During the next two days, young people from 39 states will wrap up their week of activities in YoungArts Week, sponsored by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. Founded 31 years ago by Ted Arison, founder of the Carnival Cruise Lines empire, and his wife, Lin, the foundation finds talented young artists ages [...]
One of the more exciting musicological discoveries of 2010 comes to life this weekend when a Miami-based Baroque flutist performs a long-lost concerto by Antonio Vivaldi. The concerto, called “Il Gran Mogol,” apparently was written in the late 1720s as part of a collection of four flute concerti honoring various potentates; this one would have [...]
Contemporary classical composers have a higher profile these days than they did not long ago, which marks something of a return to an older time when the names of living composers were as well-known as performers. One musician who’s helped raise public awareness about contemporary classical composition is John Corigliano, whose score for “The Red [...]
Once again, Seraphic Fire has set the world of iTunes on its ear, climbing up into the top 10 on the Apple music service’s classical charts earlier this month with its newest disc, just as it did last year with its record of the Monteverdi “Vespers of 1610.” This year, it’s the Hausmusik version of [...]
It’s hard to imagine today’s opera companies without the music of Giacomo Puccini, and indeed it’s likely that many an opera company might not be here today were it not for the box-office reliability of the Italian composer’s work. Puccini’s life was relatively long if tragically abbreviated — he died in 1924 at age 65 [...]
Last September, the New World Symphony presented the world premiere of “Dancers, Dreamers and Presidents,” a symphonic work by Daniel Bernard Roumain inspired by the rise of Barack Obama. The work was commissioned by Detroit’s Sphinx Organization, a Knight Arts grantee which works to increase the involvement of African-Americans and Latinos in classical music. This [...]
This week, the University of Miami released the program information for the upcoming 28th iteration of Festival Miami, beginning Sept. 30. I’ll focus on the classical front, though there’s major news on the jazz side of things in an appearance by the legendary saxman Benny Golson (perhaps I’ll address this in a different post). One [...]
Although the guitar is now indelibly associated with popular music, it has a large and beautiful repertory as an acoustic instrument that stretches back centuries before Les Paul. Starting tomorrow night, the 2011 Miami International Guitar Festival comes to Clarke Recital Hall at the University of Miami for three concerts of music featuring current masters [...]
This past Sunday, I headed out to a local movie theater to catch a live broadcast of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, in an all-Brahms afternoon under conductor Gustavo Dudamel. There was a sizable crowd in the theater (in southern Palm Beach County), and they seemed to really enjoy the concert, which was well presented by [...]
Starting today, a new group of specially trained choral singers will join with Seraphic Fire to record the so-called London version of the “German Requiem” of Johannes Brahms. This version, arranged by Brahms in 1869 for one piano, four hands, as the accompaniment, will also be heard in concert on Saturday evening in Tampa and [...]
