`Opera: The Palm Beach Opera opens its second mainstage production tonight with Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, one of the bel canto’s most charming and radiant scores. Janai Brugger is Norina, David Portillo is Ernesto, Lucas Meachem is Dr. Malatesta, and Carlo Lepore sings Pasquale in a production directed by Fenlon Lamb and conducted by Antonino Fogliani. The plot of this 1843 … [Read more...]
Humor, showmanship make for delight with Manasse, Nakamatsu
When two brilliant first-prize winners get together to form a duo, what you get is brilliant music making. Jon Manasse, principal clarinet of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, won top prize in Munich’s International competition for clarinet, and pianist Jon Nakamatsu won the coveted gold medal in the 1997 Van Cliburn International … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Jan. 13-15
Theater: Since the vacuum created by the demise of Florida Stage, the Caldwell Theatre has become the place to go for cutting edge theater in Palm Beach County. Artistic director Clive Cholerton has shaken the cobwebs off this Boca Raton playhouse while still bringing its audience locally produced versions of plays acclaimed in New York. But who else would bring area … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Feb. 25-27
Music: Lorenzo Da Ponte wrote three operas with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Palm Beach Opera has presented the first two – Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni – over the past two seasons. Tonight, the company presents the last of the Mozart/Da Ponte operas, Cosi fan Tutte. In some ways the most important and radical of the three, it’s written to an original libretto and deals … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Feb. 5-7
Art: Just installed at the Florida Atlantic University Galleries is the third iteration of SouthXeast: Contemporary Southeastern Art, a triennial show of works by artists from Southeastern states. This year’s exhibit, chosen from among more than 200 artists by curators and gallery owners from throughout the Southeast, features the work of more than 13 artists from seven states. … [Read more...]
Exhibit shows Rockwell’s art a gift in difficult times
By Gretel Sarmiento Little girls with ribbons. Smiles hidden behind melting ice cream. Summer trips. Family quality time. Nobody remembers an America like this, devoid of sadness, depression and poverty. Whose America is this? Without hesitation, some would say Norman Rockwell's. They wouldn't have been wrong, but they would have missed a large part of what this singular … [Read more...]