Artistically Social

Amy Rosenberg's Arts Recap

Amy Rosenberg is an attorney and arts and environmental advocate who founded the Arsht Center’s young patrons group and is the co-founder of the environmental non-profit organization Dream in Green. Amy is a member of Art Basel’s Junior Host Committee and sits on the boards of LegalArt, the Funding Arts Network, New World Symphony’s executive committee and the Florida Association for Women Lawyers.

Even a stretch of freakishly cold January weather could not stop Miami’s legion of arts fans from turning out in full force for some of the season’s most inspired and offbeat cultural experiences.

Hundreds of hipsters and 9 to 5’ers fresh off work converged at the Tina Hills Pavilion at Bayfront Park to escape the clamor of the city and hear ascendant indie rockers Rachel Goodrich and Jacob Jeffries Band. The concert series, a partnership between the Downtown Development Authority and John S. and James L. Knight Foundations, is a dream realized for 20-something Leo Zabezhinsky, an associate at the Downtown Development Authority who conceived of the idea. It will continuously run the second Friday of every month.

Fans of Rhythm Foundation’s beloved Curated Listening Series can now breathe a sigh of relief. The series has been brought back from retirement. Emilio San Pedro, now a BBC correspondent based in London and former host of Miami’s underground radio show “The Rhythm Box,” guest dj’ed at the newly resurrected event. The series allows music aficionados to play selections from their personal collection to an audience of friends and strangers. Guests sipped Merlot from swings as Emilio played a themed selection he called “Distressed Divas.” The event takes place in the comfy-as-can-be garden patio of the News Lounge Bar & Café the first Tuesday of the month.

Friends of New World Symphony, a group of hundreds of music loving young professionals comitted to supporting young musicans, gathered for a special Symphony with a Splash that featured the spellbinding conducting of 28 year old Mexicana, Alondra de la Parra. Concertgoers were treated to live commentary from the stage and shimmied in their seats to Aaron Copeland’s Danzon Cubano. The concert was followed by an after-party for VIP Friends (a higher level of membership that includes tickets to multiple concerts) at the brand new poolside oasis at the Riviera South Beach. The highlight of the night: a live musical performance with saxophonist Jason Kush rocking alongside the inimitable DJ Hottpants.

Books and Books welcomed Steve Gaines, noted author of Philistines at the Hedgerow, for a discussion about his new book, Fool’s Paradise: Players, Poseurs and the Culture of Excess in South Beach. Miami’s literary set got an earful about the origins of Miami, the culture of sun worship and the everpresent eye candy.

Miami City Ballet joined forces and wowed audiences with The Cleveland Orchestra. Together, they presented See the Music, Hear the Dancing at the Arsht Center. The performance provided the best kind of visual and auditory sensory overload possible.

Miami Light Project (celebrating 20 years in Miami this year!) kicked off the South Beach Comedy Festival with their presentation of side-splittingly funny comic, Marga Gomez in her one woman show, Long Island Iced Latina. The half-Cuban, half Puerto Rican comedian captured the hearts, minds and laughter of the audience with her tales of Catholic school and her inability to master Spanish fluently.

Larry Rosen’s hugely successful Jazz Roots Series sold out its Tribute to Machito and Tito Puente concert at the Arsht Center. Special guests Arturo Sandoval and Nestor Torres played a rousing combination of Afro Cuban and bebop that had the audience on its feet.

Russian art, often given short shrift in the art world, is making a comeback. In 2006, the Guggenheim in New York presented Reflections: Socialist Realism and Russian Art. Whereas the Guggeneheim highlighted socialist realism – the official style of Soviet Art from the 1930s to the 80s – the Bass Museum’s show Russian Dreams presents art from the post Glasnost era to today. The works are sometimes darkly funny and chilling; a must see.

The extraordinary Huifeng Chen performed in a Violin Faculty Recital alongside classical guitarist Federico Mussgrove and pianist Elaine Rinaldi at University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. The high point of the evening: Brahm’s Violin Sonata No. 3 in D Minor.

Filmmaker Aiden Dillard showed a preview screening from his new feature film work-in-progress, Death Print, at indie music emporium Sweat Records. The film, a “tongue in cheek homage to Charles Bronson’s Death Wish,” showcases many South Florida artists and personalities. The screening was unusual in that attendees were instructed to yell out whenever they saw themselves or their friends on the screen. Many cast members were in attendance, including Otto Von Schirach, the TM Sisters, the synchronized swimming “Salt Water Vampires” and Miami underground music legend Rat Bastard of the Laundry Room Squelchers.