As America’s only three-time poet laureate, Robert Pinsky would appear perfectly suited to deliver a “State of the Nation”-style disquisition. Who better to survey the role of poetry in contemporary life -- the challenges (and opportunities) presented by the digital revolution, the rise of spoken-word and hip-hop, the advent of the amazing shrinking attention span? Pinsky, … [Read more...]
French-accented chamber program brings vigor to Ibert trio
At its most important, the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival is about discovery, in hearing something worthwhile that its musicians have brought out of the libraries or fresh off the stocks for its loyal audience of nearly two decades. In the first installment Friday of its third week of concerts, the musicians returned in a largely French program to the work of Jacques Ibert, … [Read more...]
FAU’s Zager brings golden touch to commercial music program
When Michael Zager founded the commercial music program at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton in 2002, it's unlikely that some students knew about the level of commercial success he'd achieved in the music industry. Perhaps they know now. The 67-year-old professor and eminent scholar has had a 50-year career as a keyboardist, composer, producer, arranger and educator … [Read more...]
Fleming brings repertoire revelation to Boca fest
She opened the New York Philharmonic's current season with an infrequently heard song cycle by Olivier Messiaen, and her newest album is a collection of rarities from the verismo composers of the late 19th century. One of the best things about Renée Fleming is her fondness for fresh, interesting repertoire, and the soprano offered ample evidence of this side of her art as she … [Read more...]
Florida festival brings best films from La Belle France
Fortunately, Patrick Giminez lives in Boca Raton. As a result, Palm Beach County residents do not have to travel to Miami this weekend to feast on French films. Of course they could, because the French cineaste who has been distributing films for the past 25 years is kicking off his fifth annual France Cinema Floride at the Tower Theatre in Miami. But those same 11 films -- … [Read more...]
‘Viva Bourgeois!’ cannily brings Moliere to Graceland
Only a mind like Mad Cat Theatre Co.’s Paul Tei, steeped in both the classics and pop culture, could have come up with Viva Bourgeois! Instead of the troupe’s usual newly minted plays aimed squarely at its young audience of 30-somethings, Tei reached back to 17th-century France for his inspiration. How do you get contemporary theatergoers to relate to Moliere’s social … [Read more...]