Palestine, Ethiopia and Nepal. As she was putting the final touches on … [Read more...]
Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Palm Beach County lead Carbonell nominations
Palm Beach County theaters, and particularly the Maltz Jupiter, dominated the nominations for this year’s 37th annual Carbonell Awards, announced on Friday. The Maltz will be competing for 23 of the statuettes for excellence in South Florida professional theater, almost twice as many as the next highest nomination-getter ― Coral Gables’ Actors’ Playhouse ― which received 12. … [Read more...]
Violinist brings strong personality to familiar concerto
It has only become a commonplace of Tchaikovsky criticism in recent years to emphasize his work’s continuity with Russian folk tradition, but as a performance Tuesday night showed, it’s always been right there in plain view. The Canadian violinist Lara St. John, in an exceptional performance with the South Florida Symphony at the Crest Theatre in Delray Beach, dug deep into … [Read more...]
Palm Beach Opera’s Aprea leaves company; Fleisher gives Lynn master class
WEST PALM BEACH – The artistic director of the Palm Beach Opera has left the company, officials said Tuesday. Bruno Aprea, who has led musical aspects of the company’s productions and orchestral concerts since 2005, rejected the contract he was offered for the new season, said the company’s general director, Daniel Biaggi. The company has been restructuring to a more … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: May 26-29
Film: The airwaves are full of reports of the current presidential campaign, but for an even more momentous election, check out Nanni Meretti’s drily comic film Habemus Papam (We Have a Pope). It begins with the College of Cardinals, assembled within the Sistine chapel, and a paper ballot vote, with most of the cardinals secretly praying they do not get elevated to the right … [Read more...]
Sunday Comment: Palm Beach film fest still figuring itself out at 17
As the 17th annual Palm Beach International Film Festival approaches, the countywide movie event seems now what it was when it started in 1996. It hovers perpetually on the verge of becoming worth our time and attention, but is has yet to get there. Sure, in the 16 previous festivals, there have been films worthy of this exalted showcase. Think of My Big Fat Greek Wedding … [Read more...]
Palm Beach Film Festival focuses on the independent lens
Over the years, the Palm Beach International Film Festival has had its share of celebrity visits and Hollywood glam. But that’s not what Randi Emerman wants you to remember about the 17th edition of PBIFF. “The focus of this year’s Palm Beach International Film Festival (PBIFF) is on the film,” says Emerman, director of the festival. “Pure and simple, our emphasis is on … [Read more...]
Palm Beach County theaters triumph at Carbonells
Most of the best in South Florida’s professional theater last year happened in Palm Beach County. That is the impression left by the 36th annual Carbonell Awards for theater excellence in the region, presented Monday evening at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale. Three Palm Beach County theaters -- the Maltz Jupiter, Palm Beach Dramaworks and the … [Read more...]
For 25 years, Duncan Theatre has been cutting-edge
If you lived in Palm Beach County 25 years ago, to get your culture fix you went to the Duncan Theatre in Lake Worth or the “leaky teepee,” the familiar name for the West Palm Beach Auditorium, which earned that name from its pointy roof and less-than-watertight conditions. The leaky teepee lives on in lore and memory, but the county’s cutting-edge performing arts house, the … [Read more...]