Georges Bizet’s Carmen is a box-office lock, as Sunday afternoon’s performance at the jam-packed Kravis Center amply demonstrated. But because of that, opera companies have been known to take it easy production-wise and let the music do most of the communicating. Thankfully, Palm Beach Opera’s presentation of this tremendously popular work (it last presented the piece in 2010) … [Read more...]
Delray SQ, soprano Aleida revive Danielpour quartet in fine fashion
By Robert Croan The Delray String Quartet featured three works, each containing some sort of spiritual connection, in its Jan. 15 concert at Fort Lauderdale’s All Saints Episcopal Church. The sacred elements, however — variously Catholic, Jewish and Russian Orthodox — were secondary to the music itself, window dressing perhaps, to conform to the evening’s venue. Central to … [Read more...]
Soprano adds extra luster to fine Master Chorale outing
The progress that the Master Chorale of South Florida made in its first concert of the current season was gratifyingly on display again Saturday night for its second and last concert of the season, this one devoted to music by child prodigies. New artistic director Brett Karlin chose three very eminent prodigies (rather than say, William Crotch or Camille Saint-Saëns) for the … [Read more...]
Second cast: Cavernous set too much for PBO’s ‘Romeo et Juliette’
Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette, which I heard Saturday at Palm Beach Opera, had a last-minute replacement tenor, Richard Troxell, filling in for the indisposed Bruno Ribeiro. The high tessitura of Romeo’s part proved difficult for Troxell on occasion, especially in the first two acts. However, he rallied and won the hearts and minds of the audience with a courageous second-half … [Read more...]
Angela Meade: A rising soprano looks ahead
Soprano Angela Meade is the winner of the 2011 Richard Tucker Award and the 2012 Beverly Sills Artist Award from the Metropolitan Opera. Less than four years after her professional debut, she has quickly become recognized as one of the outstanding vocalists of her generation. Meade is from Washington State where she was a pre-med major before discovering her love of singing. … [Read more...]
Soprano Taigi shines in PB Opera’s ‘Tosca’
Good singing can get an opera audience past uninspired acting, but when it comes to the heroine of Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca, it’s best to have someone who can do both well. And on Friday night, Palm Beach Opera did. In the Italian soprano Chiara Taigi, who opened its current run of Puccini’s “shabby little shocker” from 1900, Palm Beach Opera had an actress whose Floria Tosca … [Read more...]
Master Chorale chief sees growth as group embarks on ‘Creation’
When Joshua Habermann looks into the upturned 100 or so faces of the Master Chorale of South Florida, he sees a neighborhood. “Choirs are the ultimate community. There’s no question that singing brings people together,” Habermann said. “I look out at that choir on Monday nights and I see lawyers and nurses, and professional musicians, people who are unemployed, retired people, … [Read more...]