Encrusted as it is with myth and the very real act of a tragically early death for its remarkable composer, the Requiem of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is sometimes hard to see clear, even with its continued popularity. But what it represents along with the meditation on last things that its text embodies is a splendid piece of sacred composition, at least for its first half — it … [Read more...]
Master Chorale ends season with engaging concert of Bach, colleagues
Choosing unusual repertoire is something that many listeners and critics desperately want the performing organizations they follow to try now and again, but it sometimes comes with a price. Often, things seem to be chosen because they are particular favorites of a conductor or soloist, or perhaps something less well-known than a composer’s other, really famous work. But … [Read more...]
Master of the bass in spotlight at upcoming Pompano jazz fest
Bassist and New York City resident Tom Kennedy may not be one of the headliners at the upcoming star-studded Sea of JazzFest, but the 54-year-old will be one of the most versatile musicians in a sea of them at Pompano Beach Ampitheatre. The event includes saxophonist Phil Woods, trumpeters Randy Brecker and Terell Stafford, vocalist Tierney Sutton, flutist Hubert Laws, … [Read more...]
A modern jazz piano master thrills at Arts Garage
Jazz improvisation, Cyrus Chestnut said last Saturday night, is “the art of composition at a very rapid pace, without the benefit of editing.” That’s the kind of useful working definition a good teacher would provide, and perhaps it’s no coincidence that Chestnut recently was appointed a distinguished professor of jazz studies at Howard University. But the audience that … [Read more...]
Hiromi: Master of the mashup, jazz piano-style
If you’re already a fan of Japanese jazz pianist Hiromi Uehara, then you'd probably be on a first-name basis with her even if she didn’t go by just Hiromi for recordings and touring. And if you’ve been a fan throughout her 10-year recording career, the association likely started with XYZ, the opening song from her 2003 Telarc debut CD, Another Mind. Talk about a first … [Read more...]
The View From Home 40: New DVD releases and notable screenings, July 10-31
Everything old is new again. In 2005, The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society commissioned a film adaptation of the sci-fi’s master’s classic The Call of Cthulu. Since the book was written in 1927, the filmmakers shot their picture contemporaneously as a silent film. Outside of the eccentric canon of Guy Maddin, this idea was almost unheard-of then, and even post-Artist, silent … [Read more...]
Molineaux, master of jazz steel drums, set for Arts Garage
Steel drummer Othello Molineaux has helped his instrument go global since the Trinidad native moved to Miami in 1971. The 72-year-old introduced the tuned drums -- often referred to as "steel pans," and played with mallets that strike different areas to produce specific musical notes -- to much of the world through international touring with the late jazz bass giant Jaco … [Read more...]
Master Chorale chief sees growth as group embarks on ‘Creation’
When Joshua Habermann looks into the upturned 100 or so faces of the Master Chorale of South Florida, he sees a neighborhood. “Choirs are the ultimate community. There’s no question that singing brings people together,” Habermann said. “I look out at that choir on Monday nights and I see lawyers and nurses, and professional musicians, people who are unemployed, retired people, … [Read more...]
Master novelist looks at Caribbean society from below
Most of us have faded photos of grandparents or great-grandparents who seem as alien as creatures from another planet or denizens of a sunken civilization. “Fools in old-style hats and coats,” as Philip Larkin terms them in his famous poem This Be the Verse. In her latest novel, Guadeloupean writer Maryse Condé sets out to unearth, by dint of research, family legend and … [Read more...]
ArtsPaper Interview: Alexander Platt, conductor
The Boca Raton Symphonia is, along with the Master Chorale of South Florida and the Delray String Quartet, one of the few area cultural institutions to have emerged and thrived from the demise of the Florida Philharmonic in May 2003. Since October 2007, the Boca Symphonia has been led by Alexander Platt, 43, a New York-born musician now resident in Chicago who, in the … [Read more...]