South Florida Classical Review

Conductor Peter Oundjian and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra will open the Arsht Center’s 2015-16 classical series January 7. Photo: Sian Edwards

Both the Arsht Center in Miami and the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale will reduce the offerings in their classical series for the 2015-16 season.

The Arsht Center will present four events, down from five in the current season, though they are also offering two crossover “special events” with high-profile classical artists, in addition to the venue’s Cleveland Orchestra residency.

The Arsht’s Knight Masterworks Season will open January 7, 2016 with a visit from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Music director Peter Oundjian will conduct a program including John Estacio’s Wondrous Light, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto, No. 4 with soloist Jan Lisecki.

After a long absence, the Philadelphia Orchestra returns to Miami February 26 led by principal guest conductor, Stephane Deneve. The populist program offers Berlioz’s Overture to Beatrice and Benedict, and excerpts from Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet.

The Cleveland Orchestra will once again make an Arsht appearance in addition to its own series at the venue, with Giancarlo Guerrero on the podium. The March 17 program offers Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and a world premiere by Avner Dorman to mark the tenth anniversary of the Arsht Center. The single recital event will feature pianist Jeremy Denk March 31 with a program TBA.

There will also be two special events not on the series. Yo-Yo Ma and colleagues will take part in what appears to be another world music spinoff similar to his Silk Road Project. The tortuously titled “Musical Perspectives on the Cultures of BRIC” will present music of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) November 15. Also on March 9, perennial South Florida visitor Itzhak Perlman will perform Jewish and klezmer music marking the 20th anniversary of his “In the Fiddler’s House” recording.

Subscriptions are now on sale. arshtcenter.org; 305-949-6722.

__________

Meanwhile the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale will cut its serious classical offerings down to just three events next season. The Fort Lauderdale venue has had trouble attracting audiences to its classical series and has scaled back each year. Based on next season the intent seems to be that sticking to fewer events with familiar names and standard repertory will improve the series’ fortunes.

The Zukerman Trio will open the series February 1 with two chamber chestnuts, Beethoven’s”Archduke “Trio and Dvořák’s “Dumky” Trio. The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra follows February 26. Led by Dmitry Yablonsky, the program is an all-Russian lineup with Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Overture, Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 and Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with soloist Farhad Badalbeyli. The series will conclude with pianist Emanuel Ax performing popular Beethoven sonatas on March 22.

The Broward Center will also present the “classical fusion group” Black Violin on February 5 and the all-male comic Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo at the Parker Playhouse.

Ticket sales for the Broward Center’s classical series go on sale May 15. browardcenter.org; 954-462-0222

Posted in News

One Response to “Arsht and Broward Centers scale back classical series for 2015-16
”

1. Posted Apr 27, 2015 at 1:32 pm by David Pharris

   Why does the Broward Center even bother with classical music anymore? That lineup is pathetic!

Leave a Comment