The South Florida classical music scene was rather different 15 years ago than it is today, and while in some aspects of those pre-recession days it was more robust, in one thing in particular there is no comparison. Today, there has been substantial growth in the appearance of smaller arts organizations, with chamber orchestras, chamber music series and even opera companies … [Read more...]
French requiems get deep Seraphic Fire treatment
The idea of putting two requiems back to back on one program might seem to promise an overdose of despair, but when the two funeral pieces in question are among the two best-known such works by French composers, it’s a notion that makes more sense. For the second concert of its season, the Miami chamber choir Seraphic Fire offered the requiems of Gabriel Fauré and Maurice … [Read more...]
Seraphic Fire opens 15th season with impressive premieres
For this, its 15th season, Seraphic Fire is going all-in with contemporary music and at the same time returning to some of the monuments of its past. The first concert in its series, as presented Oct. 22 at All Saints Episcopal Church in Fort Lauderdale, offered two world premieres, one by the choir’s founder, Patrick Dupré Quigley, and the other by one of the country’s … [Read more...]
Seraphic Fire closes season with radiant Byrd
By Robert Croan At the start of Seraphic Fire’s concert of English cathedral music Saturday night at Fort Lauderdale’s All Saints Episcopal Church, director Patrick Dupré Quigley spoke to the audience, explaining that there would be 75 minutes of uninterrupted music, and asking that the listeners not look at the printed program during that time. “Just let the music wash … [Read more...]
Tableau Baroque elegantly demonstrates roots of Handel’s art
A young four-man Baroque ensemble that was formed on the sidelines of a Seraphic Fire concert showed Saturday night that it approaches this music with the same sort of demystified engagement and crisply achieved performance of the choir that godfathered it. Tableau Baroque, formed when longtime Seraphic Fire continuo man Henry Lebedinsky met countertenor Ian Howell … [Read more...]