By Myles Ludwig When the ancient gods descended from Mt. Olympus, it’s not likely they figured their progeny would be luging down the slick course of Sanki Sliding Center at 85-plus mph. Not likely Homer could evoke the heroism of snowboarders Sage Kotsenburg and Jamie Anderson, skater dudes on snow, leaping and twirling off the rails of Rosa Khutor, though there’s a bit of … [Read more...]
Conductor Falletta always searching for fresh challenges
Although it has had eminent leaders in the past, these days the name of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra is indelibly associated with that of its current director, JoAnn Falletta. It’s not just that, along with Marin Alsop, she is one of the top two female conductors in the country. It’s also that she’s a tireless seeker-out of new repertoire, and has the discography to … [Read more...]
FGO’s ‘Nabucco’ an old-fashioned pleasure
There is something about Florida Grand Opera’s current production of Nabucco that brings out what I imagine to be the atmosphere of its first groundbreaking performances in 1842. It may have to do with the way the set and the costumes combine with the conviction of the performers, the prominence with which the chorus is used, or the ferocity of fresh discovery that its … [Read more...]
The View From Home 57: Films by Ray, Tarkovsky and Godard, plus a tribute to VHS
Late Ray: Satyajit Ray, India’s greatest world-cinema export, is most known for the flurry of raw but beautiful films he made in the ’50s and ’60s, such documentary-like rebukes to glossy Bollywood formula as Pather Panchali, The Music Room and Charulata. But he continued to direct films well up to his death in 1992, contributing new pieces to his humanist puzzle of Indian life … [Read more...]
Sundays: Loving the machines
By Myles Ludwig This is a query, not a criticism. I’m wondering why we find ourselves living in the Republic of Technology, as Daniel Boorstin called it, a sovereign state with its own rules, a state in which privacy has become a philosophical issue, rather than practical one, a privilege to opt out of rather than a right to opt in. A state in which my U-verse is my … [Read more...]
Community theater: “Ain’t Misbehavin’” does right by Waller at LW Playhouse
By Dale King Thomas “Fats” Waller lived a short but notable 39-year life. A master of stride piano and a sparkling entertainer, he was a fine songwriter whose best work occupies an honorable place in the Great American Songbook. He deserved wider recognition, but it took 35 years from his 1943 death before the high-energy compilation of his tunes, Ain’t Misbehavin’, hit the … [Read more...]
Sundays: The end of advertising
By Myles Ludwig I like to stay just ahead of the knuckleball. So before the minions of Hypostan begin their campaign to whisk up a kind of consumerist Cool Whippy enthusiasm for the TV commercials interrupting the Super Bowl game — and overshadowing the game itself — I’d like to throw a pitch against American advertising in general, and broadcasting ads in particular. … [Read more...]
Troupe shows the lasting influence of Martha Graham
By Tara Mitton Catao It is a tall order for a dance company to perform, side by side on a single program, the works of an iconic artist such as Martha Graham (who is responsible for shaping and redirecting a whole art form) together with new works by contemporary choreographers who may or may not have been influenced by Martha Graham’s genius. But that is exactly what the … [Read more...]
Seamless Beethoven, Elgar from the Brentano SQ
In Yaron Zilberman’s film A Late Quartet, which came out in 2012, the soundtrack recording of the Beethoven Op. 131 quartet was played by the Brentano String Quartet, and there were appearances in the film by the actual Brentano cellist, Nina Lee. Newly named the quartet in residence at the Yale School of Music, the Brentanos — violinists Mark Steinberg and Serena Canin, … [Read more...]
Brief reviews: A taste of the Jewish Film Festival
The Donald M. Ephraim Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival, now in its 24th year, unspools between tomorrow and Sunday, Jan. 26, at the Frank Theaters at Delray Marketplace (FT) and Cobb Theaters (CT) at Downtown in Palm Beach Gardens, featuring an eclectic array of feature films, documentaries and shorts on various aspects of Jewish culture. Below are brief critical views on a … [Read more...]