Cameron Carpenter launched the new Kravis Center organ Wednesday night with American-style pomp and circumstance. The pomp was in the program he chose and the circumstance was the gala atmosphere surrounding what went on with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra playing alongside this lovable master of the new Opus 11 digital console organ, donated by generous philanthropist … [Read more...]
Kravis to welcome its newest resident: A digital organ
The George W. Mergens Memorial Organ. If you happened to be driving by the Kravis Center early Saturday morning, you might have felt something unfamiliar: A tremor, a rumbling, a distant shaking. That was no earthquake you heard — at least not in the terrestrial sense. What you heard was a sonic quake, an electron-wave tsunami, the shuddering of a subwoofer temblor. It was … [Read more...]
Sinatra, Lennon remembered in upcoming Kravis shows
By Steven J. Smith Frank Sinatra and John Lennon, two iconic 20th-century figures in popular music, will be celebrated this month at the Kravis Center. Multi-platinum selling, five-time Grammy-nominated entertainer Michael Feinstein will bring his talents to the Dreyfoos Jr. Concert Hall at 8 p.m. Monday, Feb. 22, for his second of a three-concert series at the Kravis Center … [Read more...]
Lang Lang’s pianism, showmanship astound at Kravis recital
Lang Lang came to town last Sunday, and weren’t we the lucky ones. The Chinese pianist played a Steinway — a 10-foot concert grand, the biggest they make — to a packed house Feb. 22 at the Kravis Center. His strolling, casual entrance of nonchalance and self-assurance contrasted mightily with his playing speed, which belonged at the Daytona Speedway. From Artur Schnabel to … [Read more...]
Palm Beach Pops readies return to local concert life
When Palm Beach Pops founder Bob Lappin died suddenly at age 78 in August 2013, the orchestra he had founded 22 years earlier went silent. There were those who argued that the last thing in the world Lappin would have wanted for his orchestra was for it to go out of existence, but the orchestra’s new executive director, Charlotte Laurent-Ottomane, said the organization was in … [Read more...]
PBO’s ‘Traviata’ has impressive Violetta, Germont
Today’s opera singers are expected to be persuasive actors, and that can be a challenge given the very short dramatic trajectories their characters must ride in the pages of most libretti. In the case of Violetta Valéry, the doomed heroine of Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata, sopranos have enough splendid music that if their acting is less than persuasive, they can still make a … [Read more...]
PB Opera opens 50th season with beautiful ‘Butterfly’
In the world of Madama Butterfly, it’s all about her, with the occasional supporting character coming in now and again to move the plot along. But Palm Beach Opera’s current presentation of Giacomo Puccini’s Japanese opera is noteworthy for the strength of its supporting cast overall, and with a fine performance at its center plus a tasteful, intelligent staging, this … [Read more...]
Kravis’ 2011-12 season features fare for low, high brows
You’ve heard of the three Bs -- Bach, Brahms and Beethoven? Well, the Kravis Center has announced that next season it will present the three Ls -- Larry the Cable Guy, Larry King and a tribute show called Elvis Lives. Uh, didn’t the Kravis used to be a center for the performing arts? The West Palm Beach complex will be celebrating its 20th anniversary season beginning this … [Read more...]
MCB makes splendid showing in Kravis program
Twenty-five years can be like a lifetime for a ballet company. First there were the early struggles with fundraising, performing without an orchestra, then finding the corps de ballet, the soloists, the prima ballerinas and the male danseurs. Plus administrators, ballet teachers, accountants and yes, even doctors specializing in bone injuries. It’s exhausting, but the Miami … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: March 12-16
Art: From capturing firework-like sprays of red lava in Hawaii to the cool icebergs of Iceland, Lewis Kemper’s masterful photographs are some of the best that can be captured of the natural world. An exhibit of his dramatic landscape photographs, Capturing the Light, opens Saturday night (5:30-7 p.m.) at the Palm Beach Photographic Centre and runs through June 5. The show’s … [Read more...]