If there was a persuasive argument to be made ― and there is – for the excellence of Walter Piston, the Boca Raton Symphonia made it Sunday afternoon. And they did so in a highly enjoyable, expertly played overall concert that featured not only a welcome programming of a fine work by that estimable American composer, but a standout young violinist making his way through one of … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2012-13: Palm Beach County visual art
Each year in Palm Beach County, after a summer lull that seems endless, art starts happening again like Snow White gently waking from her sleep, bright-eyed, bushy tailed and — thanks to some local wizards — with remarkably plumper lips and a less-furrowed brow. After all, we do live in a veritable fantasyland of opulence and wealth and the “season” motivates us all to break … [Read more...]
Out of Lake Worth, an authentic African groove
The gods must be crazy, indeed. When the husband-and-wife founders of Lake Worth-based band Positively Africa (www.positivelyafrica.com), Julius and Julia Sanna, formed their group in 2007, it was to promote their native continent's rich culture and music. In their minds, the band’s name countered the cliched images of war and famine they’d seen on evening news broadcasts since … [Read more...]
Personable ‘Contrasts’ stands out in festival’s 3rd week
When Béla Bartók went into the Austro-Hungarian countryside starting in 1906, the folksongs he brought back underlay his compositions in different ways: Some were harmonizations, tart and otherwise, of Christmas carols and the like, while in other works he drew stronger stuff from the melodies he distilled. In a work such as Contrasts, written in 1938 for Benny Goodman, Joszef … [Read more...]
Excellent cast ably fills out ‘Proof’ family drama
As virtually everyone who has ever produced the play has taken pains to point out, David Auburn’s Pulitzer Prize winner Proof is about mathematics, but it takes no particular understanding of that subject to enjoy this family drama. It does help if you appreciate good writing and performances, which the Palm Beach Dramaworks production has in abundance. Like Arthur Miller’s … [Read more...]
Lisitsa, Lynn Philharmonia stand out at Boca fest
Last week, the Boca Raton Symphonia gave a respectable performance at the Festival of the Arts Boca 2012 of the soundtrack for Casablanca as it accompanied a well-attended screening of the movie. But the Lynn Philharmonia, which appeared Wednesday with the Ukrainian-born pianist Valentina Lisitsa, is a much larger orchestra, and has this year performed the First Symphony of … [Read more...]
Inner child fills two exhibits at Boca Museum
Long yellow shoelaces make for a wonderful sun, there is a vice versa to shoes are made from animals and while I don’t know about the white elephant, the black bear in the room is not always ignored. I learned all of the above during a recent trip to the Boca Raton Museum of Art to check out two ongoing exhibits that are proving to be very popular. More than 90 highly … [Read more...]
Allen’s ‘Midnight in Paris’ hints at return to mastery
Neil Simon, in his heyday, used to churn out a Broadway play every season, whether he really had a worthy idea for a play or not. The same could be said of Woody Allen over the past decade -- from 2000’s Small Time Crooks to last year’s You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger -- he has written and directed a film each year, but they have largely been inconsequential trifles that … [Read more...]
Caldwell makes a virtue out of musical by bringing back ‘Vices’
Belying the proverb about opportunity only knocking once, here comes another chance to see the steamy, quirky, Carbonell-award-winning dance musical Vices: A Love Story, back at the Caldwell Theatre in Boca Raton, where it had its world premiere in the summer of 2009. Vices is a series of eclectic songs about obsessions and addictions, tied together by a pair of lithe, … [Read more...]
Beethoven’s ‘Harp’ stands out in second chamber fest concert
The 10th string quartet of Beethoven, depending on which scholarly camp you favor, is either a genial mid-career throwback to the peak of the Haydn classical style or the earliest example of the innovatory, astonishing manner of the late-period quartets. Either way, it’s a remarkable piece of music from a remarkable year (1809), and it was the high point Friday night of the … [Read more...]