One sign of the growing maturity of the area’s classical music scene is the appearance of recordings by local artists. Up until relatively recently, only the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival’s six recordings on the Klavier label and the first discs by the Delray String Quartet could lay claim to representing a substantial segment of local art music activity, although there … [Read more...]
Exuberant Dohnanyi wraps chamber fest’s 22nd summer
A work of teenage exuberance was served up with high spirits and full-on late Romanticism on Sunday as the 22nd season of the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival’s summer season came to a close at Delray Beach’s Crest Theatre. The very first published opus of Ernst von Dohnányi (or Ernö Dohnányi, to give him his Hungarian name), a powerful Brahmsian piano quintet, occupied the … [Read more...]
Quintets hit high points in PB Chamber Fest’s Week 3
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...]
A compelling American quintet in chamber fest’s Week 2
It is one of the great mysteries of American musical life: Why, in a country that has produced so many fine classical composers, does the average person know nothing of their music? There are any number of reasons that are usually trotted out to explain this phenomenon, from the overwhelming dominance of American popular music worldwide to the lack of arts education in the … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Feb. 15-17
Music: An honest-to-goodness vocal star is in town this week, and fans of Rossini’s comic operas will want to be on hand to hear her, when Vivica Genaux takes the role of Angelina, aka Cinderella, in the Italian master’s 1817 opera La Cenerentola. Genaux, who won early recognition in Palm Beach Opera’s vocal competitions nearly 20 years ago, has become one of the most important … [Read more...]
Fine Brahms ends chamber festival in affirmative fashion
One of the joys of the annual Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival is its array of fresh programming, bringing little-known music out of the libraries and into the harsh light of the stage, there to make its way or not, as the case may be. And this 21st season of the festival has been no exception, with rarely heard works dominant, and the familiar making itself known only very … [Read more...]
Chamber concert offers fine 20th-century discoveries
Over the years, some of the better Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival concerts have presented a good blend of discovery and tradition. And so it was with the second concert in the festival’s 21st season this past weekend. The festival musicians sounded well-rehearsed and crisply confident at the Crest Theatre on Sunday, and delivered a fine afternoon of masterworks and obscure … [Read more...]
Chamber fest opens first week of 21st season in high spirits
The Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival entered its third decade Friday night in West Palm Beach in the arms of a warm, supportive audience that gave all of its work lengthy applause, and laughed forcefully at the jokes its performers offered in oral program notes before each piece. A good time at Palm Beach Atlantic University’s Persson Hall was certainly had by all, but … [Read more...]
Chamber festival opens 21st year: A look at the recorded legacy
The 21st edition of the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival opens Friday night at the Persson Recital Hall on the campus of Palm Beach Atlantic University, and with its arrival we can say that the summer season in South Florida is truly in full swing. This year’s four programs feature some discoveries, including rare works by Alexandre Tansman (Septet for trumpet, viola and … [Read more...]
Stravinsky, Schumann end chamber fest’s 20th summer in excellent style
Of the last concert in the 20th season of the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival it need only be said that as the Crest Theatre audience sat there Sunday afternoon listening to L’Histoire du Soldat, the brilliance of Stravinsky’s conception became clear. Which is only a fancy way of saying that the musicians and actors of the festival did this little masterwork proud, ending … [Read more...]