By Robert Croan In brief but informative prefatory remarks about Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Brett Karlin — conductor and artistic director of the Master Chorale of South Florida — described this grand oratorio as a 19th-century equivalent of a modern Broadway spectacular. It is certainly a major undertaking for a community-based choral organization, and the Chorale’s … [Read more...]
Master Chorale’s Verdi Requiem deeply satisfying
By Robert Croan You don’t have to be Christian, or even religious, to appreciate Giuseppe Verdi’s magnificent Requiem. The composer himself was essentially agnostic – something more significant when the work was composed in 1874, than it would be today. The effect of this great masterpiece for double choirs, four soloists and large orchestra, commemorating the death of … [Read more...]
Master Chorale gives glorious account of Brahms’s ‘German Requiem’
By Clare Shore At the end of a grueling week, on an absolutely gorgeous spring Friday evening in South Florida, one is not always keen on driving 40 minutes to sit inside for an hour and a quarter listening to a large-scale piece of music. But that’s what I did, and I left Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale on May 4 renewed and refreshed by Master Chorale … [Read more...]