By Robert Croan Cellist Iris van Eck is one of South Florida’s busiest and most productive classical musicians. Her activities include running the splendid Chameleon chamber music series, which she founded in 2003; playing in Symphony of the Americas, where she is principal cellist; teaching and much more. On Chameleon’s Jan. 24 concert, the Dutch-born artist had her own … [Read more...]
Godden, Fredmann works to be featured on Harid spring show
In a room on the Harid Conservatory campus off Potomac Road in western Boca Raton, aspirant young professional dancers were working late last week to bring a contemporary ballet to life. As faculty members Victoria Schneider and Meelis Pakri, music coordinator Michael Lazzaro and the dance school’s director, Gordon Wright, watched intently, the Harid students ran though the … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: April 10-12
Books: For some reason, Palm Beach County has never had a books festival all its own, despite examples to the south in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Key West, but that changes Saturday. At the Norton Museum in West Palm Beach, the one-day festival will include talks from a number of prominent writers and a little bit of celebrity juice. Actor Alan Cumming, whose searing … [Read more...]
New music, Baroque concerto best fits for Milanese ensemble
A small string orchestra is well-suited for music of the Baroque, and indeed, there have been a number of such groups, full of young, eager players, founded in the past decade or so. Such a one is I Musici Estensi, established in Milan in 2004, and it’s known not just for its Baroque performances, but music of many other eras. Saturday night, the group was joined at the Crest … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: May 5-6
Theater: Actress-writer-former bartender Terri Girvin uses all those skills in her one-woman show, Last Call, a funny and touching world premiere at Empire Stage in Fort Lauderdale -- the cozy former Sol Theatre space -- where the play is in its final weekend. As she did each night when she tended bar, served drinks and put up with the tipsy regulars, Girvin gets quite a … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: April 1-3
Theater: Thanks to the business savvy of the Gershwin Estate, George and Ira Gershwin have written a few musicals after their deaths. Or rather, their vast song trunk has been made available to those who would reuse their familiar and obscure compositions in new settings, such as Crazy for You, a “new” show from 1992 that harkens back in style and score to the 1930s. The story … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Nov. 27-29
Art: Sculptor Bethany Krull's technical expertise is matched by the strength of her intellectual concepts, which focus on the relationship of humans to the natural world. This Saturday evening, Mulry Fine Art in Palm Beach hosts the opening of a solo show by Krull called Dominance and Affection. "It seems that the most intimate connection we have with nature is with those … [Read more...]
Tower, Vine works enliven Atzinger recital
For an instrument that has been such a central part of music-making for the past 200 years, it’s interesting to hear that there are new compositional things that can still be done with the piano. In his Piano Lovers recital Sunday afternoon at the Steinway Gallery in Boca Raton, the pianist Christopher Atzinger, a St. Olaf College professor currently preparing for the San … [Read more...]