The finale of Don Pasquale, at Florida Grand Opera. (Photo by Lorne Grandison) Two of this area’s opera companies bookended the season with Gaetano Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, with the Palm Beach Opera doing a 17th-century take on the early 19th-century setting in which this 1842 opera was initially set. The production of Don Pasquale now showing at Florida Grand Opera in … [Read more...]
Boca Ballet Theatre to mark 25th with stars they fostered
By Dale King Boca Ballet’s executive director, Dan Guin, feverishly pulled together copies of Dance Magazine covers from the past several years that were strewn across his desk. “He performed here,” he said, poking his finger at the photo of a familiar dance artist. “She did, too,” he said, pointing at another. Guin repeated this action again and again until he singled 27 … [Read more...]
The war that never ends: Historian Winter to discuss WWI at Festival of the Arts Boca
French soldiers in the trenches during World War I. Imagine a world in which Great Britain and Germany are the major powers, and the United States and Russia are only minor players on the global scene. It’s a world of relatively conservative politics, where there was no World War II, no Holocaust, and no one but their families had ever heard of Adolf Hitler or Vladimir … [Read more...]
Kravis to welcome its newest resident: A digital organ
The George W. Mergens Memorial Organ. If you happened to be driving by the Kravis Center early Saturday morning, you might have felt something unfamiliar: A tremor, a rumbling, a distant shaking. That was no earthquake you heard — at least not in the terrestrial sense. What you heard was a sonic quake, an electron-wave tsunami, the shuddering of a subwoofer temblor. It was … [Read more...]
FAU students bring the bawdy to ‘Country Wife’
By Dale King Oh, you rascally Restorationists. You aristocratic, anti-Puritan tricksters of late 17th-century England. You sure know how to show a lady a good time — sexually, that is — even if it’s at the expense of their unsuspecting, seemingly dimwitted husbands. That’s essentially the plot of William Wycherley’s 1675 play, The Country Wife, now being presented by … [Read more...]
PB Opera’s ‘Carmen,’ second cast: A subdued heroine, brilliant Young Artists
Nora Sourouzian. Bizet’s collection of melodies in his opera Carmen continue to buzz around in the recesses of the brain long after the performance has ended. His music is immortal. The production I saw at Palm Beach Opera on Jan. 23 had all the elements of a successful evening with some minor flaws. But it’s the music that lives on. Also, on this occasion, is the memory of … [Read more...]
Norton’s ‘This Place’ explores ‘otherness’ of Israel
By Sandra Schulman The Norton Museum of Art is the first U.S. venue to host This Place, an international photo exhibition that explores Israel and the West Bank. “I wanted to do a broad-ranging exhibition that looks beyond the headlines,” said photographer/curator Frederic Brenner. “It was not done to connect the dots.” Brenner started the project in 2008 to “try and … [Read more...]
Seraphic Fire, Sebastians team for splendid Charpentier, Handel
This week, Seraphic Fire heads to the Northeast for concerts in Washington, New York and Philadelphia, joined by the period orchestra The Sebastians, and the choir no doubt wants to give the best impression it can. If Saturday night’s concert at Miami Shores Presbyterian Church represents the quality of its calling card, audiences there will be delighted. For sheer technical … [Read more...]
Delray String Quartet, with new member, starts 12th season engagingly
The Delray String Quartet opened its 12th season this past weekend with a new member in the second violinist seat and a season of concerts full of unusual repertoire. The Uzbek violinist Valentin Mansurov, a familiar face to concertgoers in the area for several years now, has taken the chair occupied for years by Tomás Cotik, who in turn has joined Miami’s Amernet String … [Read more...]
Lynn Philharmonia reaches new level in opening concerts
Every season, South Florida gets visited by touring big-name orchestras from northern climes worldwide that for some reason find this part of the country particularly urgent to see in February. One of the benefits of our gentle weather is that we can see these major orchestras up close, but another less appreciated benefit for us local concertgoers is that these visits provide … [Read more...]