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...]
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...]
Seraphic Fire presents fine feast of contemporary American music
It’s heartening to hear the evidence of the continued good work being done in new American art music composition, much of it by composers just barely out of their studies, presented on Reincarnations, a recording released earlier this month by Seraphic Fire. The Miami-based concert choir opened its 13th season of concerts with selections from that disc, plus two other works, … [Read more...]
Seraphic Fire ends 11th season in standout style
Seraphic Fire wrapped its 11th season this past week with a new record release, a $12,500 NEA grant in hand to record the next one, and a concert of widely varied works that illustrated the range of its interests as well as the flexibility of its singers. Dubbed Cathedral Classics, the potpourri concert featured 18 short works, many of them suggested by an email campaign in … [Read more...]
Seraphic Fire, Renaissance jam band bring Ponce de Leon’s era alive
It takes a leap of empathy and a sizable amount of scholarship to take an audience back five centuries to a time too remote from our own to be entirely understandable, yet recognizably humanist in a way that we still emulate. That Seraphic Fire was able to do this with its program of late medieval and early Renaissance music from Spain – in honor of Juan Ponce de León’s … [Read more...]
Weekend picks: Dec. 22-24
Theater: Finally, some good news. The Kravis Center and the stagehands’ union have come to an agreement which will allow the remainder of the three-week run of Jersey Boys to proceed, after four performances had been canceled. The long-running Tony-winning musical biography tells the surprisingly involving story of the rise to fame of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and … [Read more...]
Seraphic Fire concert shows greatness of American choral foundation
There’s something profoundly satisfying about hearing early American choral music, even if the listener doesn’t identify with the white Protestant tradition that informs it. Drawing on the modes of the British Isles and harmonized in a plain-lumber, honest-nails fashion, it speaks to our national history in a way that calls up images of hardworking, straightforward people in … [Read more...]
Seraphic Fire’s astonishing Bach not to be missed
Even if Seraphic Fire does not win either of the Grammy Awards it is being considered for Sunday, the performances the concert choir is giving this week of J.S. Bach’s Mass in B minor are nothing less than a milestone in South Florida culture. Not everything was perfect Friday night at All Saints Episcopal in Fort Lauderdale for the first of the three performances of the Mass, … [Read more...]
Seraphic Fire opens Boca series with heartfelt Victoria, Monteverdi
A vivid reading of a madrigal sequence by Monteverdi and a heartfelt performance of a Victoria hymn stood out Thursday night as the Seraphic Fire chamber choir opened its new series of regular performances in Palm Beach County. In its 10th season, Patrick Dupré Quigley’s professional chorus has arrived at an enviable place in South Florida musical life, having grown steadily … [Read more...]
Seraphic Fire’s wonderful ‘St. John Passion’ sets landmark
It’s true that the Miami-based concert choir Seraphic Fire is a national organization that draws many of its singing members, as well as the personnel for its Firebird Chamber Orchestra, from across the country. But it is also nevertheless true that on Saturday night in a church in Fort Lauderdale, a large audience saw a South Florida musical organization that was able to … [Read more...]