Mario Lanza (1921-1959). Last year, I interviewed the great Catalan tenor José Carreras for a story, and one of the things we talked about was our mutual admiration for the work of Mario Lanza. It’s still not fashionable in serious critical circles to say anything nice about Lanza, who in truth sang a lot of […]
Article · September 29, 2010 by Gregory Stepanich
When Ryan Murphy, the creator of the runaway Fox hit Glee, accepted an Emmy award for the direction of the show’s pilot episode, he said during his acceptance speech that the TV comedy ultimately was about the importance of arts education. It’s no secret that seemingly every time the economy goes south and cuts in […]
Article · September 22, 2010 by Gregory Stepanich
In a time when many composers have to spend as many days making sure they keep the publicity going as they do actually writing, Thomas Sleeper has enjoyed steady releases on established classical labels, including a Naxos disc of wind music and a just-released disc of orchestral pieces on Albany. The new Sleeper collection includes […]
Article · September 15, 2010 by Gregory Stepanich
This Saturday night at the University of Miami, you have two chances to take in an intriguing chamber music concert: one from an Illinois-based string quartet on the cutting edge, and the other from a new, homegrown trio of guitarists. First, there’s the Pacifica String Quartet, which despite its Californiac name is based in the […]
Article · September 8, 2010 by Gregory Stepanich
When the Concert Association of Florida fell apart in 2007, the major concert venues in this area scrambled to put together good classical series to replace the events that had been hosted by the association. Again this year, the Broward, Arsht and Kravis centers have their own series of classical programs, but there’s another group […]
Article · September 1, 2010 by Gregory Stepanich
The symphony orchestra wears a coat of many colors, but a good concert organ can give even the biggest instrumental assemblages a run for their sonic money. On Sunday, the organist of Miami’s Trinity Cathedral will give a vivid demonstration of that as he plays transcriptions for the organ of Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an […]
Article · August 25, 2010 by Gregory Stepanich
Back in the days before you could hear any orchestral piece you wanted at any time, the piano was the central instrument in home music-making. That’s the way you’d learn a Beethoven symphony, for instance – play it in a four-hand arrangement at home. In addition to two people sitting at one piano working out […]
Article · August 18, 2010 by Gregory Stepanich
I am assured that “no one’s getting in” who doesn’t already have a ticket to the sold-out Ramsey Lewis show at the Coral Gables Congregational Church on Thursday night. But just in case you are going to be there, or can talk someone out of a ducat, it’s worth noting that this appearance will be […]
Article · August 11, 2010 by Gregory Stepanich
The upcoming concert season in South Florida will see the debut of a local ensemble devoted to the performance of Baroque music. The group, named Arcanum, has been formed by tenor Tony Boutté and Baroque flutist Colin St. Martin, and will be featured in the Miami Bach Society’s Tropical Baroque Festival in March. But before […]
Article · August 4, 2010 by Gregory Stepanich
String quartet ensembles are hot these days, and a news release Tuesday from the Flagler Museum on Palm Beach reminded me of that when it announced the lineup for its series of chamber music concerts that begin Jan. 11 of next year and run through March 8. It’s worth looking at the websites of a […]
Article · July 28, 2010 by Gregory Stepanich
Over the years, the Seraphic Fire concert choir has released a number of recordings, all of them captured during live performances and later transferred to discs. There also are insta-CD recordings of its concerts available by e-mail, as they were the weekend of the 17th for a program of sacred motets by Couperin and Clérambault. […]
Article · July 24, 2010 by Gregory Stepanich