By Robert Croan In brief but informative prefatory remarks about Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Brett Karlin — conductor and artistic director of the Master Chorale of South Florida — described this grand oratorio as a 19th-century equivalent of a modern Broadway spectacular. It is certainly a major undertaking for a community-based choral organization, and the Chorale’s … [Read more...]
Master Chorale’s Verdi Requiem deeply satisfying
By Robert Croan You don’t have to be Christian, or even religious, to appreciate Giuseppe Verdi’s magnificent Requiem. The composer himself was essentially agnostic – something more significant when the work was composed in 1874, than it would be today. The effect of this great masterpiece for double choirs, four soloists and large orchestra, commemorating the death of … [Read more...]
Soloists enliven muted ‘Carmina Burana’ at Master Chorale
By Dennis D. Rooney It was a Saturday in the spring of 1957. I was at my high school, doing some sort of extracurricular project, which took place in the auditorium. The Glee Club director had put on a recording of music I didn’t recognize but whose sound and character were captivating. From time to time, someone would tap out one of the catchy rhythms that sprang up as … [Read more...]
Palm Beach Symphony launches season with rich menu of “pops”
By Dennis D. Rooney The term “Pops Concert” suggests to some a program in some way inferior to the program of a symphony orchestra, which unfortunately sometimes has been true when an orchestra is asked to play arrangements of music not originally for orchestra. But the term also particularly applies to orchestral music of a lighter character that is not often programmed … [Read more...]
Master Chorale gives glorious account of Brahms’s ‘German Requiem’
By Clare Shore At the end of a grueling week, on an absolutely gorgeous spring Friday evening in South Florida, one is not always keen on driving 40 minutes to sit inside for an hour and a quarter listening to a large-scale piece of music. But that’s what I did, and I left Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale on May 4 renewed and refreshed by Master Chorale … [Read more...]
Master Chorale takes step forward with Duruflé, new work
As it begins its 15th season of concerts, the Master Chorale of South Florida has added another element to its music-making, that of commissioner of new work. On Sunday, the community chorale presented the first piece in what promises to be an annual series of new choral works with a setting of John Donne’s "Death Be Not Proud," composed by James Kallembach, who heads the … [Read more...]
Berlioz’s epic take on ‘Romeo’ set for weekend at Lynn
Sitting at a table in a new Boca Raton diner, Guillermo Figueroa opens his cloth-bound, dark blue Bärenreiter edition of the music and points to a page, marked with various colored pencils. The score he’s pointing to, explaining the perils of this or that passage, is the playbook for this weekend, when the violinist and conductor will lead the Lynn Philharmonia, the Master … [Read more...]
Soprano’s vocal fireworks give Boca Symphonia a joyful afternoon of Baroque
The European audiences of 300 years ago liked their singers to show off, and Jan. 8 at the second seasonal concert by the Symphonia Boca Raton, a local audience got a thrilling example of why that was. In all-Baroque program led by conductor Brett Karlin, who in November directed a strong account of the Mass in B Minor of J.S. Bach with his Master Chorale of South Florida, … [Read more...]
Master Chorale’s Bach largely a triumph
By any reasonable measure, staging J.S. Bach’s epic Mass in B Minor with a community chorus is a remarkable achievement. And Brett Karlin, who directs the Master Chorale of South Florida, was not to be deterred from mounting a performance of this, his favorite choral composition. He put his 121 singers through numerous extra rehearsals, brought The Symphonia Boca Raton in … [Read more...]
Singing the ‘elephant’: Master Chorale tackles Bach’s epic Mass
When it comes to the concert season, says Brett Karlin, it may be that we’re all taking it a little too easy. Consider: A music-loving South Florida resident in the winter months is a lucky creature, with performers from around the globe as well as much closer to home willing to offer almost any kind of musical experience he or she desires. But maybe a majority of those … [Read more...]