Archive for February, 2009
Mozart’s “Figaro” proves mostly heavenly in Palm Beach
In the film The Shawshank Redemption, a beautiful soprano duet rings across a grim prison yard—a surreal moment. Friday night, the same duet, ensconced in its original context, created an…
Sat Feb 28, 2009
at 1:43 pm
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Checkmate swapping
Mozart’s operas can handle a variety of approaches, and the Frost Opera Theater’s current chessboard production of Cosi fan tutte is as clever and eye-catching…
Sat Feb 28, 2009
at 1:15 pm
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As economy dives, Florida Grand Opera plays it even safer in 2009-2010
Florida Grand Opera’s 69th season is not exactly one to strike a blow for adventurous programming. The company has already announced it is going from five productions to four, as…
Sat Feb 28, 2009
at 12:50 am
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New York state of mind
The New York Philharmonic’s final tour with music director Lorin Maazel would normally provide plenty of significance by itself. But the ensemble’s appearance at the Adrienne…
Fri Feb 27, 2009
at 2:05 pm
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New song cycle highlights Curtis on Tour program
It may have been serendipitous that Friends of Chamber Music of Miami was forced to move across Dixie Highway to Temple Judea on Tuesday night rather than holding the…
Wed Feb 25, 2009
at 1:07 pm
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St. Lawrence Quartet at its height in Mozart and Mendelssohn
To see the St. Lawrence String Quartet these days is to see a seasoned ensemble at the height of its powers, performing beautifully, taking interpretive risks and communicating with…
Tue Feb 24, 2009
at 12:16 am
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Denk’s blazing artistry makes the case for Ives’ “Concord” sonata
The New World Symphony’s intensive Ives weekend concluded Sunday night with a program that showcased the pioneering American composer in all his anarchic, icon-smashing glory—the epic Piano Sonata No. 2,…
Mon Feb 23, 2009
at 1:15 pm
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Leah Partridge provides fleeting sparks in lackluster “Lakme”
Leo Delibes’ Lakme deserves a better fate than it has received. Granted, the 1883 opera comique is dramatically slender, with its formulaic scenario of the ill-fated love…
Sun Feb 22, 2009
at 4:08 pm
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New World offers rarity with Ives’ “Holidays Symphony”
Although trained at Yale in the “proper” way to do things musically, Charles Ives quickly veered from the correct path and became an iconoclast, determined to set fire to tradition.…
Sun Feb 22, 2009
at 12:49 pm
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Ives Festival opener provides array of works, mixed rewards
One hundred and thirty-five years after his birth and more than a half-century after his death, Charles Ives remains a tough sell—even to New World Symphony audiences who are…
Sat Feb 21, 2009
at 3:32 pm
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Robertson to depart Florida Grand Opera at the end of this season
Florida Grand Opera announced Thursday that Stewart Robertson will depart the company in May, a year earlier than his contract was to expire. Two weeks ago the…
Thu Feb 19, 2009
at 11:21 am
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American Iconoclast
For most of his lifetime, Charles Ives was regarded as something of a benighted crank. The Danbury, Connecticut, native was successful in the insurance business, but little…
Tue Feb 17, 2009
at 11:48 am
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Lakme rises again to sing like a bell and die by a flower
“Lakme, a neglected nosegay of 1883, is hardly a neglected masterpiece by modern standards,” sniffs the Metropolitan Opera Guide to Recorded Opera, which goes on to state that Leo…
Sat Feb 14, 2009
at 7:27 pm
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Unorthodox Seraphic Fire soars in Orthodox music
As enjoyable as Seraphic Fire’s crossover ventures into gospel and American folk have been, Patrick Dupre Quigley and his singers are most impressive in European sacred music, where the choir’s blend…
Sat Feb 14, 2009
at 2:11 pm
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Concert Association makes it official
The Concert Association of Florida filed for bankruptcy on Friday, making the death of the storied presenting organization founded by Judy Drucker a reality.
The good news, if there is any, is…
Sat Feb 14, 2009
at 10:06 am
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Talich Quartet brings Czech postcards from the edge
The program served up by the Talich Quartet Wednesday night at Gusman Concert Hall was an object lesson in everything chamber music should be: civilized, intelligent, challenging and performed on…
Thu Feb 12, 2009
at 12:57 pm
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Concert Association’s demise appears imminent with the rest of the season an open question
The cash-strapped Concert Association of Florida, leading presenter of classical music and dance for more than four decades in South Florida, is poised to file for bankruptcy as early as…
Wed Feb 11, 2009
at 4:23 pm
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Miami Symphony brassy and boisterous in amply American program
The Miami Symphony’s three-hour marathon, titled “Made in America,” was, in its way, a microcosm of the nation: sprawling, ambitious and wildly diverse, with elements that failed to cohere amid…
Mon Feb 09, 2009
at 2:45 pm
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Platt, Boca Symphonia serve up rarities with charm and style
The Boca Raton Symphonia has made yet another leap forward in presenting a program of mostly rare treats. Given the fine acoustics of the Roberts Theater at Saint Andrew’s School…
Mon Feb 09, 2009
at 1:07 pm
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Fiery performances close concerto weekend in style
The hegemony of 19th-century violin Romanticism at this year’s New World Symphony Concerto Showcase weekend was decisively broken up by the crashing modernism of Witold Lutoslawski Saturday night at the Lincoln…
Sun Feb 08, 2009
at 2:28 pm
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