By Dale King On the playbill, Joe DiPietro’s The Last Romance is described as a “comedy.” But the show, now being staged at the Delray Beach Playhouse, is not simply ha-ha funny. It is a deft combination of lamentations and laugher, a tribute to love in the golden years that’s neither a caricature nor an understatement. Three talented theater veterans, a young man back from … [Read more...]
Delray postpones decision on Arts Garage space until April
Delray Beach will take a couple more months to decide how to satisfy the needs of the Arts Garage and that of a personal-injury law firm that wants to expand. The City Commission voted Tuesday night to table discussion about what will happen to the building now occupied by the Arts Garage until April 16. In Solomon-like fashion, Mayor Tom Carney suggested dividing the … [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...]
In short time, Arts Garage makes itself vital part of cultural scene
On a recent Saturday evening, crowds at the Delray Beach parking structure that doubles as the Arts Garage were jumping and jiving to the New Age/neoclassical piano sounds of composer and artist Jace Vek. Vek, a two-time Emmy award winner and Pittsburgh native, was accompanied by soprano Kat Yarbrough and tenor Matthew Farmer, who does double duty himself as the programming … [Read more...]
Photo artist Moore takes her cues from nature
Melinda Moore arrived at a monthly roundtable of photo artists in West Palm Beach and pulled from a shoulder bag four or five new travel-photo scenic prints she had quickly matted that afternoon. They were rich, gallery-quality black-and-whites of London street life, but no biggie: Moore — who comes across as everyone’s favorite aunt who has been around the world more times … [Read more...]
Delray’s new Arts Garage a regular home for jazz
If you've parked your car in the Old School Square parking garage recently to go to one of Delray Beach's multiple clubs, theaters, galleries or restaurants, you were in close proximity of a major new downtown arts venue whether you knew it or not. The Arts Garage (www.delraybeacharts.org) was opened in the spring by the Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency and the … [Read more...]
Tchaikovsky quartet ends Delray SQ season in winning style
On the verge of an eighth season that will include a new recording and a world premiere, the Delray String Quartet sounded confident, polished and vibrant as it finished up its seventh season Sunday afternoon in Miami. Closing its fifth and final series of programs at St. Stephen’s Espicopal Church in Coconut Grove, where the competition from the Taste of the Grove festival … [Read more...]
Delray Quartet closes 6th season in exemplary style
The Delray String Quartet that finished its sixth season this past weekend at the Colony Hotel in its namesake’s historic downtown is a foursome that has been playing together more frequently than its earlier iterations, thanks to its expanded three-county performance schedule. And the extra time together showed Sunday, with excellent performances of quartets by Arriaga and … [Read more...]
Delray Quartet makes another advance with fine Ravel
In presenting a fine performance of one of the supreme masterworks of the 20th-century literature, the Delray String Quartet on Saturday night showed that it is an ensemble continues to grow and deepen, and that its current multi-venue concert series has been more than beneficial for it. The quartet's second program of the season, which opened at All Saints Episcopal Church … [Read more...]
Delray Quartet brings power, passion to Beethoven, Franck
There were two moments Sunday afternoon in a concert by the Delray String Quartet that gave encouraging hints about the kind of ensemble this foursome is becoming. The first moment came in the first movement of the Beethoven Fourth Quartet (in C minor, Op. 18, No. 4), around about the recapitulation, when it suddenly became clear that the musicians were working at a unified … [Read more...]