There has been nothing quite like it in Miami classical circles, to say nothing of South Florida as a whole, but it is a very good thing that it has now arrived. The Nu Deco Ensemble, a chamber group that bills itself as a “21st-century orchestra,” presented the first concert in its inaugural season Friday and Saturday night at the Light Box at Goldman Warehouse in Wynwood. … [Read more...]
The remarkable journey of Ellar Coltrane
Boyhood, perhaps the most acclaimed film of 2014, was a risk on many levels. Foremost among them was the pressure put on a 6-year-old kid named Ellar Coltrane to carry a movie that revolved around him, that he would grow before the viewers’ eyes into an accomplished actor as he grew — literally — from 6 to 18 years old. But the risk by writer-director Richard Linklater paid … [Read more...]
At Boca Museum, a rich retrospective of an overlooked American master
Aside from the surprising change in her painting style and her death at age 111, the most shocking aspect of Theresa Bernstein is that she painted from a hidden place. The fact that the artist was born in Poland, but insisted on being solely American, comes to light more than once throughout an exhibition at the Boca Raton Museum of Art that celebrates her long artistic … [Read more...]
‘Stars of David’ revue celebrates Jewish celebrities
If you had a new musical revue about the lives of celebrated Jewish figures, wouldn’t you bring it to Florida? That is what New York-based producer Daryl Roth decided, after developing Stars of David, Story to Song, beginning a three-month tour now at the Broward Center through Jan. 4 and playing West Palm Beach’s Kravis Center from Feb. 17 to March 15. The Sunshine State … [Read more...]
The View From Home 58: Feminist defiance, a cult horror puzzler, and an Apatow wannabe
Tess: One of the most sumptuously photographed films of Roman Polanski’s career, 1979’s Tess (Criterion, $34.99 Blu-ray + DVD) opens its Victorian-era narrative by conjuring none other than John Ford, as soaring music colors a majestic CinemaScope landscape. This is a film whose images burst at its own golden seams, and its use of wide-open spaces remains arguably unparalleled … [Read more...]
Violinist Lee gives Rinker audience Szymanowski, Ives to remember
The classical music world these days is replete with fine young female violinists, and one of the most promising ones I’ve heard visited the Rinker Playhouse on Feb. 17. Kristin Lee, a South Korea-born American of just 27 years who is a protégé of Itzhak Perlman, appeared in the Kravis Center’s Young Artists series, accompanied by the splendid pianist Kwan Yi. She chose a … [Read more...]
Conductor Falletta always searching for fresh challenges
Although it has had eminent leaders in the past, these days the name of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra is indelibly associated with that of its current director, JoAnn Falletta. It’s not just that, along with Marin Alsop, she is one of the top two female conductors in the country. It’s also that she’s a tireless seeker-out of new repertoire, and has the discography to … [Read more...]
The View From Home 44: New releases on DVD and Blu-ray
Criterion has waited until December to release what should go down as one of the most monumental home video releases of the year: Godfrey Reggio’s Qatsi Trilogy, packaged together in glorious Blu-ray for the first time ($53.99, same price for DVD). Three earth-shattering experimental features set to the music of Philip Glass, the Qatsi films are wordless symphonies of cities, … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: June 1-3
Film: Before Harvey Weinstein cheapens it with his announced English-language remake, take a look at Untouchables (Intouchables in French), a rich-poor, black-white odd couple tale about a wealthy widower (Francois Cluzot), who becomes a quadriplegic from a hang-gliding accident. Improbably, he selects a black ex-con (Omar Sy) to be his caregiver-aide and, yeah, you guessed it, … [Read more...]
The View From Home 21: New releases on DVD
Sweet Smell of Success (Criterion) Release date: Feb. 22 Standard list price: $21.99 Ahead of its time in 1957, Sweet Smell of Success is, like Billy Wilder’s Ace in the Hole, one of Hollywood’s most sordid exposes of the entertainment/media complex. It dismantles the promotion industry as an intractably corrupt system, while tapping into deeper, more sinister subtext in … [Read more...]