South Florida Classical Review

Peter Maxwell Davies

Fifty years ago British composer Peter Maxwell Davies shocked the concert world with his Eight Songs for a Mad King. A portrait of King George III in his mentally deranged final years, the monodrama requires the baritone soloist to utilize extended vocal techniques. The ensemble of six players is arranged on stage in cages as the king’s birds. The New World Symphony revives this avant garde music theater score at Sunday afternoon’s chamber music program at the New World Center in Miami Beach with Welsh baritone Kelvin Thomas as the monarch. Two works by Henry Purcell (Chacony in G minor and Fantasia Upon One Note) and Beethoven’s “Archduke” Trio comprise the program’s first half.

The New World Symphony presents “Royal Portraits” 2 p.m. Sunday at the New World Center in Miami Beach. nws.edu; 305-673-3331.

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The Russian National Orchestra, Russia’s finest symphonic ensemble, returns to the Kravis Center on Sunday afternoon with an all Rachmaninoff program. Ukrainian conductor Kirill Karabits, who led the orchestra’s outstanding West Palm Beach performance in 2016, will once again be on the podium. The orchestra plays the Vocalise and Symphonic Dances, Rachmaninoff’s final score. George Li, Silver Medal winner of the 2015 Tchaikovsky Competition, solos in the Piano Concerto No. 2.

The Russian National Orchestra performs 2 p.m. Sunday at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach. kravis.org; 561-832-7469.

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