Unlike most previous years, the expected familiar faces aren’t dotting the 2019-2020 South Florida pop concert season landscape. One’s impressions of the results depend on whether they see that situation as glass half-full or half-empty. Elvis Costello and Sting make rare appearances only days apart; soul icons the Isley Brothers stop in 65 years after the group’s formation, … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2019-20: Birthday boy Beethoven will be a big presence in 2019-20 season
The shade of Ludwig van Beethoven looms large over this season, as he will the next, because the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth falls in 2020. No fewer than five performances of the Ninth Symphony are coming our way this season, but there’s also plenty of the master’s chamber music to be had this time around, too (including several readings of his late string … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2019-20: Jazz scene feeling the influence of youth
Jazz may be at a generational crossroads within the 2019-2020 season in South Florida. More and more presentations are becoming tributes to icons, echoing centuries of classical music and, more recently, pop and classic rock. A couple such nods to deceased legends are included here. Yet original jazz material is increasingly requiring deeper research. Shows that could at … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2019-20: Literary events show South Florida’s culture isn’t written just in the sand
By Christina Wood The annual Ernest Hemingway look-alike contest held in Key West isn’t exactly what you could call a literary event. (But, if you’re interested, Sloppy Joe’s Bar will host the 40th annual contest July 23-26, 2020.) It is, however, a reminder of South Florida’s long literary legacy. First came intrepid individuals like Hemingway (A Farewell to Arms, in … [Read more...]