When she got the word, Bridgette Gan was ready to go. As a member of the Palm Beach Opera’s Young Artists Program, Gan was preparing to cover the central role of Marie in the company’s production of Gaetano Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment, which opens Friday. But Erin Morley, the soprano scheduled to sing the role in two of its performances, had come down with a cold, and it … [Read more...]
Seraphic Fire provides excellent view of young Mozart in context
Composers are not like Athena, who burst fully formed and armed for battle from the head of Zeus. Forging an individual style is in part a reflection of who the composer is, but also who that composer has studied and listened to. Even someone as miraculous as Mozart had plenty of models for his work, and the Miami concert choir Seraphic Fire goes in search of those musical … [Read more...]
Kristalova at the Norton: A dark, necessary Wonderland
Better than looking at art is to be part of its history and development or, better yet, to have a personal association with it. Since we cannot all be muses, we take the next best thing: being the first to see it. An ongoing exhibition at the Norton Museum of Art offers that opportunity through March 29. A strong personal voice fills the galleries housing porcelain and glazed … [Read more...]
FGO’s Così: Strong singing, smart direction sell tricky story
For as many problems of interpretation that Mozart’s Così fan Tutte presents to its observers, there are at least as many options that this singular opera gives to its presenters. Given that its specific locale of Naples isn’t underlined in Lorenzo Da Ponte’s libretto, directors have felt free to reorient it everywhere else and every other time, and it rarely detracts from the … [Read more...]
Seraphic Fire and chant: The music of faith, hypnotically sung
In its concert Saturday night of Gregorian chant and music associated with it, Seraphic Fire decked out Fort Lauderdale’s All Saints Episcopal Church with all the candlepower typical of a Catholic high Mass. That was entirely appropriate, because if you’re going to sing the music of Ritual, you might as well include the scenic ambience. And in this beautifully sung concert, it … [Read more...]
PB Jewish Film Festival screens at multiple venues in 25th year
For its 25th anniversary, The Donald M. Ephraim Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival is hitting the road. Don’t worry; it remains within Palm Beach County, but each week it will move to a different location, giving local residents the opportunity to see nearly every one of the 31 major Jewish-themed films in their own neighborhood. Following the opening night film, Above and … [Read more...]
A splendid afternoon of PB Opera on the waterfront
Saturday saw huge crowds braving the “cold” 70-degree weather and troublesome winds that blew sheet music everywhere at the outdoor Meyer Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach for Palm Beach Opera’s second winter concert on the waterfront. On the stroke of 2 p.m., conductor Greg Ritchey brought down his baton for a rousing National Anthem, like you’ve never heard before, from … [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...]
Norton’s 500 years of prints a true master’s course
To the large crowd that attended his recent talk while still holding their magnifying glasses, Norton Museum curator Jerry Dobrick said the museum was incredibly lucky. And he was not talking about a large monetary donation. Dobrick, the museum’s curatorial associate for European art, was referring to the 43 works by old and modern masters that make up Master Prints: Dürer to … [Read more...]
Late review: Seraphic Fire, Sebastians glory in early Handel
Some of the most satisfying concerts of Seraphic Fire’s now-substantial history have included the music of George Frideric Handel. In addition to its regular holiday run-throughs of the Christmas portion of the Baroque composer’s Messiah, there have been revelatory readings of his oratorio Israel in Egypt, and five years ago, a lovely reading by a chamber spinoff of some of … [Read more...]