This Sunday, Lake Worth singer-songwriter Talina Adamo adds “filmmaker” to her career hyphens. A recent graduate of the Palm Beach Film School, she unveils her first movie, a 47-minute documentary called The Love of Music, at a red-carpet premiere screening, live concert and reception at Fort Lauderdale’s Cinema Paradiso. The film turns the spotlight on a dozen … [Read more...]
Casella work stands out on chamber fest’s challenging final concert
The Italian composer Alfredo Casella was a major figure in European music right up until his death in 1947, but his work rarely if ever gets a hearing today, at least on these shores. All the more reason for a tip of the hat to the organizers of the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival, who programmed Casella's Serenata (Op. 46), written in 1927 for a quintet of … [Read more...]
Jazz DJ keeps the flame alive in WXEL show
For someone who isn't a professional musician, jazz deejay Stu Grant sure sounds like he's crafting a restaurant gig set list -- rather than a radio playlist -- for his Jazz Impressions show on WXEL 90.7 FM. "I look at the first hour of the show as the dinner hour, and keep it lighter," he says of the weekly Saturday evening broadcast. "As the evening goes along, we get … [Read more...]
Cellist Jaffe elegant, polished in Boca recital
Hearing a good chamber music recital in a small room out of season is comforting: While our local world is focusing on other things than the classical realm, it's heartening to know that fine musicians are still at it, working away and making admirable art. This past Sunday at the Steinway Piano Gallery in Boca Raton, the Brazilian-born cellist Claudio Jaffe offered his … [Read more...]
Schmitt suite, Septet violinist stand out at chamber fest
Florent Schmitt (1870-1958). A standout instrumental performance and two intriguing rediscoveries took pride of place Friday night as the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival opened its second series of concerts. The finest of the two rediscoveries, the Suite en Rocaille, Op. 84, of French composer Florent Schmitt, reanimated a beautiful and unjustly forgotten work for an … [Read more...]
Chamber fest opens with engaging voyage of discovery
WEST PALM BEACH -- The Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival, which has been sweetening the sweltering summers hereabouts with music since 1992, is notable above all for two things: Its showcasing of the individual instrumentalists whom local audiences normally hear only as part of the area's various symphonic and operatic ensembles, and second, its attitude of discovery. Year … [Read more...]
Skynyrd, Kid Rock show energizes the faithful
Limos and pickup trucks. Harleys and Hondas. High heels and flip-flops. Halter tops and tattoos. Beer and booze. City and country. Yessir, a little bit of everything could be found among the more than 18,000 fans who converged on Cruzan Amphitheatre on a muggy Friday night to worship at the musical altars of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Kid Rock. “Let's turn it into a … [Read more...]
Delray trio Viva le Vox wants to be voice — and guitar, bass and drums — of the people
Musical voodoo from the urban swamp that is South Florida, Viva Le Vox is a full-body, religious experience. The band moves its congregants to the sort of ecstasy you’d find if you crossed a charismatic church with a smoky blues club. At Vox shows, everyone is visibly possessed by the spirit, and it manifests with a healthy dose of debauch. That’s because Vox … [Read more...]