By Dennis D. Rooney The procession of string quartets to South County concert venues continued last Tuesday with a concert by the Tesla String Quartet. They chose a classic program: Bartók’s Third Quartet of 1927 was flanked by early and middle period quartets of Beethoven. Founded at New York’s Juilliard School in 2008, the Teslas quickly began to attract awards, … [Read more...]
Gaugengigl: Flager exhibit revives interest in forgotten Boston painter
The winter exhibition coming to the Flagler Museum this January is a rescue mission of an obscure classically trained artist with no direct ties to Henry Flagler – although he would have loved the works. Masterfully Human: The Art of Gaugengigl examines the highly evocative body of work of Boston painter and etcher Ignaz Marcel Gaugengigl through 75 pieces that include … [Read more...]
Flagler exhibit shows romance, peril of World War I combat in the air
Before it became a battle skill, flying was first a question and a plane was a toy piloted by an eccentric character with lots of free time. World War I changed all of that. When it came knocking and looking for heroes, aviation had to hurry up and grow real fast. The subjects of Flagler Museum’s fall exhibition are no stranger to the spotlight and under no pressure to … [Read more...]
Arts Preview 2017-18: The season in Palm Beach County art
Art selfies have arrived! And they are welcome to stay, so long as we are mindful of the artworks nearby. Just because cultural institutions are thinking outside-the-box, embracing new technologies and millennial-inspired ideas doesn’t mean the golden rule stopped applying: Look, don’t touch. This is not photography’s year. Then again, Earth Works: Mapping the Anthropocene, … [Read more...]
St. Petersburg Piano Quartet ends Flagler season with assured Mozart, Brahms
By Dennis D. Rooney Mozart may not have written the very first piano quartet, being preceded in a way by J. C. Bach, Schobert and others, but he definitely was the first to write piano quartets in which all the voices are equal, and the indicated keyboard instrument is a pianoforte in the modern sense. In 1785, Mozart received a commission from the Viennese publisher … [Read more...]
PB Symphony percussion concert challenging, innovative
Only six players constituted the Palm Beach Symphony on Feb. 8, in a case of staffing to suit the venue: the concert was in the acoustically ripe room housing Henry Flagler’s personal railway carriage. About 500 people attended. Moving from the rear of the orchestra where they always play, the daunting six percussionists were front and center and made up in volume what they … [Read more...]
Lyricism, energy distinguish Belgian violin-piano duo at Flagler
By Dennis D. Rooney Sitting in the Music Room of Whitehall, the 1902 stately home of Henry M. Flagler at Cocoanut Row and Whitehall Way in Palm Beach, and now the museum that bears his name, reminds me a little of hearing a concert at the Frick Collection in New York. Henry Clay Frick and Flagler, were both tycoons (steel and oil, respectively) whose residences became … [Read more...]
At Flagler, ‘Harem’ shows us the alluring side of ignorance
Paintings of lustful Muslim women bathing and dancing, exposed ankles and flirtatious silky skirts, might have done wonders for the Western male of the 19th century, but as the subject of an art exhibit today, they expose his fears. Don’t let truth ruin a perfectly beautiful picture. Do let high demand and market taste drive your creative voice. This seems to be the … [Read more...]
Telegraph Quartet makes superb music at Flagler
Named for Telegraph Hill, an artsy neighborhood of San Francisco, Calif., the four young players of the Telegraph Quartet came to the Flagler Museum on Jan. 24 to demonstrate their winning ways. Founded in 2013, after barely a year together they won the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. In 2016 they carried off the Naumburg Chamber Music Competition, a prize that helped … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Jan. 28-29
Film: Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey has come a long way from his lightweight romantic comedy days, taking on increasingly challenging roles and no longer concerned about how handsome he looks on screen. Take his performance in Gold as contemporary prospector Kenny Wells, a pot-bellied, balding, snaggle-toothed schemer who bets everything he has — and everything he can steal … [Read more...]