South Florida Classical Review

The Kaiser of Atlantis and The Seven Deadly Sins, Stéphane Denève/New World Symphony. October 19-20

Stéphane Denève, the New World Symphony’s artistic director, charts a new path with an operatic double bill that promises to be the music theater event of the season. Viktor Ullmann’s The Kaiser of Atlantis, written at the Theresienstadt concentration camp, is a parable with a score that owes much to the cabaret infused works of Kurt Weill and Berthold Brecht. It is coupled with authentic Weill-Brecht—the 1933 music drama The Seven Deadly Sins. Soprano Danielle de Niese stars in the Weill work and the esteemed Israeli director Yuval Sharon helms the Ullmann production. nws.edu (LB)

Music by David Diamond, Copland and Dvořák. Gerard Schwarz/Frost Symphony Orchestra. November 16

David Diamond was one of America’s finest symphonic composers. Gerard Schwarz has long championed his works. In an American-[themed program, Schwarz leads the UM Frost Symphony in Diamond’s Symphony No. 4. Copland’s classic ballet score Appalachian Spring and Dvořák’s postcard from America, the Symphony No. 9 (“From the New World”). music.miami.edu (LB)

Music of Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff. Klaus Mäkela/Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra with Lisa Batiashvili. November 19

The Kravis Center in West Palm Beach has lined up an outstanding season of visiting orchestras, with three visiting ensembles routinely listed among the Top Ten in the world. The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, often called the world’s greatest orchestra, will be conducted by chief conductor designate Klaus Mäkelä in performances of Glinka’s Overture from Ruslan and Ludmilla, Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 and Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with soloist Lisa Batiashvili. At the age of 28, the Finnish-born Mäkelä is a rising star, having been named music director designate of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (in 2027) in addition to his Concertgebouw position. kravis.org (DF)

Music of Schubert and Tchaikovsky. Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Riccardo Muti. January 17, 2025

Another of the world’s great orchestras will perform this season at the Kravis Center, when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra takes the stage. The program couldn’t be more traditional: Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 (the “Unfinished”) and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, with Bellini’s Overture to Norma to start things off. But as the orchestra showed in its magnificent all-Beethoven concert at Kravis a few seasons ago, there’s nothing like a performance by a truly great orchestra to bring the classics to life. Leading the orchestra will be former music director Riccardo Muti, honored by the orchestra last year with the title music director emeritus for life. kravis.org (DF)

Dove: Flight. Frost Opera Theater. February 27-March 1.

The University of Miami’s Frost Opera Theater (under artistic director Alan Johnson and production director Jeffrey Marc Buchman) can be counted on to present interesting repertoire that has little chance of being heard in South Florida. This season’s offering is no exception. British composer Jonathan Dove’s 1998 opera Flight is a tale of an undocumented refugee caught in a chaotic scene at an airport in which all flights have been cancelled due to an electrical storm. Dove’s opus is a unique creation cast in in music that is modernist yet accessible.  (LB)

Music by George Walker, Bernstein Elgar and Mahler.  Sir Antonio Pappano/London Symphony Orchestra with Janine Jansen. March 1 (Kravis Center) March 2 (Arsht Center).

The London Symphony Orchestra makes a belated and welcome return to South Florida under its new principal conductor Sir Antonio Pappano. The excellent Dutch violinist Janine Jansen assays Leonard Bernstein’s difficult and ambitious Serenade. American music is also represented by the Sinfonia No. 5 of George Walker. In Miami, Elgar’s Enigma Variations completes the program on a British note. The ensemble will play the 1^st Symphony of Mahler in West Palm Beach. arshtcenter.org (LB)

Music by Marianna Martines, Haydn and Mozart. Patrick Quigley/ Seraphic Fire. March 7-9.

Seraphic Fire’s annual Enlightenment Festival always brings enterprising programming, often focused on lesser known works and composers. This year’s edition presents rarities from the Classical era. Patrick Quigley conducts two works by Marianna Martines (a student of Haydn and duo piano partner of Mozart) which share space with Haydn’s infrequently played Symphony No. 63 and Mozart’s Mass in F Major and Laudate Dominum. seraphicfire.org (LB)

Britten’s War Requiem. Stéphane Denève/New World Symphony. March 15.

Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem is a massive and powerful threnody on the death and devastation of war. Britten set poems of Wilfred Owen (who was killed in World War I at age 25 one week before the Armistice) as a contrast to the movements of the traditional mass for the dead. Stéphane Denève directs the New World fellows, Master Chorale of South Florida and assorted youth choirs in a performance of this landmark score. An all star trio of soprano Christine Goerke, tenor Ian Bostridge and baritone Roderick Williams comprise the solo contingent. nws.edu (LB)

Music by Carlos Simon, Korngold and Beethoven. Gianandrea Noseda/National Symphony Orchestra with Hilary Hahn. March 22 (Arsht Center) March 23 (Kravis Center)

Hilary Hahn is a great violin virtuoso but her performances are always distinguished by artistic insight, bringing new depth to even the most familiar repertoire. Hahn joins Washington’s National Symphony Orchestra for Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s romantic Violin Concerto. Gianandrea Noseda, the orchestra’s highly lauded music director, conducts Carlos Simon’s Four Black Dances and the most famous symphony in orchestral literature, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. arshtcenter.org;kravis.org (LB)

Music by Thea Musgrave, Dvořák and Bartók. Edward Garner/ New World Symphony with Gil Shaham. May 3-4 

Principal conductor of the London and Bergen Philharmonic orchestras Edward Garner closes out the New World Symphony’s season. The tone poem Song of the Enchanter by Scottish born Thea Musgrave and the Bartók’s classic Concerto for Orchestra require orchestral color and virtuosity. Bravura of the solo variety will showcase Gil Shaham in Dvořák’s folk-infused Violin Concerto. nws.edu (LB)

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