Danielle Buonaiuto as Dr. Helium White in “Intelligent Systems.” Photo by AR McFarlane. Richard Wagner never quite got the theatrical effects he was looking for in his gigantic operas, mostly because he died in 1883, before the advent of cinema. But Carson Kievman is a little luckier than that: the founder and director of the […]
Article · June 11, 2015 by Gregory Stepanich
Kara Shay Thomson in rehearsal for “The Consul” at Florida Grand Opera. Photo by Brittany Mazzurco. By most reckonings, the season has already ended, but for a few Miami organizations, this time of year is when things turn somewhat edgier. Two multiple-event programs begin this week, one of them tonight, and the other on Saturday. […]
Article · May 6, 2015 by Gregory Stepanich
Nadine Sierra. Photo by Dario Acosta The Cleveland Orchestra brings its Miami residency to a close beginning tonight and ending Saturday night with three performances of a 1937 blockbuster, German composer Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. In its own proto-minimalist way, this setting of medieval Goliard lyrics drawn from a collection in a monastery has been […]
Article · March 26, 2015 by Gregory Stepanich
From left: Andres Lasaga, Kristianna Jones, and Erika Vasallo in “Lo Speziale.” Also featured in the show are Herman Diaz, Jessica Woodard and Juan Quintero. Franz Joseph Haydn spent a lot of time on opera, not just writing it for his royal employers at Esterhaza, but also arranging and conducting the works of other composers […]
Article · March 5, 2015 by Gregory Stepanich
A photo from the Chopin Foundation. Every five years, the Chopin Foundation of the United States hosts its national piano competition, and this year marks the 9th annual mounting of that event, which is set for February 21 through March 1 at the Miami-Dade County Auditorium. Over those eight days, 24 young pianists – all […]
Article · February 19, 2015 by Gregory Stepanich
Palm Beach Opera’s poster for “Enemies.” Last week, Florida Grand Opera announced it would be performing a Holocaust-themed opera next season. But next week, another local opera company is stepping into the subject of the Holocaust with a world premiere work for the stage. On Feb. 20, Palm Beach Opera will give the first performance […]
Article · February 11, 2015 by Gregory Stepanich
A scene from “The Passenger,” at the Bregenz Festival, Austria, in 2010. Next year, Florida Grand Opera will join a small company of American opera troupes to mount a work that, since its belated premiere just five years ago, has electrified the operatic world. This week, FGO announced that one of the four operas it […]
Article · February 4, 2015 by Gregory Stepanich
MIchael Gordon. Photo by Peter Serling Here’s something unusual for this weekend at the New World Symphony: Three world premieres. In an ambitious move, the orchestral academy’s director, Michael Tilson Thomas, is leading his charges in pieces by Miami Beach’s own Michael Gordon, New Voices commission recipient Ted Hearne, and orchestrations by Bruce Coughlin of […]
Article · January 28, 2015 by Gregory Stepanich
Tony Boutté. Two things will come together over the next couple months in the debut of a new concert series in Miami: art song and contemporary American music. Make that three things: also, cats. The companion animals whose video antics occupy a sizable chunk of the Internet also will be celebrated in the series, which […]
Article · January 14, 2015 by Gregory Stepanich
Rumbarocco. This week, we go back to the Baroque for two events: Runmarocco and Messiah. Rumbarocco What do you think of when you hear a musical ensemble described as “Latin-Baroque fusion”? If it takes a while to get a sound picture in your head, then you can fill that out Saturday night at St. Martha’s […]
Article · December 10, 2014 by Gregory Stepanich
John Adams. Photo by Margaretta Mitchell It’s Art Basel week, and amid all the interest from the outside world, as well as the tremendous amount of art by creators from outside the country, there are a number of local shows in which Miami and South Florida artists are drawing attention to their work, hoping to […]
Article · December 3, 2014 by Gregory Stepanich