The soprano who created the role of Magda in Giacomo Puccini’s La Rondine said late in life that the composer died “with the wound of ‘Rondine’ in his heart,” having never gotten over the opera’s mixed record of success and failure. In its first-ever mounting of the bittersweet opera Puccini wrote for a Viennese commission, Florida Grand Opera has taken an important step … [Read more...]
Miami City Ballet bringing varied dance quartet to Kravis
For three weeks about three months ago, the Miami City Ballet played Paris to loud, raucous standing ovations. One lasted a full 10 minutes, according to founding artistic director Edward Villella. To Villella, and many of his dancers, this was a defining point in his career. One of the programs that brought down the house at the Paris Opera will be performed Friday at the … [Read more...]
Norton unveils a congenial set of changes
“Visitor experience” is a phrase one hears a lot these days when museums are the topic of discussion. Now, more than ever before, many, as a direct result of cuts in government funding for the arts, are focusing on how to make changes that keep people coming back to the museum because it is an enjoyable place to be. This can also mean that museums must now find ways to … [Read more...]
Morikami’s Kyoto show impresses through its quietness
With its simple harmony and elegant lines, much classic Asian art has been easy to digest but not to remember. This is its -- or rather, our -- struggle. And so it is with the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens’ current exhibit, Kyoto: A Place in Art. As soon as we leave the exhibit, we’re in fear of forgetting what we’ve seen. It doesn’t help that Kyoto: A Place in Art is … [Read more...]
PB Opera cast, conductor see continued vitality in ‘Carmen’
The young Frenchman Jean-Luc Tingaud is the associate conductor at the venerable Opéra-Comique in Paris, the same theater (though not the same building) where the opera Carmen premiered in March of 1875. Three months later, Carmen’s composer, Georges Bizet, died of runaway strep throat at the tragically young age of 36. Tingaud says the theater still has the original … [Read more...]
Norton’s contemporary art deserves its own space
The Norton Museum has an expanding collection of contemporary art, and, like many museums that evolve and grow from their initial purpose, it does not have a permanent exhibit space for it. Although significant, it would be difficult to justify replacing any of Ralph and Elizabeth Norton’s original collection, or changing the focus of current gallery space, and the museum … [Read more...]
Flagler Museum’s tropics show intimate, inviting
A "Wow!" is heard in the first room of the Flagler Museum's second-floor gallery. It's uttered in response to Martin Johnson Heade's massive The Great Florida Sunset, one of the highlights of the Flagler's winter show, New World Eden: Artist-Explorers in the American Tropics, running now through April 18. It won't be the last. In the mid-19th century, the German explorer … [Read more...]
FGO’s ‘Lucia’ has good lead, iffy concept
Florida Grand Opera’s current production of Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor has reimagined this opera in a way that falls short of success, but fortunately it does have a soprano in the lead role whose singing is strong enough to carry the heavy lifting of the Mad Scene and much else besides. Eglise Gutiérrez, a Cuban-born soprano now resident in Philadelphia, has … [Read more...]
Flagler show a deep look at American Arts and Crafts style
In what better venue to showcase an exhibit of American Arts and Crafts creations, known for its simple lines, minimalist approach, no-frills, no-excess, back-to-nature aesthetic, than in Whitehall, a remnant from the Gilded Age and the Beaux-Arts style former home of Henry Flagler, the railroad magnate. They are polar opposites and the contrast is striking. Whatever your … [Read more...]
Shakespeare fest finds itself living a ‘Dream’
Eighteen years ago, the fledgling Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival first performed A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the crowd-pleasing comedy that the company returns to this year to inaugurate the new Seabreeze Amphitheatre in Jupiter’s Carlin Park. “It’s unheard of for a Shakespeare company to go that long without reviving this play,” says Kevin Crawford, a founding troupe member … [Read more...]