By Robert Croan An overture representing Chaos, as dissonant and murky as anything written by the 20th-century’s 12-tone composers, settling quietly into three C minor triads. Then, after a few words from a bass soloist representing the archangel Raphael, “there was light,” and the orchestra bursts into a magnificent C major fortissimo statement. And The Creation is on … [Read more...]
Three B’s concert with triple twist engagingly delivered by Frazier, SOTA
By Robert Croan For his second concert as artistic and music director of the Symphony of the Americas (seen Nov. 10 in Broward Center’s Amaturo Theater) Luke Frazier offered a program of the Three B's of classical music: Bach, Beethoven and Brahms at the Keyboard. That sounded trite at first, and the epithet may have been intended to attract a wider audience, but the … [Read more...]
Broadway leading men come off well in SOTA’s season-ender
By Robert Croan The Symphony of the Americas’ final subscription concert of the 2024-25 season was a program called “Broadway Showstoppers: The Leading Men,” [seen May 11 at Broward Center’s Amaturo Theater] featuring four male singers who have performed leading or supporting roles on Broadway and elsewhere. It was the end of Luke Frazier’s tenure as the orchestra’s … [Read more...]
SOTA’s evening of zarzuela a delightful, fitting sendoff for conductor Mielgo
By Robert Croan For the final concerts of his five-year tenure as Symphony of the Americas’ artistic and music director, Pablo Mielgo conducted the music of his native Spain: more specifically, extracts from zarzuelas — that country’s counterpart to the Viennese operetta and the Broadway musical. The concerts in Broward Center’s Amaturo Theater [seen April 20] offered a rare … [Read more...]
SOTA opens its season with impressive tour of ‘The Planets’
By Robert Croan Gustav Holst’s The Planets is one of the great orchestral showcases, and one of the most difficult for any orchestra to carry off. It’s a mammoth hourlong work for large orchestra, usually of close to 100 players, so it was remarkable to see it on the docket for the opening concert of Fort Lauderdale’s Symphony of the Americas on Oct. 6 in Broward … [Read more...]
Zukerman-Forsyth duo bring stellar Brahms Double to SOTA finale
By Robert Croan Johannes Brahms’s “Double” Concerto for Violin and Cello (in A minor, Op. 102), is a gnarly, dense work, not at all an easy romp for performers or listeners. Under the deft fingers of violinist Pinchas Zukerman and his cellist wife, Amanda Forsyth, however — as it was in the season’s final concert by Symphony of the Americas (heard May 5 in Broward … [Read more...]
Arts Preview 2017-18: The season in classical music
It’s always a source of wonder to look over the classical season each year. Few other parts of the country have such an abundant menu of stellar performers, risk-taking groups and leading international orchestras, all of them stuffed into a relatively short season. And if you don’t have three or four options you’re trying to choose from every weekend in January, February and … [Read more...]
Guitarist stands out at SOTA’s Summerfest concert at FAU
For 26 seasons now, James Brooks-Bruzzese has led members of his Symphony of the Americas and guest musicians from around the globe in a musical Summerfest that always includes performances in his native Panama. On Aug. 5 at the University Theatre on the campus of Florida Atlantic University, he and the group were back for another summer appearance, accompanied as they have … [Read more...]
An agreeable Sunday with the Symphony of the Americas
For nearly 30 years, James Brooks-Bruzzese’s Symphony of the Americas has presented regular concert programs in South Florida, and for almost as long, he’s provided music during the offseason with his Summerfest events. This year’s Summerfest, the 25th edition thereof, wrapped up this week in Broward County after a July of concerts here and in Panama, and this past Sunday … [Read more...]