The same flute that like a soothsayer announces the coming of darkness symbolizes the soul of Joan of Arc, the “lark” that will rise again at daybreak. Declared innocent of all charges 25 years after her execution and canonized 500 years later, the Maid of Orleans inspired many, including Schiller, Shaw, Brecht, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Twain […]
Article · June 24, 2015 by Sebastian Spreng
Tomás Cotik Cautious, calm, modest, devoid of posturing and pretensions, Tomás Cotik is a violinist, one of the people who make Miami a good place to live. Born in 1977 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he came to Miami thanks to the New World Symphony and, like so many others, decided to stay. Here he met […]
Article · June 11, 2015 by Sebastian Spreng
The members of the Delray String QUartet with the composer Richard Danielpour It shouldn’t surprise, but it does, that on a Sunday afternoon in summer, when the beach and outdoor activities become a logical priority, a chamber music concert would draw an audience as large – and as comforting to a music lover – as […]
Article · June 6, 2015 by Sebastian Spreng
Last October, the sudden death of Kathy Gaubatz, executive director of the Bach Society, cast a pall over the start of Miami’s music season. Fortunately, a wondrous event marked its conclusion: Gaubatz’s dream come true, the local debut of the illustrious William Christie – a champion of historically informed Baroque music – and eight other […]
Article · May 27, 2015 by Sebastian Spreng
“To this we’ve come…,” laments Magda Sorel in her great aria from The Consul, the opera that closes Florida Grand Opera’s season and marks the climax of Gian Carlo Menotti’s grim and most famous melodrama. If the aria bears some similarity to Vissi d’arte in Tosca; in fact, the Italian-American composer resorted to several Pucciniesque […]
Article · May 18, 2015 by Sebastian Spreng
The Paradiso begins at the top of Mount Purgatory. The Mainly Mozart Festival’s artistic director, Marina Radiushina, doesn’t hide her excitement about the festival’s upcoming season finale, a multidisciplinary effort entailing technical and musical challenges. That’s how the Ukranian pianist describes it for our readers. The Mainly Mozart Festival concludes this year with a very […]
Article · May 18, 2015 by Sebastian Spreng
Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya, (Moscow, Nov. 20, 1925 – Munich, May 2, 2015) In Sanskrit, the word “maya” has many meanings. It is that which exists but changes constantly. It refers to the goddess of prosperity, power and love, of the material. It is the magic that seems but is not. It is palpable reality, the […]
Article · May 12, 2015 by Sebastian Spreng
The end of another season means the return of pianist Ken Noda and a singer of his choice. It is a good way to close the annual Miami Friends of Chamber Music series, a young tradition that enables local audiences to discover new, rising talent. On this occasion, Noda’s unerring judgment singled out Anthony Kalil, […]
Article · May 1, 2015 by Sebastian Spreng
Long-awaited debuts and interesting programming are in store for fans as South Florida’s 2014-2015 music season draws to a close. First, Anne-Sophie Mutter is scheduled to perform with the New World Symphony, conducted by Founder and Artistic Director Michael Tilson Thomas, in the same program they will perform at Carnegie Hall a few days later. […]
Article · April 24, 2015 by Sebastian Spreng
French conductor Stéphane Denève. Once in a while a sumptuous French banquet comes our way to reminds us that it’s good to be alive and to savor the earth’s bounty by virtue of the uniqueness of that splendid cuisine. Excellence is what distinguished the New World Symphony’s April 12 French concert under the superb direction […]
Article · April 20, 2015 by Sebastian Spreng
April is being kind to conductor Patrick Dupré Quigley. First, an interview and a great review of Seraphic Fire’s latest CD appeared in this month’s issue of the prestigious classical music magazine Gramophone. Then, he is scheduled to conduct the chamber version (started by Arnold Schoenberg and finished by Rainer Riehn) of Gustav Mahler’s Das […]
Article · April 13, 2015 by Sebastian Spreng